JAPN 391 ZEN AND CROSS-CULTURAL VALUES:
Retreat, Encounter, and Discover (July 21 – August 4)
Course Description:
This course offers you a retreat with activities and philosophy of Zen at UNL Cedar Point Biological Station. In this course, with a simple Japanese language practice, you will practice meditation by sitting, walking, and exercising on the beach of Lake McConaughy as well as in the nature trails around the station. Then, you will bring the experience back to the station and, with a daily topic question, analyze and discuss the experience against the philosophy behind the practices. We will also have weekend Zen activities such as creating arts and dishes. Through these, you will learn how to properly approach foreign culture and how to project and to realize your own vision of happiness for the future.
Benefits (skills):
- Fostering physical and mental health
- Increasing mind-body coordination
- Increasing focus
- Developing intercultural competence
- Developing the capacities of critical thinking & problem solving
Goals:
- Find ingredients of happiness as the goal of your life,
- Design happiness of your own
- Through exploring Zen culture and your own culture,
- Through developing intercultural competence
Objectives:
- Learning how to speak in simple Zen language.
- Learning how to meditate while sitting, walking, and exercising.
- Learning thoughts behind Zen practices.
- Creating Zen arts and Zen dishes.
- Learning how to approach thoughts and habits of foreign culture.
Activities:
- Zen language practices: basic Japanese language; Zen terms; Zen dialogues (Koan)
- Zen meditation practices: sitting; walking; exercising (martial arts)
- Zen arts practices: poems; calligraphies; paintings
- Zen dish practices: vegetarian dish with Japanese ingredients and flavorings; desserts
More details at: https://cedarpoint.unl.edu/zen-cross-cultural-values-retreat-encounter-and-discover