Weekend Up...

[wolven7]

I read over 200 pages of dense Zen Text, in the past two days, and my brain hurts. Party was ok. Lots of drinking and people i haven't seen in a while. Got some damned interesting news. Will talk about that, and the other realisations, later.

Reading Shinto texts, you find some interesting Orphean Parallels, in the story of Izanami and Izanagi, and the travel to the underworld. Still no real clue as to why blood is so taboo. It is, literally, the life; it keeps you a live, and sustains the flesh, which is Kami, and is revered, so why is blood a bad thing? Eh. Anywho.

Later

Comments

[mahajarabali.livejournal.com]

blood is a bad thing if its contaminated.. might be there's some racial memory there.

Re:

[wolven.livejournal.com]

It's possible. But, even still... Adaptability and tradition are the watch-words of Japanese culture and religions. If blood can be shown as the life-giving, purifying element it Can Be, then, hopefully, there won't be as many censures, against it.

Unfortunately, that leaves the door open for over-compensation, which also happens, in cultures, sometimes. Then there's the problem of ritual blood-letting... and things could get strange.

Oh well.

[unknownbinaries.livejournal.com]

Orphean, Ishtar-ian, shamanic...Happens a lot. *peeks down the Hallway that has mysteriously appeared in her .

Re:

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Yes. They're clasic stories, so you find them places. The Japanese aren't recorded to have seen Greeks, which only aids a level of synchornicity, and lends the story a life of its own. :)

[mendori.livejournal.com]

Well of course, you have hit the nail on the head as to why in the Kosher tradition it is forbidden to eat flesh that has not been drained of blood.

Gen 9:4 "But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man."

Which is of course God speaking right after he has given the notorious comandment in 9:3 "Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything."

But why? The only real explination seems to be given much later on, in the all consuming Lev 17.

Lev 17:13"Whatever man of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who hunts and catches any animal or bird that may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with dust; \
Lev 17:14 for it is the life of all flesh. Its blood sustains its life. Therefore I said to the children of Israel, "You shall not eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.'

Given the ritual significance of blood in sacrifical practices at the time, this makes perfect sense. Blood is used to anoint the holy altar, offering the accounting of the life of the sacrifical animal on the altar. It is not that blood purifies, here, but instead, it signifies the very life of the animal. And along with the "Thou shalt not murder" (note I say murder, not kill, there is a difference), the forbiden eating of blood makes perfect sense. To eat blood is to litterally eat life - something which is forbiden. If the life is not accounted for (ie spilled out) then it is a murder, a killing kept secret, even if it is an animal.

Re:

[mendori.livejournal.com]

Btw - I agree completely about that weird parallel with Orphaeus. It gave me the creepies, too.

And yes, that much Zen can Hurt your brain. Of course, how can it hurt your brain, when both the hurt, the text, and your brain, are all illusions created by attachment?

I'm sorry, that was mean.

Re:

[wolven.livejournal.com]

There is only the sensation of realisaation as one reaches closer to enlightenment. Which is a feeling not unlike your brain hurting. :P

Re:

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Yeah, i dig the Rabinical, wandering-though-the-desert-for-forty-years reasons, those make Perfect sense. I'm simply wondering, in Shinto, because there Arn't any direct Statment's like that, to say "OH! THAT'S Why!" You have to simply take it as "The Gods Say So." Which, for some people, is more than enough.

If that were me, though, i wouldn't be who i am, today.

Re:

[mendori.livejournal.com]

I suppose it more has to do with the nature of the Kami as compared to the J/C god. The Kami are, for the most part, not really interested in Humans except for what they can get out of them or do to them. Not all are malicious, but a good portion of them are what I would dub as opportunistic. They dont really seem to have a set of rules - its more a set of guidelines.
However, on the whole, they seem to be opposed to humans doing violence to nature, though they can be passified into ignoring it if it is for the greater good. Most malicious Kami (lesser ones, at least) are created through violence (the story of the woman with the snake Kami, for intance), while the greater ones exist because of the "malicious" acts of a larger scale.
But again, the Kami are more gods of utility than of necessity. If one works, worship it. If it doesnt, try another. Just be sure you dont piss off the other one in the process.

Re:

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Also true, which is the thing i do like best about them. :)

[bakeneko.livejournal.com]

I belive that the idea is : "blood is sacred. So leave it where it fucking is. If you move it from it's prober place, and get it on you, that's bad" Also, keep in mind that the japanese diet traditionally consists of vegetables, rice, and fish, which have no blood as they would have recognized it.

Re:

[wolven.livejournal.com]

This is also true. Hmm.