torsdag, april 24, 2008

39x365 #24: Prof. Robinson

Professor of literature, resident of a Zen Center, you were the real Zen deal. Your class on religion and literature was punctuated by periodic use of a singing bowl, which enchanted everyone else but put me slightly on edge.

3 kommentarer:

Devil Mood sagde ...

lol
I can really see that happening to me. Many times the things that teachers did and that enchanted other people really got on my nerves.

erin sagde ...

What exactly does a singing bowl entail? I'm intrigued.

My prof tells a story about being in a candlelight ritual in a communication class in 1980 and how it spurred him to get a phd. My mom was in the exact same class and it scared her into economics instead.

kimananda sagde ...

Ms. Mood, me too. Otherwise, though, I really liked the class. I recall that the literature selection (both the Buddhist part...it was called religion and literature, but was taught as Buddhism and literature) was excellent. It also introduced me to Thich Nhat Han, whom I still admire today.

Erin, you can read about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singing_bowl. I'm trying to remember exactly what was so irritating about it...it makes a very odd strangely elongated sound, which I just didn't find lent itself to meditation (we were supposed to have a moment of mindfulness upon hearing the sound). And that's a great anecdote about the candlelight ritual. Things like that are slightly risky, from the teacher's perspective.