week 5

In Rene Girard’s Sacrifice, religious cultures or communities use laws to justify upon the claims of lives. Many thought that sacrifices were a sacred obligation in order to appease the deities but it  is just a farce to hide the real meaning of sacrifices. These sacrifices were used to suppress internal violence in the communities such as rivalries and conflicts and it also induces harmony, unites the society, and establishes order. Sacrifices comes from violence and since violence cannot be erased easily from the face of the earth, the only way to suppress it is though the judicial system. The judicial system makes vengeance into a form of punishment for the criminal. Thus laws were used to justify the reason for sentencing a life to death.

In Buddhism's The Liberation Rite, the criminal, who had committed an irredeemable act of either insulting a noble one or threatening Buddhist teachings, is beheaded by the ritual master in order to have his sins and consciousness be cleansed/dissolved in Buddha’s stomach and to earn Enlightenment in the afterlife. This tradition was deemed as necessary for someone who was tainted with sins to be released from life in order to gain Enlightenment. This law made it fitting as a sacred duty in order for one to be cleansed. Although one may say it is a voluntary action to get into a better afterlife, it is how the society or community brought the criminal up and instilling him/her with religious incentives of what is right and wrong.

Other religions/communities such as the Aztecs, Greeks/Athenians, and Ancient Judaism believe in the use of a scapegoat in order to suppress the turmoil in the community. They use either animals (Judaism) or human sacrifice (Aztecs and Athenians) to direct the violence on something or someone out of the community. The animal had sins that were transferred from the townspeople and was sent out to death while the human sacrifices were for festivals and the deities. During the uses of scapegoats, there are no free will or voluntary action because they were picked by the community in order to atone for the “guilty” sins. This was seen as a part of a ritual thus it was necessary for them to do it yearly or monthly to appease for better crops or their sins.

Mourning Practices

The mourning practice of Kaddish for Judaism provides a sense of unity for the society and also respect and reverence to the deceased and God. Kaddish is a prayer that shows devotion to God and a longing for the establishment of God’s kingdom on Earth. The emotions that are put forward into this prayer is what binds the society together. All the mourners recite the Kaddish in unison and to do so while standing. To me, this shows how they take funeral processes seriously and how the deceased is someone who was important no matter what social status they were. In addition, it shows the relationship between the mourners and the deceased even if there were blood ties or not. Sure, the son are required to say the Kaddish for 11 months after the death of a parent, however the prayer can also be said by the daughter and even an adoptive child. The bonds between the deceased and the mourner grows as they come together in the final remembrance at a funeral.

In Judaism, one must attest that God is an absolute being, who is the creator of all. This is true in Kaddish, since the central idea was that God is great and holy by praising him and sanctifying His name. It is ritualized in Judaism to ingrain this idea/thought that God is incomprehensible and powerful since it is He that brought the universe into existence. From normal prayers to mourning prayers, it is ritualized that God must be praised and revered upon. In Kaddish, by sanctifying God’s name in public, the mourners can increased the merit of the deceased person. Although the Kaddish has no relation to death, the reason may be that when the person has passed, the mourners want their loved ones to be accepted into God’s embrace so they won’t be rejected from the afterlife they were meant to have. They want to believe that something is there for them in the afterlife if they praise to God and keep him in their mind, body, and soul.

The narratives is what makes the social connections in the community. Imagine the grieving and mournings during a funeral process, at this time the emotions are heightened and everyone begins to come together and understand each other. It allows the people to remember the past, horrible or great, and make the connection and allow the healing process as a whole instead of  by themselves. Not only that, it keeps the old tradition alive and beating. For example, in the past the vernacular language was Aramaic and since till now, the Kaddish is still said in Aramaic. In addition, the Kaddish was first said by rabbis after studying the midrash, called the Rabbinical Kaddish, and in modern times, it is still said along with the Mourning Kaddish. Old and new are intertwinable and the past is kept up with the present.

Week 3

The religions of Islam and Buddhism both share some concepts of the death and the afterlife but their ideas are different.  For Islam, the Qur’an is the supporting structure for the religion. In that book, the way of living and life after death are told through myths or stories. It is the book based from God’s mouth and his prophet Muhammad. In Buddhism, although not as detailed as Islam, their ideas were more laid back on the concept of death. Siddartha Gautama was the myth behind Buddhism and he was the one who brought upon the idea of Enlightenment.

In the Qur’an, by doing daily prayers you are showing your faith to Allah and Muhammad and everything you did during the time you lived is recorded into the Book of Life. After death, the Book of Life is handed to you on either your left or right hand and whichever hand will determine your path to either Heaven or Hell. How you live is where you will go in the afterlife. However for Buddhism, they believe that when you live, you will also suffer but attaining “nirvana” can still be done.

Both of these religion, although different, have the concept of reincarnation. In Buddhism, you are either reborn in a good or bad realm as humans/gods or animals/hungry ghosts. In Islam, when the Day of Judgement come, the dead will resurrect. Although both idea of resurrection are different, they both believe in the idea of the dead coming back.

In Islam, people have to do well in their life to in order to go to a better place after death. This concept is almost like Buddhism which the idea of karma in order to do well and avoid harm. All these religions are based on myths and without them, the religion wouldn’t come into being. Islam has the 5 Pillars of Islam and Buddhism has the Four Noble Truths and these are the “rules” in order to live peacefully and die peacefully. It is almost like the commandments for the religions or way of life.

Although both these religion are different in their own aspects, they still share some concepts of life and death. Practice of their religion are essential and accustomed for the people and this is why they cling to the idea of this in order to get a sense of the death they will face since it is inevitable.

Perception of Death

        This picture of an angel and a grim reaper playing cards and gambling with a patient's life helps me understand the meaning of death. It shows that your life is just a puny existence in the world and as hurtful as that sounds, it's the truth. However, this is why its better to make your life worth it and live most of it happily as you reach old age and finally, death. The way you live your life can be changed at your will such as what career you pursue or if you plan to have kids or not. These are your decisions that affect your life yet you can never change death. Death is permanent. It doesn't matter how long you live or how healthy you are, death is there and will always hang over your shoulder.
        My perceptions of death is shown in this picture of how life and death goes hand and hand. You are the line between life and death and either one can pull you over to their side. Looking at the picture, you can't help but root for the reaper because the face of the person on the bed looks miserable and if he keeps on living, he's just stuck laying on his back for the rest of his life and even more worse, no one would come visit him except the nurse. This also shows another one of my perception of death as the easiest way out of misery even when you try your hardest at life and its not rewarding at all. Many see death as something to over think about in the future but the thing is, death can be peaceful and isn't as solemn as it sounds like.
        The connection I see with this picture with what we talked about this week was Gilgamesh, because almost everyone including Gilgamesh at one point starts to worry about death and if they made their life worth something or their life was a waste of time. But in the end, as long as you lived your life to the fullest and enjoy it to an amount, then the thought of death wouldn't be something regrettable. In addition another similarity between the two was that death was unavoidable. Gilgamesh twice was offered immortality but he lost it every single time with the sleeping test and the plant that gives immortality. Death is what makes everyone the same because our stories end with the lost of our life.