Buddha has been the paragon of man’s coexistence with nature. It is surprising that you can catch the same coexistence in the heart of a technologically superior country, Japan. This is the country of contrasts, and the more advanced in technology Japan has become, the more firecly she is holding on to her past and her cultural relics.

Here is the first set of pictures from a recent trip to Nara and Kyoto. Nara was the first permanent capital of Japan from AD 710 to 794. The Giant Buddha or the Daibutsu, world’s largest gilded bronze Buddha was built during the Nara period in AD 752.

Buddha, after enlightment, gave his first sermon at the Sarnath deer park near Varanasi (Benaras) in northern India and set in motion the Wheel of Dharma. The  deer park in its premises of the Giant Buddha evokes this experience in your mind. The deers there are friendly and have coexisted with the inhabitants for centuries. Legend holds that god Kasuga made his long journey to Nara on a deer. The deer which lives around the Nara park have been warmly protected as servants of gods. You get deer biscuits to feed them. Some foriegners mistake it for food and eat it themselves

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Tags: buddhism, coexistence, deer park, giant buddha, nara

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Namaste.
Yesterday (29 Oct, 2005) I had gone to talk about India at an English Seminar for high school students at SIT school.

One of my friends asked me why I am keeping my hands in my pocket while they’re all doing namaste (reasonable question). We say namaste when we meet another person, another soul. Here, in this English seminar, I taught them what India is, and one of our basic greetings, namaste. Facing the camera, they are demonstrating what they learnt from me. I don’t need to demonstrate namaste when I face the camera.

Thought I would share the slides and some info with you as well. The slides have been made as simple as possible, for the students to digest and may be I will append some extra info for you. Will put one or two slides per day.

Namaste

Namaste: नमस्ते:
In Sanskrit “Namas” means, “bow, obeisance, reverential salutation.” It comes from the root Nam, which carries meanings of bending, bowing, humbly submitting and becoming silent. “Te” means “to you.” Thus “namaste” means “I bow to you.” the act of greeting is called “Namaskaram,” “Namaskara” and “Namaskar” in the varied languages of the subcontinent.

In simple language, namaste is “a hello with a respect”.
Namaste can be related to the Japanese bowing. In both, we don’t touch the other person as in the western style of shaking hands of each other. Both gives respect and means “I bow to you”.

In my state, Kerala we say ‘Namaskar’ instead of Namaste.

India: Unity in Diversity

India: Brief Satistics

Yeah. The country is so diverse! Many languages, religions, costumes flourish in India. Even the division into states are basically according to this cultural/language diversity. Most of the states have its own language.
eg: Language of the state of Kerala = Malayalam.

Hindi is the national language. English has associate status and is widely used.

Herez a list I got from Wikipidea, on the major languages:

1. Hindi हिन्दी
2. English (associate official)

Recognized national languages of India (Scheduled list for official use)

1. Assamese (official language of Assam) অসমীয়া
2. Bengali (official language of Tripura and West Bengal) বাংলা
3. Bodo (official language of Assam)
4. Dogri (official language of Jammu and Kashmir)
5. Gujarati (official language of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, and Gujarat) ગુજરાતી
6. Hindi (official language of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal) हिन्दी
7. Kannada (official language of Karnataka) ಕನ್ನಡ
8. Kashmiri
9. Konkani (official language of Goa)
10. Maithili (official language of Bihar)
11. Malayalam (official language of Kerala and Lakshadweep) മലയാളം
12. Manipuri (Meithei) (official language of Manipur)
13. Marathi (official language of Maharashtra) मराठी
14. Nepali (official language of Sikkim)
15. Oriya (official language of Orissa) ଓଡ଼ିଆ
16. Punjabi (official language of Punjab) ਪੰਜਾਬੀ, پنجابی
17. Sanskrit संस्कृता
18. Santali
19. Sindhi سنڌي، سندھی, सिन्धी
20. Tamil (official language of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry) தமிழ்
21. Telugu (official language of Andhra Pradesh) తెలుగు
22. Urdu (official language of Jammu and Kashmir) اردو

Other popular languages of India
(over 5 million speakers but no official status)

1. Awadhi (often considered a sub-variety of Hindi)
2. Bhili (Bhil tribals)
3. Bhojpuri (language of Bihar, often considered a sub-variety of Hindi)
4. Bundeli (often considered a sub-variety of Hindi)
5. Chhattisgarhi (language of Chhattisgarh, often considered a sub-variety of Hindi)
6. Gondi (Gond tribals)
7. Hariyanavi (Haryanvi) (language of Haryana, often considered a sub-variety of Hindi)
8. Hindustani (A mixture of Hindi and Urdu. Spoken largely in the Northern part of India.)
9. Kanauji (language of Uttar Pradesh, often considered a sub-variety of Hindi)
10. Kodava, spoken in the Kodagu district of Karnataka
11. Kutchi (language of Kutch, a region in Gujarat)
12. Magadhi (language of southern Bihar, often considered a sub-variety of Hindi)
13. Marwari (language of Rajasthan, often considered a sub-variety of Hindi)
14. Tulu (spoken by Tulu people of Karnataka and Kerala)

Indian Flag:
The orange (deep saffron) symbolizes courage and sacrifice (saffron is the sacred color of Hinduism).
The white stands for peace, unity and truth.
The green stands for faith (Islam) and fertility.
The wheel in navy blue indicate the Dharma Chakra, the wheel of law in the Sarnath Lion Capital. The blue symbolizes the sky and the ocean. The 24 lines inside the chakra (wheel) symbolizes 24 hours of the day.

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Tags: ashoka, bhangra, bharatanatyam, bihu, biriyani, buddha, buddhism, chappathi, churidar, classical music, classical dance, costumes, curry, dandiya, diwali, dosa, durga puja, festivals, film industry, flag, folk dance, ganesh chathurthi, hinduism, holi, idli, india, indian food, jainism, kabuki, kathak, kathakali, kuchipudi, kurta, languages, madurai meenakshi, mahatma gandhi, manipuri, mundu, namaste, nan, north india, odissi, onam, puri, religions, roti, sambar, saree, sikhism, south india, statistics, taj mahal, turban, unity in diversity, vada, yoga

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In Japan you can celebrate new year eve either by jumping into some party or in the much more intricate manner tradition has tagged it. New Year brought a free pair of new underwears for me and that was only cuz I opted for the latter.

Well this is what happened.. I was sitting at my lab as ever, and never dreamt on celebrating it in any ways. and Then my cellphone chimed enchantingly with Tomo’s invitation to celebrate new year eve with them. Tomomitsu Minato (Tomo) & family have been home away from home for me ever since my arrival @ Sapporo. Japanese cellphones are intelligent; instantly it mailed him back that I’ll be arriving there before midnite!

NewYear rituals @ Buddhist temple
A few hours later I found myself sitting inside their car, on the way to the Buddhist temple at Gakuen Mae. Most japanese accept aspects of both Shintoism and Buddhism and they tend to adhere to the rituals. On the way I could see most of them paying visit to the shrines. Many may have their favorite shrines and the one that I went happens to be frequented by the Minato family.

Omisoka, the time leading up to the new year, is one of the most important times in Japan and also means a new start in one’s personal life. It was almost NewYear by the time we arrived at the Buddhist temple. "Akemashite Omedeto!" ¹(Happy NewYear), we greeted each other with smiles. Then we moved on to where the soba (kind of buckwheat noodles) was served. In Japan, a new year is welcomed by eating toshi-koshi soba. Toshi-koshi means across the year (toshi=year, koshi=cross). The thin long strands of soba reflects the wish for a long healthy life (gee, am not gonna end this horrible saga, it means!). The soba was served free for everyone, hot n yummy. With soba we had ama-sake. ama-sake is sweet hot drink prepared from the remains of sake (liqor made from rice). I didn’t like it though  (usually get along with all kind of japanese food )

The time we spend outside left us freezing but we braved on to stand in the long queque to the Big Bell. It is one of the most interesting part of the ritual. Ringing of the bell wipes out all the evil spirits and sins from the past year and announces the new life. Waiting in the queue for over 15 minutes, we reached the summit at last; I rang the bell with all might that, no evil spirits even dream of coming close to me in the past or future..  (i know u guys won’t be fended off by any of those, but still..)

Then we moved on to the main temple, knelt and bowed..

NewYear rituals @ Shinto shrine

Tomo then took us to the Shinto shrine, 5 minutes drive from there. The facade was pretty with a traditional layout and a small track leading to the shrine. After our prayers, went forward to take the omikushi, the paper slips which tell your fortune. Took one in random and here it is  It says my lot is dai-kichi, meaning am very lucky. "Everything you ought to do you should do as this year is pretty good for you. Be like a sunshine and don’t be selfish while everything works for you! Do for others too! And for work, don’t worry even if you need to put some money, you’ll be benefited.." What else I needed! Well at first I thought everyone got good luck scribbled in their fortune slips.. I was totally wrong. Don’t you see a lot of paper slips tied in rows..?? All of them are bad luck cards someone got, nobody wants to take bad luck home! And poor meu-chan, she  is also tying her slip, she didn’t get a good one. Seems am the only lucky person out here. Oops I forgot, I should radiate my luck to others. Thatz how it works, right?

shower and new Wear @ Japanese home

That was enough for the day and we returned to Tomo’s home. Everything was ready with a stove warming up the room and a warm cozy bed and the night was calling me inside.. but things weren’t supposed to end there! A set of new clothes, tshirt, set of socks n underwear were waiting for me. I was supposed to take a hot shower, cleanse myself of the remaining evil spirits and adorn a new attire so that I have a realistic feeling of the fresh new soul inside me. So off I went to bang off the rest of the demons!

..Thou shalt sleep. I faintly remember a voice from heaven saying that. When I regained consiousness the new rays of the sun was gushing through the trees - through the window - through the curtains, still strong and warming my soul n body altogether. I remember what the fortune slip had told.. I wish the sunshine flows to you, through me, forever.. an everlasting river of love and happiness.

That morning I watched one of the most emotional parts of the tradition, a grand father (Tomo’s father; we call him Otosan, meaning father) and grand daughter (Tomo’s daughter Mignon, shez 3 years old and naughty) kneeling and bowing to each other and Otosan carrying on the tradition and asking her to repeat "akemashite omedeto gosaymasu. kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegayi-shimasu" happy new year. let us be good to each other this year too.

あけまして おめでとう

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Tags: akemashite omedeto, ama-sake, buddhism, buddhist temple, japan, new year eve, omisoka, sapporo, shinto shrine, shintoism, toshi-koshi soba

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