Eight Fold Path Final Project Reflection

For my final project, I decided to worship my Christian God through doing Eight Fold Path Buddhist meditation. I created my own meditation activities for each step to worship my own God.
I believe that my God is omnipotent, saving, loving, and personal.

The Eight Fold Path is the Buddhist way of ending suffering, and it was laid out by Siddhartha Guatama. There 8 parts of the Eight Fold Path can be categorized into three main groups: Wisdom, Ethical Conduct, and Concentration

Step 1: RIGHT VIEW
Read favorite verses in the bible in a quiet place to get the right thoughts about Christianity and about God

Favorite Verses
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Revelation 3:20
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

Step 2: RIGHT THOUGHT 
Go to a subway station, sit down, and repeat mantra "Everyone is important because everyone is God's special and original creation" while watching people walking around in the subway station. 

Step 3: RIGHT SPEECH
Give compliments to everyone/anyone to realize the right thoughts and have the right speech

Step 4: RIGHT CONDUCT
Give help to others when people are in need of help (holding doors, helping on homework, giving advice) in order to do right conduct. Repeat mantra "Be selfless"

Step 5: RIGHT LIVELIHOOD
Teach kids/neighbor kids how to play games. Roll around in grass and appreciate nature and God's creations.

Step 6: RIGHT EFFORT
Greet others first to rid myself of shy-ness. Be friendly to others.

Step 7: RIGHT MINDFULNESS
Lie down on the floor in my room with no distractions and think/reflect about my day and how I can improve for the next day

Step 8: RIGHT CONCENTRATION
Make a detailed schedule for studying to have right concentration. Resist temptation to get distracted by my computer (Facebook). Focus on what needs to be done.

Insight:
From my meditation experience, I gained insights about God's love. Even though I don't think I will ever fully be able to understand the depths of God's love, I can now somewhat feel his love around me. When I did step 1, which was reading the bible in a quiet place, I read my favorite verses carefully. This helped me realize, understand and feel God's love. He loved us so much that he sacrificed his son for us. Also, He loves me so much that he is constantly knocking on my door, waiting for me to open the door for him.

I also gained insight on how to live the right way through doing steps 4, 7, and 8 which were helping others, reflecting to improve the next day, and making a detailed schedule to study. I realized that it's important to always have a heart to serve, and to put effort into living life, like Jesus did. When I live like this, it makes me happy, and it makes me feel useful and purposeful. I think that the purpose of life is to try to love others like God loves us, and experience the joy that comes from loving and doing good things.

The Spiritual Nature Of "Spirited Away"

There were several instances in the movie Spirited Away in which Shinto beliefs were portrayed. The first example of Shintoism in the movie was when Chihiro gets stuck to the ground and Haku recites a prayer, or an incantation to release her. Haku says "In the name of the wind and water within me, unbind her." In Japanese, prayers are called Norito, and they are essential to the Shinto belief. The second example of Shintoism in the movie was when the river spirit came to the bath house. When he first came, he was stinky and he was filled with trash such as bicycles, toilets, and etc. However, after Chihiro pulled all the junk out of him, he was just a kind mask. After the river spirit was all cleaned, he gave Chihiro a gift. Chihiro used the gift that the river spirit gave her to heal others around her. The gift from the river spirit was so potent because in the Shinto belief, purification or Hirai, is important. Purification comes from a natural source, so the river spirit is the natural source in this case. Purification is a recurring theme in this movie. The bath house was significant because bath houses are places for cleansing. Additionally, Haku was also a river spirit and Haku helped Chihiro through out her journey. As a result, he helped purify her.

Chihiro had to go on this spiritual journey because she had to bring her parents back to their human form. The initial reason why she stayed in the spirit realm was to save her parents. However, during her spiritual journey, she learned how to be selfless, kind, caring, and she also learned the importance of her true identity. Zeniba and Haku informed her that her true name was extremely important and they told her to never forget her real name. If she forgot her name, she would be stuck in the spiritual realm forever, without her true identity. Chihiro's beliefs were changed throughout her journey, and as a result of the change in her beliefs, her actions began to change. Initially, she only wanted to help her parents and she was scared of everybody else. However, during her journey, her beliefs changed and she began to help others more. For example, she helped No Face by being his friend. He also helped Lin and Haku, and she was kind to other characters such as Yubaba's baby.