I'm back

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted.  I've been a busy monk.  I just returned last Tuesday from a four day trip to the San Francisco bay area for an academic conference.  Time has flown by since I returned with work and papers. 

It was the regional conference for the American Academy of Religion.  Leaving Saturday with three compatriots (Jacky, Shakya, and Venerable Sophaek), we were exposed to our first professional academic conference.  It has inspired me to submit a paper for next year's conference that will conveniently be held in Pasadena, just up the road.

The conference was held at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, right near UC Berkeley's campus.  It's a group of Catholic and prostetant seminaries that share some facilities.  Students can of course take classes at the different seminaries, and at UC Berekeley as well.  It was a beautiful campus.

After the plenary address Sunday morning and meeting some other attendees, we had a quick lunch of pizza.  There wasn't a session we were interested in attending that afternoon, so we decided to do some touristy things.  Of course there was the ubiquitous bay area fog, and the wind by the bay was bitter cold, but we couldn't go all the way there and not see the Golden Gate Bridge.  We stopped on both sides of the bridge and took photos. Ven. Sophaek and I both bought fleece jackets that afternoon to ward off the cold.

After that, we drove down Lombard street, the most twisting turning street in the...world?  It was steep too, so I'm glad Jacky was driving.  After that, we went to Fisherman's Warf.  Along the sidewalk was a street performer painted like a statue just standing very still.  At first glance we thought he really was just a statue.  When I offered him a coin, he turned, sort of like a machine, and bowed to me with his palms together. 

Around 5:00, we dropped in on Sam Bao Su (Three Jewels Temple) the Fo Guan Shan temple in San Francisco, to see Ven. Jue Ya (I'm not sure if that's spelled correctly).  Ven. Jue Ya worked at UWest until just before Chinese New Year this year, then was transferred to Sam Bao Su.  When the UWest van pulled into their parking lot, she was in the lot saying good bye to some other people.  Her jaw dropped open seeing the van, and then she realized who we were and smiled so big.  We got a brief tour of the small temple, then were invited into the tea room/book store for tea and sweets.  There were a lot of volunteers there getting ready for a special program coming up, so we were invited to join them for dinner.  Ven. Jue Ya even ate pizza with chop sticks. The look of surprise on her face was priceless.

The next day, we arrived at the conference just before 8:00am in time for the first session. Unfortunately, the session I attended with Shakya and Ven. Sophaek had only one presenter, as the other two presenters were absent.  One eventually showed up (she was stuck in traffic), so she was able to do a brief presentation at the end of the session.  The topic was Religion and the Arts.  The first presenter in particular looked at performance art in the Women's spiritual movement as a pedagogical tool.  Given that she had an hour, the discussion was quite lively.  One thing I noticed from both presentations was the emphasis on finding the "self."  Of course, from a Buddhist perspective, there is not self to find.  In fact, clinging to the idea of an inherant self causes much of our suffering.

The next session I attended (I think all four of us were there) was a general session on Religion in Asia.  There were three presenters for this session, including a young Japanese graduate student from the University of Arizona who presented on 13th and 14th century Japanese illustrated biographies of religious figures and their role in creating a Karmic connection with the Dharma, and a professor who presented on the "sex change" undergone by the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in East Asian Buddhism.  Originally male, Kuan Yin and he is called in China (Kwanseum in Korea and Kannon in Japan), has most often been depicted in a feminine form.  I'm not sure I agree with the general assessment of that situation, that is, it's quite a bit more complicated than that, but more on that later.

There were flowers everywhere.  When we got out of our van at the hotel, the parking lot even smelled like flowers.  This shot was taken on the campus of the GTU.

This was the best shot I got of the Golden Gate Bridge.  The day we came home was bright and sunny, though.

I take that back.  This was the best shot I got of the bridge.  I think this angle is from the north end.

This was taken at Fisherman's Warf. Did I spell that right?  It's either "warf" or "wharf," but one of those spellings is the name of the Klingon character from TNG and DS9.  Anyway, that's Ven. Sopheak, Shakya and Jacky on the pier.

The boats were a trip.  My grandfather (on my mother's side) would have loved the boats. He was fascinated with boats and trains.  That's the San Francisco skyline in the background.

A street performer we thought was actually a statue at first bowed to me when I dropped a coin in his box.  Intersting way to make a living.  I think it must be quite meditative, just standing there stock still all day.  Not sure I would have the patience for it, though.

A shot of Jacky with a "Wisdom Hat" on.  There's another picture of him with a Mao hat on, saluting, but that wasn't taken with my camera.  Unfortunately, all the photos with me in them taken with my camera didn't turn out well (sorry, Ma), but I should get some from Shakay and Jacky soon.

Comments

[Ray]

Being a statue street performer seems very difficult to me - standing still like that. I agree it's an interesting way to make a living, but I would go for something more like this: www.sawlady.com/blog (not that this is easy either...).

[Leamur]

You guessed wrong. "Warf" is the Klingon, and "wharf" is the correct spelling for the pier-thingy.

Beautiful pic of the flowers!

[Konchog_Yeshe]

By Kahless it's spelled "Worf" you Earther! Worf, Son of Mogh of the Klingon Empire.

Qa-pla!

[Kalsang Dorje]

I'm totally plussed about the idea of a commentary on the Kuan Yin, Kannon, Avalokiteshvara sex change. My main practice is Chenrizig so the female forms confuse me a bit. I agree with the female form and compassion, I just don't know the reasons why.

[scruffysmileyface]

Deep bows, Reverend! Good to see you posting again!

Oddly, I've often thought that the sex-change of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva is one of the most confusing mysteries in all of Buddhism. I read once that it has something to do with the historical merging of the bodhisattva with Taoist and other existing (pre-Buddhist) deities in the early centuries of Chinese Buddhism.

Kinda like how the Holy Roman Empire settled on Dec. 25 (a Pagan holiday) as Christmas. Sometimes religions assume the trappings of other religions in order to continue or to increase their membership, etc.

I LOVE San Fran! Toured the town in summer '04, had a blast. Street theater, Lombard Street, Grant Street there in Chinatown. Love it.

[Dwan]

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