{"id":14779,"date":"2017-10-26T06:22:59","date_gmt":"2017-10-26T13:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=14779"},"modified":"2017-10-27T01:25:09","modified_gmt":"2017-10-27T08:25:09","slug":"a-trip-to-see-buddha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/a-trip-to-see-buddha\/","title":{"rendered":"A Trip to See Buddha"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf a picture paints a thousand words\u201d, says Nicholas Boyd Crutchley, \u201cthen let a picture inspire a thousand words.\u201d [1]<\/a> This is such a clich\u00e9 and overly used phrase, but true. Pictures and media can speak to us in ways that simple words would not let us hear. I have seen this while preaching on Haggai and the rebuilding of the temple. During the sermon, I showed pictures of old churches that were run down and boarded up. Several people approached me after the service and said, \u201cI will never forget the images of those old churches.\u201d I was humbled as my ego would have loved them to say, \u201cI will never forget the points you made\u201d. The picture or the creative narrative has a way of capturing our attention in a way that is unique and memorable. This is true in our international fellowship where English is not just people’s second language, but for some, it is their third or fourth language. However, periodically I am asked to make sure the preachers have more than just words and scripture on their PowerPoint, this is to ensure that those that might not have understood all the words, still understand the message. We are a sensory society and our teaching and our learning has to be reflective of that.<\/p>\n

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Pictures of people living in diverse cultures helps me understand not only about myself, but also how to interact with those around me. Images showing an individual\u2019s eyes, smiles, or the struggles they endure help m\"\"<\/a>e know how akin we all are to the residents of this world. Author of The Ethnographic Interview, James P. Spradley said, \u201cI want to understand the world from your point of view. I want to know what you know in the way you know it. I want to understand the meaning of your experience, to walk in your shoes, to feel things as you feel them, to explain things as you explain them. Will you become my teacher and help me understand?\u201d [2]<\/a> When we have individuals that want to come to work alongside us, I often ask them, \u201ccan you humiliate yourself and be the dumb foreigner in need of help?\u201d We have found that as westerners we are very independent and self-reliant. If we can push that aside and see the value in admitting we do not know something, we do not understand why that situation is happening, then we are open and available to be taught. When we approach a culture with ignorance and humility, like a true student, then and only then are we teachable.<\/p>\n

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Ethnography is as Sarah Pink says, \u201can approach to experiencing, interpreting and representing experience, culture, so\"\"<\/a>ciety and material and sensory environments\u2026\u201d[3]<\/a> To visually experience a culture can be fascinating and rewarding. Understanding it in still pictures or movie form brings that culture to life.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAs we encounter each other, we see our diversity \u2014 of background, race, ethnicity, belief \u2013 and how we handle that diversity will have much to say about whether we will in the end be able to rise successfully to the great challenges we face today.\u201d[4]<\/a> Visual ethnography helps us see cultural differences through the eyes of one another, especially as the diversity of the world moves in our own neighborhoods and sometimes our own families.<\/p>\n

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How do we determine what media should shape our perspectives and what shouldn\u2019t? Do signs tell us about the culture they represent? Have you ever seen signs that make you wonder about the story behind them? I recently have seen a few caution or warning signs that really made me want to find the sub-culture th\"\"<\/a>at they represent. I have to admit, it would simply be out of zoo-like curiosity to see them in there native habitat and watch the actions of those that needed professionally printed signs warning away from what I consider to be the obvious. I saw a sign that said, \u201cCaution, Fire is Hot\u201d; another said, \u201cIf the door does not open, do not enter\u201d. Does this say something about the culture that these signs are posted in? Obviously, these signs don\u2019t represent the whole of a people nor a culture. From a purely visual ethnographic perspective, we can get side tracked down paths that hopefully don\u2019t represent or help us interpret a particular culture very well. \u00a0We have to choose the media that helps us bring clarity.<\/p>\n

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Rivera says, \u201c\u2026choose technology wisely. While a camera or other media equipment may seem to be mundane tools, \u2026 they nonetheless inform our sense of identity.\u201d[5]<\/a> Riviera criticizes Pink saying, \u201c\u2026there are no fixed criteria that determine which photographs are ethnographic\u201d[6]<\/a> If there is no criteria than all photos have the potential to be ethnographic. Pink states, \u201cTherefore any photograph may have ethnographic interest, significance or meanings at a particular time or for a specific reason.\u201d[7]<\/a> I like the idea that any photo has the potential to share about a culture knowing that it doesn\u2019t attempt to represent the whole culture but rather is a literal snapshot of a moment in the life of that culture.<\/p>\n

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A few years ago, I was in a temple taking photos of the different statues of Buddha. There was a fat Buddha, a thin Buddha, a smiling Buddha, a Buddha with money, a Buddha with kids, a bald Buddha, a\"\"<\/a> Buddha with curly hair and more. What I didn\u2019t realize, that day, was I took a course on Buddhism: a course on Chinese ethnography. Buddha is not one man; rather one becomes Buddha when they have achieved enlightenment. What I mistakenly thought were the many faces and kinds of the original Buddha, was really the many people that had been immortalized once they had achieved Buddha-ness from this temple. Those photos and memories have given me pause as I have had conversations through the years with those that sought enlightenment and peace. These snapshots of the culture allowed me to understand a piece of the giant puzzle called China and the complexity of communicating cross culturally.<\/p>\n

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[1]<\/a>\u201cQuotes about pictures\u201d https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/quotes\/tag\/pictures accessed October 26, 2017<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Spradley, James P. https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/author\/show\/183212.James_P_Spradley<\/a>. accessed October 26, 2017<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Sarah Pink.\u00a0Doing Visual Ethnography<\/em>. (London: Sage Publications, 2013) Kindle Edition. 34<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Smith, Dan., and Br\u00e6in, Ane. The State of the World Atlas<\/em>. 7th Ed., Completely Rev. and Updated. ed. (New York: Penguin, 2003).<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Riviera, Diana. Picture This: A Review of Doing Visual Ethnography: Images, Media, and Representation in Research by Sarah Pink,<\/em> The Qualitative Report. Fort Lauderdale,<\/strong>\u00a0Vol.\u00a015,\u00a0Iss.\u00a04,\u00a0July 2010 p. 3<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid. 4<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Sarah Pink.\u00a0Doing Visual Ethnography<\/em>. (London: Sage Publications, 2013) Kindle Edition. 75<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf a picture paints a thousand words\u201d, says Nicholas Boyd Crutchley, \u201cthen let a picture inspire a thousand words.\u201d [1] This is such a clich\u00e9 and overly used phrase, but true. Pictures and media can speak to us in ways that simple words would not let us hear. I have seen this while preaching on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[279],"class_list":["post-14779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-pink","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14779"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14851,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14779\/revisions\/14851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}