Tea. How many of us have ever enjoyed a tea in our lives? Many of us, right? Well, drinking tea is world known, especially to the Japanese. In the late twelfth century, during the Kamakura period, Matcha, also known as "finely powdered tea" was introduced to Japan from China (Sayre 302). During this period, tea wasn't just prepared the way most of us prepare it. It was prepared carefully and delicately, especially in Zen temples. The delicate tea making ritual continues today and it is generally performed by a master for his/her guest in a comfortable and relaxed setting. For the Japanese, drinking tea is more than just drinking tea, it is "a spiritual experience that embodies harmony, respect, purity and tranquility" (“The Japanese Tea Ceremony” par.1). This careful procedure can range from one hour to five hours (Japanese Tea Ceremony” par. 29). Here, in the Western side of the world, we are not used to taking up so much time in order to prepare a simple tea. With that being said, I don't believe we, as Westerners, have the ability to perform those types of rituals, or any other types of rituals that involve so much patience and delicacy.
Drinking tea is necessary for me; I drink it three times a day. I find it refreshing and soothing, so I drink it often. Speaking for myself, and I'm sure plenty of other people also do the same; I take little to no time to prepare my tea. For me, the sooner it is done, the better. I don't have the patience to carefully lay everything out, and truly engage in the act of making tea. With that being said, I'm sure there are many people in the world, not just here in the Western side of the world, just like me. We don't have the time to invest hours on making tea, and we sure would not want to s...
... middle of paper ...
... too fast-paced to even consider wasting their time on things like Japanese tea ceremonies.
Works Cited
"Japanese Tea Ceremony." Shibuis Words. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Kang, Sean H.K, Robert V. Lindsey, Michael C. Mozer, and Harold Pashler. "Retrieval Practice over the Long Term."Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. Psychonomic Society, Inc, 18 Apr. 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Melnick, Meredith. "American Yoga: How Many People Practice In the United States?" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 06 Dec. 2012. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
"Present! - Tea Ceremony: Urasenke Style” YouTube. YouTube, 04 June 2010. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Rodriguez, Christopher. Personal communication. 16 Apr. 2014.
Sayre, Henry. Discovering the Humanities (2nd Edition). New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2010. Print
"The Japanese Tea Ceremony." Teavana. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Rituals are held as a very important part of any society, including ours. They go back to ancient times or can be as simple as maintaining one’s hygiene. Non-western societies have rituals that may seem very foreign to us, but they have been engrained in their communities and are essential to their social structure. This interpretation will focus on the Great Pilgrimage, a ritual performed by Quechuan communities. We will be looking specifically at a community in the area of Sonqo.
...ssion of Jizo Ceremony. This is where people confess the guilt they gained over the faults they made during the year in hopes to get rid of bad Dharma. They pray that Jizo will bestow them permanence and continue to protect their children. This is related to confession in the Catholic traditions. “In some vicinities, children believe that tapping their forehead against the beads will bring them luck.” (Schumacher) In many areas, children are allowed to paint the faces of the statues or dress them in new red hats and robes. Red lanterns are hung at Jizo memorials and youths eat red-colored food. This is a fun but also regaining time for many people and children. It gives adults the opportunity to try and make up for what they did and being aware in the present moment. It also allows children to participate in an event of actions of kindness, games, festivities, etc.
Reid, who knows Japanese and has studied things Asian for many years, lived in a Japanese community, sent his children to an excellent Japanese public school and learned to put up cheerfully with his Japanese neighbors' codified concerns. ''The Japanese,'' he happily notes, ''are people who love rules.'' Written with grace, knowledge and humor, his book is a sympathetic Baedeker to the Japanese way of life. It is well worth reading for that. Not many foreigners have been able to fit in so well with their neighbors. His explanations of modern Japan and its Confucian background ar...
...ve a higher bone density than people who don’t drink tea. The researcher asserts tea includes fluorine, phytoestrogen, and manganese that are contributing to making higher bone density. (navercast 2)
However, this is where one major difference regarding Buddhism and Christianity is, it is their overall way to conduct ritual practices. Buddhism uses a variety of rituals and practices in order to aid their parishioners on the path to enlightenment while helping others along the way. They do this through practice of mediation, bowling, chanting, lighting incense at various celebrations and holy days, and they also use altar offerings as worshippers come to temples to pay homage. On the other hand, Christianity practices vary due to different denominations but there are various common elements used such as Sunday masses, private and group prayer, reading of Scriptures and religious
Modern Society has set certain standards that they expect everyone to conform to, but in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger Holden Caulfield is used to show what happens when humans do not conform to society’s wishes. J.D. Salinger uses Holden Caulfield to tell some of his own story and to show the consequences of not conforming to society and how society will eventually force everyone to conform. Salinger subtly points out may of societies demands, such as growing up and understanding sex. Holden refuses to give into society and will not grow up because he formed an unfounded definition of adulthood. Conformity plays a large part throughout the novel because it eventually leads Holden into a mental institute because he cannot and is not willing to conform to all of society’s demands. J.D. Salinger uses a young Holden Caulfield to show the affects of self-alienation, that people cannot run away from the inevitable, and how sexual identities affect humans in a society where conformity is expected.
Prayers, chanting/hymns, community, some sort of bowing movement. I have seen it all at Christian, Buddhist, and Islamic services. Meditation is what set the Buddhist service apart from the rest. The posture of the body, breath, and mind, are all something you are told to focus on. It was snowing and I was looking straight out of a window, so I think I had a better experience than I would have otherwise. The amount of movement is what set the Islamic service apart to me. The way they pray is like I have never seen before. I have never felt I was really seeing someone communicate with a higher up, but for some reason, the determination in the eyes of the women doing the movements of their prayers... I could really tell there was something else there. (I’m not saying it was God. It was just a Passion that I capitalize with the same emphasis as
One thing I do every single day is to buy myself a cup of tea. There are most likely many with me who do the same thing, there are probably more who buy coffee. However, it is more or less the same, the thing in common is the caffeine and taste we crave. If I have time I will get me a cup from Starbuck as the first thing in the morning, however, there are times where time doesn’t let me do it. There are many people who have the habit of getting themselves a cup of coffee or tea in the morning. Many do it on their way to work, and some do it after they get to their
Meditation is an age-old practice that has renewed itself in many different cultures and times. Despite its age, however, there remains a mystery and some ambiguity as to what it is, or even how one performs it. The practice and tradition of meditation dates back thousands of years having appeared in many eastern traditions. Meditation’s ancient roots cloud its origins from being attributed to a sole inventor or religion, though Bon, Hindu, Shinto, Dao, and later, Buddhism are responsible for its development. Its practice has permeated almost all major world religions, but under different names. It has become a practice without borders, influencing millions with its tranquil and healing effects.
I was always fascinated in the Buddhist religion and this class assignment was a great opportunity for me to take advantage of my curiosity. I decided I would visit a Buddhist center. With the company of my mother, I went to the Diamond Way Buddhist Center in Miami. According to my interview with the Buddhist that instructed the meditation service, every Monday and Friday they have a meditation service for the 16th Karmapa meditation from 8:00pm to 8:30pm. This center is part of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism (Anonymous). Upon arriving, I realized that it was in someone’s home. Many Buddhist offer their homes for Buddhist centers and are unpaid for their services. However, they do accept donations. Before entering the house, we had to remove our shoes. When we entered I could smell the scent of incense burning. As presented in World-Faiths, removing your shoes before entering a Buddhist center or temple is a form of worship. Also, incense and candles are used to represent Buddha’s enlightenment (World-Faiths).
This essay shall undertake a critical evaluation of the changes Western culture has had on Muslim woman in Morocco and how it has impacted their cultural norms. This shall be achieved by examining the changes in the areas of health, marital life, and education. Consideration shall be given to traditional Muslim life in Morocco and the changes that have been experienced in this country, before examining what may be described as a toxic infestation of Western culture and its effects and a conclusion reached.
Tseng, H.C., Wang, C., Cheng, S.H., Sun, Z. Chen, P. S., Lee, C., … Yang, Y. (2014). Tea-drinking habit among new university students: Associated factors. Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences, 30, 98-103.
The Shinto faith has many ceremonies including some that might seem strange to Westerners. As mentioned earlier, cleanliness is particularly important to Shinto worshippers and great washing ceremonies take place before any holiday. Pollution or uncleanliness is offensive to the kami. Western civilization finds it hard to understand some Japanese festivals because the Japanese have an intense appreciation of nature which the majority of Westerners care very little about.
Coffee people drink coffee with a purpose, they need the caffeine to make them more alert and increase their productivity. On the other hand, tea drinkers usually drink tea because of the enjoyment that tea give them, the relaxations that tea provide. It is typical to imagine that a person holding a cup of coffee is working over night at an office and a tea person is often reading newspaper at Sunday afternoon. Unlike tea drinkers, coffee drinkers are more attached to their drink compared to tea drinkers. A coffee drinker must have his coffee fix every single morning otherwise he or she cannot function without it. However, a tea drinker can easily live without drinking tea for even a few days. Even though they both have caffeine inside their drink, coffee drinkers seem to be more addicted to caffeine and as time goes, they will become more dependent on
Japan is a fascinating multifaceted culture, on one hand it is filled with many traditions dating back thousands of years and yet is a society with continually changing fads,