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January 28, 2016 - Image 9

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
the b-side
Thursday, January 28, 2016 — 3B

RUBY WALLAU/Daily

The Ann Arbor Zen Buddhist Temple offers placid sanctuary to “everyone nice.”

Ann Arbor Buddhist

Temple a haven of

calm energy.

By MADELEINE GAUDIN

Daily Arts Writer

Nestled between a defunct bike

shop and a vacuum store, the Ann
Arbor Zen Buddhist Temple is
easy to notice and just as easy to
miss. The bright yellow Victorian
and the adjacent brick building
don’t scream “temple.” But once
on the other side of the stone wall,
the pair of buildings, connected
by a small garden, feel very much
like a sacred space. There’s a
tremendous calm energy hanging
in the air. The street noise, though
minimal on a Sunday morning, all
but disappears.

Once inside the temple, the

calmness I felt in the courtyard
is intensified exponentially. After
passing
through
an
entrance

room, I walk into the main temple
room in silence. It’s packed. Most
of the mats are taken already, but
I find one in the back and sit down.
Trying to meditate is really hard,
and I guess the whole trying part
defeats the purpose of meditation.
At first, I find it difficult to keep
my eyes closed. Something in
my brain keeps flicking my eyes
open nervously. When my eyes
are closed I can’t help worrying
that I’m doing this wrong. Is there
something I should be thinking
about? And then, nothing changes
except it gets easier — I think about
less. Mostly, I don’t think about
trying to keep my eyes closed.

Then, a bell rings and we begin

chanting a prayer that’s easy to
pick up. While we’re chanting, the
children who attend a kid’s service
in the yellow house next door file
in wearing animal masks. They
perform a play about Buddha’s
enlightenment that’s endearing
and extremely informative.

Haju
Sunim,
the
resident

priest of the temple (known
to the temple community by
her first name, Haju), said a
few words about meditation,
mindfulness and strengthening
our practices. Incredibly poised
and gentle, Haju is the spiritual
and community leader of the
Ann Arbor temple. One of her
congregants described her as “the
North Star” of their temple. She
greets everyone as they exit with
a bow and introduces herself to
any new attendees.

In a conversation later that day,

Haju described her congregation
as
“an
increasingly
diverse

community of people from all
walks of life … an increasingly
supportive community of people
who help each other.” It is
also an incredibly welcoming
community. At the service I
attended, many, like myself, were
at the temple for the first time; a
few were even rookie meditators
too. But after the service, lifetime
members and newbies conversed
about mindfulness, meditation
and
the
upcoming
women’s

basketball game.

The
temple
also
offers

services outside Sunday services
like the one I attended. Haju said
the temple “offers means for
people to go through the various

aspects of the life cycle, you
know, in a spiritual way.”

They “conduct baby blessings,

have
marriage
ceremonies,

divorce ceremonies even, and
house
blessings
and
funerals

and memorial services” to give
members of the community means
of
commemorating
spiritually

each milestone in their lives.

The entire temple community

has a strong focus on activism and
community service.

“We also try to do services

in the community so we work
in the prisons and we help with
hunger relief, and we do some
fundraisers,” Haju said.

Next door, I attend a meeting

with members of the community
who
focus
on
environmental

consciousness. They practice a sort
of sacred activism: activism driven
by the teachings of mindfulness.
The group attends conferences,
participates in marches and goes
on meditation retreats. In the
meeting I attended, they discussed
opening these retreats for non-
Buddhist member of the Ann
Arbor community who share their
passion for conservation.

“We do interfaith work, too

… we try to have meetings with
people from other religions,” Haju
said. “We don’t think Buddhism is
the only religion on the planet or
the most worthy.”

Involvement in the greater Ann

Arbor community is central to
the temple. Practice extends far
beyond the services.

“We say everyday life is the way;

the way of the Buddha is everyday
life; everyday life is the way of the
Buddha,” Haju said. Members of
the community agreed, saying
their practice was “not always
conscious.” Dog walks and grocery
store visits alike serve as everyday
reminders of mindfulness.

At lunch, I discuss the impact of

the temple outside the stone walls
with Haju and some of the temple’s
congregants as residents. The
great consensus is that it’s hard to
tell the difference between their
practice at Sunday services and in
their daily lives.

“It’s not about being here or not

being here,” one member said.

Others commented on the

joy that comes with having a
community that you can both
take from and give to. The
temple clearly has a strong, often
subconscious impact in the daily
lives of its members. In their
jobs, classes and social lives,
the members said “mindfulness
follows you everywhere.”

“This is not about some kind

of monastery that has nothing
to do with the secular world,”
Haju said, in reference to the
temple’s reach within the greater
Ann Arbor community. “It’s
about helping people so they
can contribute wholesomely and
ethically and artistically … to
community and society.”

As much as the temple helps

its members in their lives, it
helps them equally in their
deaths. Death is embraced as an
important and necessary event in
the lifecycle.

“We do not keep death under

cover,” Haju said. “We try to be
really open. It’s the nature of our
existence; there isn’t anybody
that doesn’t die. So if we embrace

that we die it means we have to
embrace that we’re living, that
we’re alive, because it makes our
lives so precious and important
while we have them.”

That
acceptance
of
death

can be extremely painful and
difficult and Haju acknowledges
that. “It feels like, ‘What can we
do?’ ” she said.

“So, during the time before

that they die, we just do all
the basic things — take them
soup and take them to hospital
appointments and do whatever
needs to be done,” she continued.
“And, then talk about this end
of life that they are approaching
and what they what to be done
and how they want things to be.

“Usually it’s very calming for

the mind and so there’s a sense
of being able to relax with the
journey.”

They aren’t afraid to “talk

about this end of life that they
are approaching” because honest
conversation can sometimes be
more
comforting
than
warm

soup or casseroles. “Usually (this
conversation) is very calming for
the mind and so there’s a sense
of being able to relax with the
journey,” Haju said.

For those left behind in the wake

of a death, the temple does offer
funeral and memorial services.
It usually includes a photo of the
deceased on the altar surrounded
by small items of importance to the
person; the community meditates
and chants to help the deceased
with
their
journey.
Services

continue in this manner for 49
days after their death.

“In Buddhism, we say it takes

49 days for the essence of a person
to find its next rightful place in the
universe,” Haju said. Services on
the 49th day are commemorated
as being the day the person’s spirit
finds a new home in the universe.

These memorial services extend

to the four-legged members of the
temple community as well.

“Dogs have died and people

of course love their animals,”
Haju said.

Because, no matter what,

death is a really difficult and for
many people a spiritual practice
can help with accepting death.
Especially when that spiritual
practice is contained within a
community like that of the Ann
Arbor Zen Buddhist Temple.
When the temple has these
services for the sick, dying or
deceased they are really, as Haju
puts it, “sending compassion,
sending strength and courage” to
the living left behind.

The community of the Zen

Buddhist temple manages to be
extremely tight-knit and at the
same time open, so new and old
members alike feel comfortable to
practice side by side. As

“The public is welcome to

the temple on Sundays, and we
certainly invite people who are
interested or curious to come
along,” Haju said. “And we’ll be
happy to have them experience the
service as well as answer questions
and all of that.”

The
Ann
Arbor
Buddhist

Temple, no matter where you come
from, takes you into its arms and
lets you, even if only for a morning,
experience the power of a purely
accepting community.

Community and
meditation in A2

‘Star Wars Episode II:
Attack of the Clones’

in this series, three daily arts writers in

varying states of mind do the same activity

and write about their experiences.

baked.buzzed.bored.

this week’s event:

When the hell is the Pizzzza coming? For fuck’s sake. This movie sucks so bad. I can’t stop laughing.

Y’all fuckin look like PS2. Look at this green screen. John Williams must be rolling in his grave. “He’s
dead” says matt. I literally cant believe how much of a Blade Runner ripoff this goddamn movie in. But it’s
not even as good. This just shows how great the force awakens really is. Literally nothing interesting has
happened in this movie and it’s bad.

20 minutes into Netflix and chill and Padme says “please don’t look at me like that.” (ACTUAL

LINE FROM THIS MOVIE ISN’T IT FUCKING ROMANTIC)

I would so much rather be watching the red letter media review than this. The

pizza got here, and it was literally the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

I’m so full but I just want to eat more of it. Can we talk about how

great food is?

“A kiss that you should never have given me…”

this movie sucks so bad. I’m actually appalled,

insulted even.

“Duel of the fates” started
playing. This is the best part of

the prequels. The only other things

I liked in this movie so far were the obi-

wan vs. djanfo unchained fight and the noise

the seismic chargers made. Everything else sucks.

Watto
is
definitely
a
jewish
gstereotype.

HEEEEEEEEYYYY ANNNNIIIIIEEEEEEE YOU GIVE ME

SHEKELSSSSS ( EDITORS LINK TO “IF I WERE A RICH MAN

FROM THE GREAT FILM FIDDLETR ON THE ROOF)

There’s this sequence where Anakin raids the Tuscan raiders camp and it’s

stolen completely from The Searchers (John Ford, who cares?) shot and all. George

lucas is such a remix xulture.

“Stay with me mom” no I want to die rather than talk to you more you little shit

Meesa no like this movie. Meesa want to die.

—DAILY ARTS WRITER

I actually haven’t seen this movie in a long time, now I’m

reminded why. As we sit down to watch the film, tensions

are already high as I watch the first few minutes of the

movie through smoke — unfortunately it didn’t block

the screen. Baked just started to fight me over

something (I think over how shitty Yoda looks).
He knocks over the chair I’m sitting in and I pin
him to the ground. Needless to say I won and
our fight choreography is better than most of
this movie’s.


I honestly forgot how boring this whole

assassination plot was. “I mean, a plan that
involves phallic death worms, an assassin lizard
woman and a speeder chase can’t be that boring,”

I think to myself as the cold, hard reality sets in.

And all of a sudden we’re dividing our main cast (for

how good of friends Anakin and Obi-Wan are supposed

to be, they sure don’t spend a lot of screentime together).

Also, why are we giving responsibility to Jar Jar Binks? That’s a

worse move than electing Donald Trump — or maybe Jar Jar is more like Sarah Palin with their unin-
telligible dialect. Thankfully the pizza has come to give us relief, thank the midichlorians!

Now we get to watch the cringe-inducing awkwardness of Anakin and Padme’s “romance.” Buzzed

is starting to drink whenever Anakin stares creepily at Padme, and I lament for his poor liver. We get
the iconic, “I hate sand” double entendre (poor Hayden Christensen, Daniel Day Lewis couldn’t make
that line work). Buzzed chugged his drink for the duration of that first kiss (note: that was hard liquor).
Now Anakin’s talking about dreaming about her every night, and I think Natalie Portman (who is gor-
geous in this movie) is genuinely uncomfortable. If anyone is in need of relationship remix, it’s Anakin
Skywalker — no means no, buddy. Oh well, nothing a little testicle cow riding can’t fix.

As much as I rip on this movie, the sound design for the seismic charge is a work of goddamn genius.

Unfortunately the rest of the dogfight between Obi-Wan and Jango Fett is ruined by Boba Fett provid-
ing commentary over the whole thing. Baked has decided to go to bed after Anakin’s nice little geno-
cide — Padme seems way too OK with this.

Let’s just get this over with. This movie is bad. It’s an overly complicated mess of weird names and

characters we never see, the dialogue is painful and hardly any of the special effects hold up (Yoda is
particularly bad). It’s like the filmmakers took Phantom Menace as a template, asked “What did we
do wrong?” kept those things and ruined anything that worked. Somehow, against all odds, they were
able to make a battle featuring like 100 Jedi boring and the final duels with Count Dooku (R.I.P. Chris-
topher Lee) are even worse. Just watch the two “Clone Wars” animated series that aired on Cartoon
Network, somehow these cartoons are more mature and realistic than this green screen mess.

—MATTHEW BARNAUSKAS

Yoda’s CG brown eyes still can’t sparkle with the sexual lustre

of Natalie Portman’s lip gloss. WAIT, Anakin has a RAT-TAIL?
Buns have never been hotter. Why does no one talk about how
sexy Obi-Wan is? God, I want to cut Jar Jar into sushi and eat him
with sriracha. This plan is so convoluted. Gratuitously sexual
assassin. Unnecessarily complex assassination plot. Say what you
want about hayden Christensen, the speeder scene is still dope
to the nines. Anakin’s enunciation is too goddamn good. Light-
saber used as pickaxe You’d think the Force would allow you to
maneuver through a crowd withoutr looking like a sexually con-
flicted goofball. Deathsticks scene: don’t do drugs, kids. Even the
moments of inspiration in this film are dopey. It’s trying to rip off
bladerunner but it’s joggin’ and trippin’. CG cheeks jiggle weirdly.
Are the women’s hair INTENTIONALLY stupid? Every time
Padme’s hair comes onscreen I feel like it should be announced by
the John Cena theme. “Please don’t look at me like that” — Padme,
to Anakin. No Netflix, no chill. If that kiss weren’t in the script, it
never would have happened. That come-hither look was game-
less. Anakin Skywalker is a masterclass in how NOT TO act when
you have absurd power as a young white cis jedi male. Chubby
loser nerd padawan answers important question. Wipe transi-
tions are the grape drank of cinema. Anakin is a White Knight
Nice Guy. He just said Milady, for crying out loud! Don’t play that
game Ani. You only want to tap that. I don’t like sand either Ana-
kin. “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the … sand.” Romance
scene in field. Is this a rom-com? Because go fuck yourselves.

You’re trying too hard. Seismic charge — the reapers noise in Mass Effect. Boba fett is Aussie? Okay, the
emotional shenanigans with respect to Anican’s mom’s death — key!

wHERE ARE WE? WHAT’S GOING ON NOW? MY AMERICAN ATTENTION SPAN CAN’T TOL-

ERATE THIS LACK OF ACTION.

—NOAH COHEN

COVER STORY

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