Canada Travelogue 5 - Spiritualism in a strange place

First place I visited in Calgary was the Glenbow museum. Entrance fee is CAD $15. There weren't many people around but there was a gang of school kids inside an auditorium on the ground floor.

The section I stepped into on the first floor had paintings based on the history about the First Nations (the original people who lived in Canada were earlier called 'Indians') - how they were dependent on the bison (buffalo) for everything in life, the extinction of the buffalo, the First Nations' Treaties with the British and the search for occupying more land (trying to reach the borders along the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic Oceans). There were some good scenic paintings in this lot.

Religion

I then landed in the Art of Asia exhibition hall which had a dimmed light at the entrance. Inside it was filled with sculptures and statues; first was the Buddha with the mudra that we are used to seeing often - mudras are hand gestures and the abhaya mudra is the one people use for blessing someone (palm outward, fingers straight up); it signifies freedom from fear. 

Going further down, there was a statue of goddess Kali standing on top of god Shiva (the destroyer) from whom she gets her energy - she has four arms and a garland of human heads around her neck - symbolising that the human body is temporary and can be destroyed. She stands for victory over ego. The description beside each of the artifacts was very informative.

A few exhibits were on the rivers and goddesses Ganga and Yamuna. Water is used for cleansing and that's why many temples have a water tank/pond in front of them.

Buddha's enlightenment

There was an emaciated Buddha statue whose ribs and bones could be seen; Buddha went on the path of austerity by starving for six years in the hope of finding truth/enlightenment. But even then he didn't and so realized that this wasn't the right path. The statue depicted the moment he decided to give up austerity. It was after this that he had the encounter with Mara; nearby was the statue of Mara - a demon who tried to tempt Buddha during his meditation. He took the form of a beautiful lady to tempt Buddha. It didn't work and he tried to create fear in Buddha by using his army to shoot arrows at him but the Buddha responded with the 'bhumisparsha mudra' (touching the earth) - a sign of resistance and telling the Earth to witness his deed. Temptation and fear, two very powerful emotions in us. Buddha was now enlightened.

Explanations of the mudras here: http://www.buddhas-online.com/mudras.html

In one corner of the hall, the sight of a large life size Buddha statue was comforting and reassuring. Ideally placed was a bench right in front of that statue. The lighting in this section was great - not too bright and not too dark; created that perfect meditative and introspective atmosphere. Since there were not many people and even the few that came passed by quickly, you could just sit in a trance as long as you wanted. There were some security guards moving around but they were unobtrusive to visitors.

Other displays and explanations

There were some exhibits about Amida Buddha - one branch of Buddhism that believes in the concept of a 'Pure Land'. One statue was of Tirthankara - this is part of Jainism; looked very similar to the Buddha sculptures except that they have a diamond shape object on their chest. There was a display of the Palden Lhamo - a wrathful deity from Tibet to symbolize strength over negative emotions like jealousy, hatred, desire and ego.

There were write-ups about the use of deities and images for prayers - many people think hinduism is about worshiping idols alone; but the reason for having idols is that during prayers/rituals it is believed that the Gods would actually be present in the idols. There are also reasons why there are so many gods in Hinduism - the idea being to represent all materialistic things as God so that when man goes in pursuit of any of these, man thinks of the respective God. Unfortunately nowadays we get lost in focussing so much on the material part of life that we forget everything else that matters.

Fighting inside and outside

All the displays within the Asian section had some commonalities (be it from Japan or Cambodia or Thailand or India) - freedom from fear/desire, going above the ego/self and realizing the fragility/temporary nature of the human body. Just witnessing the exhibits gave me calmness within and even goosebumps - wonderfully displayed and good descriptions.

The fourth floor had a section about West Africa that included a few exhibits on Yoruba cosmology - Yoruba are people from the Nigerian area; their beliefs are interesting - they believe in destiny, cycle of life and death, they believe everything in death merges to one, they believe thoughts/actions of each person interact with others including the Earth. Kind of similar to the Asian beliefs.

There was another section in the museum that described wars - pages, squires, knights, war strategies (like forming a square against a cavalry attack), guns, cannons, mustard gas for blindness, archers and death. After seeing the section on religion, one will wonder why we lose lives in war when there are so many other things to overcome in life. Why are we fighting outside when there is so much unexplored inside?