L’exposition «#Sacrilège! L’État, les #religions et le sacré» éclaire un certain retour du #blasphème en France, première nation d’Europe à l’avoir dépénalisé en 1791. Entre l’intangible et le profane, s’établit un jeu de dupes on ne peut plus politique.
I wish #Charles#Windsor all the best in his battle with cancer...
However, as an #Australian#citizen, I do not recognise him as my king nor that I am his 'subject'.
Equally, I do not accept his assertion of a #divine#birthright to rule.
I very much resent that our taxes will be used to provide him with a luxurious farewell tour of my country and would much prefer that he stay home and tend to his health at his own expense.
J'entends parfois : "Oui mais les religions nous ont laissé parmi les plus beaux monuments et œuvres d'art".
Ben non.
Les artistes qui ont travaillé pour construire des cathédrales, des temples ou des palais auraient aussi bien pu faire des bains publics, des hôpitaux, des lieux d'enseignement. C'est juste une question de commande.
Ceux qui ont peint ou sculpté des Pietà et des annonciations ont fait bien d'autres choses quand on les laissait faire.
The 7-5-3 festival (七五三) started in the Heian or Muromachi Period to pray for the survival of #children, and, like many practices, spread from the aristocracy eventually to all citizens.
Age three for #girls is especially adorable, and our 3/4 #Japanese granddaughter just went through that rite of passage, posing in a #festival kimono.
With deaths in both families this year, it was moved from a Shintō shrine to a #Buddhist temple, reflecting the division of labor served by the two #religions in Japan. We could thus do it up on a mountain in our city (between Ōsaka and Kyōto) and see changing leaves of #autumn early.
All major ceremonies are finally accompanied by a restaurant meal, and the Japanese-style food and service, by normal standards in Japan, were superb.
Our granddaughter, nearly three, also seemed to start realizing that my English and the usual Japanese were different languages (technically, nascent metalinguistic awareness and bilinguality).
We have a humanitarian crisis caused by one of our allies. Israel has gone rogue, ignoring calls for a ceasefire from the UN, showing no remorse for killing children as they give in to their rage over the criminal actions of Hamas.
#POTUS Biden's inability to control autocratic Israel has divided #Democrats and will cost him the #election. #Trump returns to office and resumes his narcissitic destruction of the USA.
It was a nice country while it lasted. #Religion sucks.
The Kashihara shrine (橿原神宮) area of Nara is a cradle of Japanese civilization formerly known as Yamato. I especially didn't want to miss the archaeological museum, so a couple of its treasures are included here. The shrine is dedicated to the legendary first Emperor Jimmu (神武天皇). The Buddhist temple Kumedera (久米寺) near Kashihara Jingū is a Shingon temple, but it predates the founder Kūkai. It was where Kūkai found the indecipherable Mahāvairocana Sūtra (大日経) that justified his precious voyage to Chang'an, as I alluded recently in the journal paper "Translation Issues in the Rapid Transmission of Esoteric Buddhism from India to China to Japan" at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/371965557
MSNBC:
‘Most un-Christian person ever’: the white evangelical love affair with Donald Trump gets worse
In his new book, former Southern Baptist Convention top leader Russell Moore details how Donald Trump ushered in a crisis for Christianity in the U.S. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuQ8gGm1pmg
One of the best book to encapsulate how cults are using tech, language, marketing, need to belong & your weakness to manipulate and drag you into parallel realities that are "alternatives" to nothing.
NEW Deep in Japan podcast "KUKAI THE UNIVERSAL with Professor Steve McCarty" on the life and times of Japan's great saint Kūkai, Esoteric Buddhism, and Zen. I discuss the book in terms of East Asian history, language education, and translation issues including voice. My philosophy is expressed as well, so comments would be much appreciated. Listen at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1903791/13001040
(or find it at Apple, Google, Amazon, Spotify, etc.).