My new Twitter handle is now live - check me out at @jackiewgibson!
CNN has posted a history of bias against Sikhs - more reason for people to learn about religions before they attack anyone:...
Sikh temple shooting unfolding, learn about Sikhism here: http://t.co/A0ltLLIm
Sikh temple shooting unfolding, learn about Sikhism here: http://t.co/l3KrAJZf
Hackers group Anonymous takes down Vatican website: http://t.co/B6lbGAVp
WGN-TV calls doomsday prophecies "an illusion": http://t.co/mv8Gzyw7
RT @graceishuman: Really,? Asking people JUST LEAVING the service how they felt about it? Tacky, tacky, inappropriate
Whitney Houston's funeral service really took the world to church. Love Pastor Winans' honesty, very moving.
#teacher ? Here are appropriate responses to situations with your Jehovah's Witness student: http://t.co/A6UfqcgH
#Teachers: Want to know why your Jehovah's Witness student won't say the pledge and how to respond? http://t.co/EIdlgDwW
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Confucianism
Sunday marked the beginning of the 15-day Chinese New Year celebration, and Monday ushered in the Chinese Year of the Ox.
Based on the Chinese calendar, animals rotate and reappear every 12 years (i.e., the last year of the ox was 12 years ago). The coming of this new year marks the completion of 2008, the Year of the Rat.
The New Year’s celebration is noted by the entire Chinese culture, though it’s celebrated in different ways by different religions including Buddhism and Confucianism.
So what does the ox symbolize for 2009?
One Buddhist temple told Independent Online that the ox symbolizes hard work and reliability. This comes at a great time, considering much of the world is looking forward to hunkering down and fixing grave economic situations.
For Zen Buddhists, the ox may call to mind the Herding of the Ox parable. Here is Zen Buddhist D.T. Suzuki’s version:
Here we see that the ox’s “great will and power” are inexhaustible and that he is capable of a “terrific struggle.” When we discover that we are the only source of his energy the “struggle” will be over. Although he is always with you, you can’t turn around fast enough to see him. Now you’ve caught him, he can no longer hide. Still, he seems insubordinate, used to his old ways, searching for new satisfactions while remaining always unsatisfied. You think you can whip him into obedience, yet another illusion!
For Confucianism, the ox symbolizes righteousness.
Reliable, righteous, hard-working – this lunar year should be quite upstanding.
Copyright 2009 Religion Transcends.
My sincerest apologies for missing the Chinese New Year on February 7. (I know, it’s February 18 now. But if this were 2007, it would have been today. You know how hard it is to remember it’s 2008 this early in the year!)
Just a day after Christians acknowledged Ash Wednesday, Chinese religions (Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism) and those Chinese of no particular religion celebrated the start of a new year. Check out a succinct rundown of the day and the celebrations here.
BBC also created a great photo feature containing pictures of various celebrations throughout the world.
Here’s wishing you a happy new year!
Yesterday, I blogged about the latest question on On Faith. I also complained that On Faith did not include any voices from eastern religions.
I realize they weren’t responding to my blog. But perhaps a divine voice spoke to them and told them people like me were hoping for an eastern religion response. Today, they posted a response from Wendy Doniger, a professor of the History of Religion at the University of Chicago who teaches courses in Hinduism. She’s witty and to the point. And I love how she concludes that there is no conclusion.
Furthermore, I’m always dumbfounded at how eastern and western religions are thought to be so different…when really, they’re much more alike than they may seem at first glance. Doniger’s array of explanations seems to be a different take on common explanations given by western religions. After all, she herself admits that karma is really just another way of saying, “God (or god or gods or existence) is punishing me for something I did.”
Check out her post for more.