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DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
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DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
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DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
Macho Majority reading I found it interesting living in a village that had living examples of the Tibetan macho man so to speak, but realized the stereotype does not encompass all males, which stereotypes seldom do. Tibetan men are idealized to be macho, strong, free, sexy, dangerous men who roam the country side and woo women. This has been exemplified through Han classification and reinforced through media. The men that I came in contact with in the Tibetan village of Geza fulfilled parts of this category. For example, my host father only came to the house I was staying at once and did not help with the domestic work. That is not to say he was a bad guy, it is just their custom. Emptiness Theory Reading I have also been curious about emptiness theory and have played around tith the theory in my own personal life. The idea that nothing exists intrinsically makes total sense to me. I understand most of the technicalities of the idea and the many contradictions that exist with it as well. What truly inspires me is the concept of destroying our perceived realities to understand a more fundamental or ultimate reality, where the truth of emptiness is understood. Guy Newland states that in order to understand emptiness for yourself you must study and analyze the dharma and teachings of various scholars along with your own mind and experience with meditation. I like the rational display of emptiness theory and how it has come about empirically from logical origins. I personally resonate with religious views where the idea of the unknown is important and mystery to life. On a more personal note I feel I tend to see things in an ‘empty’ manner a lot of the time. It is hard to explain because I do not really understand it myself. I sometimes see myself interacting with things, but am not fully engaged, like everything around me is an illusion and I am just floating along. My mind is concentrating on non-existence and the interdependent web of phenomena of all things. I am also focused on how I create my reality and how others create my reality and perception of things. Thus, I am very critical of my own actions and strive to be a good person all the time. I am always thinking about my affect on others, and they way they affect me as well. I feel like I am sometimes looking down on situations I am in from a different view then actually being there.
DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
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DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

It was very intimidating at first going to a complete stranger’s house that did not speak my language. Also I had no idea what to expect for what the family was going to be like and how they would treat me and my roommate Peach McCarthy.

 

The first thing we did when we got there was eat a huge lunch, and that kind of defined the rest of the trip. We were forced to eat a lot of food because it was polite for hosts to offer a lot of food and for guests to accept it. We ate about four times a day, at 9, around 12, around 4, and then around 8 at night. I think they eat so much in order to have a break from working so much and because they work up a big appetite by working so much. I really enjoyed the food our host family provided. We had traditional butter tea, tsampa, bread, eggs, noodles, and rice with vegetables. We had a host mom, grandmother, one year old baby, teenage girl and boy living with us. I am not entirely sure of the relationship between everyone, but I would suspect that our host mother was the mother of all of the kids. We saw the husband and grandfather once, but they only came for dinner one night and then left again.

 

The first day we went with our host mother to fix a water well that was leaking at the top of the mountain. We felt very un-usefull because they didn’t want our help, probably because we had no idea what they were trying to achieve. That night Peach and I were very tired out and ate with the family then went to bed really early. The second day of our Geza experience Peach and I went on a hike with our host sister and her friend. The girls were twenty and nineteen. We walked up a mountain and ended up having a picnic in a cave at the top. We talked a great deal to the girls and tried to teach each other words in English and Chinese back and forth. To get to the cave we walked straight up a very steep mountain to a rock outcropping. There was an abundance of what looked like Spanish moss on all of the trees. Also the ground was very dry because of the lack of rain for so long in the area. The next day we worked moving rocks for around 5 hrs, we hauled rocks into a tractor. It was nice to finally do some work and help out the village people, and I was very glad to help out. The village was  building a kitchen, with the foundation mainly of rocks and cinderblocks. I skipped many a rock in the river, while waiting for the tractor to come back to be refilled.

We ended up hanging out with our host mother a lot while she was weaving carpets. The process seemed very complicated and was very interesting to watch. The next two days we had class with Dasa and then with Eric from two to five. Both of those days I kind of just laid low and did assigned readings for the following days.

 

I felt odd doing homework on my computer in the main stove kitchen room, when everyone else was busy making food and doing crafts. To help the family out we always did the dishes after meals and brought wood to the main house and inside to feed the fire. I wish there was more we could have done to help them, but every time I asked them they declined. Most meals revolved around the stove with the heating up and cooking of various things.  The family prepared all of their meals on the stove / in a bread maker/ and a rice maker. They boiled all of their water to do the dishes and to have as drinking water. Our family had a few cows, a mean dog, a bunch of chickens and a lovely tame bunny running around their yard. The bathrooms were holes in the ground outside in a cement building. There was a main room for the stove and kitchen and then a main house that was up above some stables and was very large. Peach and I stayed in a side room in the main upstairs house. The main house contained a living room with a large shrine to different important Chinese/Tibetan figures of religion and politics. The juxtaposition of Mao and Potala palace in the main kitchen room was very interesting and made me a little puzzled. This reflects the influence of China onto Tibetan regions and the 'integration' of the two.

 

The work ethic of the village was astounding. Everyone worked all day it seemed and there was a large structure of living built around that principle. It is also important to mention the degree of modesty that was abound in the village. There were no displays of public affection, and no one showed their skin, even on hot days.

 

Overall, I felt surprisingly comfortable living with my home stay family in Geza. I ended up giving the family a picture of my family, friendship bracelets, bandanas, honey, a ceramic mug, and a pair of earrings. They gave me a khata, some earrings, a special necklace, and a hair barrette. The language barrier was very hard to overcome, but I think Peach and I managed fairly well on that front. We got very good at charades and making one or two word sentences to get our point across. I felt a strong connection to the family we stayed with and was very sad to leave. Our host mother started to cry a little bit when we left.

 

Living in Geza for a week made me examine my own life more closely on a deep level of how I live and all of the material possessions I have that I don’t need. The people live so simply there and work so hard and still maintain a very happy attitude towards life. The U.S has really lost its idea of a hard days work out in the sun using the strength of our bodies. The people of Geza appear much younger than they are because of the work they do every day and the healthy food they eat. There is also a large importance of religion in the village. Every family has a large shrine room dedicated to special people and deities. Their religious beliefs and way of life are shown through their many aspects but one was their generosity.  As an example, the people gave their guests more food then they had and made them eat until they were stuffed.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Macho Majority reading

 

I found it interesting living in a village that had living examples of the Tibetan macho man, but realized the stereotype does not encompass all everyone, which stereotypes seldom do.  Tibetan men are idealized to be macho, strong, free, sexy, dangerous men who roam the country side wooing women.  This has been exemplified through Han classification and reinforced through the media.  The men that I came in contact with in the Tibetan village of Geza fulfilled parts of this category.  For example, my host father came to the house I was staying at once and did not help with the domestic work.  he seemed to have other things to take care of and was very strong and confident looking.  The sterotype of macho Tibetan men is also exemplified in my real life experience by our groups drivers.  They are all very manly, free, friendly, and like to drink.  I have also witnessed the other side of this sterotype with a man in the village who is a very good cook, which is considered domestic work and does not fulfill all the dangerous manly sterotypes of the 'macho man'.  Thus, just from my own experience in Geza I saw many different variences of this 'mancho man' ideology.  

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Emptiness Theory Reading

 

I have always been curious about emptiness theory since the first time I heard about it, and have tried to apply the theory in my own personal life.  The idea that nothing exists intrinsically or independently makes a lot of sense to me and I do not have a hard time imagining the world in this manner.  I do however struggle with the concept of the individual in the dynamic inter-workings of the theory.  I understand most of the technicalities of the idea and the many contradictions that exist with it as well.  What truly interests me is the concept of destroying our perceived realities to understand a more fundamental or ultimate reality, where the truth of emptiness is understood.  I agree with Guy Newland  in the reading Emptiness End, in which he states that in order to understand emptiness for yourself you must study and analyze the dharma and teachings of various scholars along with your own mind and experience with meditation.  The only way to understand a concept is to study and internalize it.

 

 I like the rational display of emptiness theory and how it has come about empirically from logical origins.  I personally resonate with religious views where the idea of the unknown or the mystery of life is important and unanswerable.  On a more personal note I feel I tend to see things in an ‘empty’ manner a lot of the time.  It is hard to explain because I do not really understand it myself.  I sometimes see myself interacting with things, but am not fully engaged, like everything around me is an illusion and I am just floating along.  I feel like I am sometimes looking down on situations I am in instead of actually being there.  During this my mind is concentrating on the non-existence and the interdependent web of all things and thus the emptiness of all things.  I am also focused on how I create my reality and how others create my reality and perception of things.  I am very critical of my own actions because I can understand how I affect others and how they affect me, therefore I strive to be a good person all the time. 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
User-uploaded Content
DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.