POST 314 WHERE IS THE SKULL OF RENE DESCARTES

POST 314 WHERE IS THE SKULL OF RENE DESCARTES

EAST WEST NEWSLETTER  (since 1997) www.eastwestcph.blogspot.com September 17, 2017 from Charles P. Hoang, Ph.D. Emeritus Professor of Research Methodology                                                                        Formerly with Union Institute &University (Cincinnati ,USA) and UQAM (Montreal, Canada) drstevenhogan@gmail.com ================================================== WHERE IS THE SKULL OF  RENÉ DESCARTES? On June 10, 2007, at the Trudeau Airport in Montreal I bought a book for my reading on the long travel to The Netherlands and Kazakhstan. Since the day I was back home that book stayed quietly in one corner of my private “CPH Library”. The truth is it was forgotten for about ten years. Last week while reorganizing some sections of my ‘library’ I fell on this forgotten book: DESCARTES’SECRET NOTEBOOK by Amir D. Aczel (published by Broadway Books, 2005, ISBN-13: 978-0-7679-2034-6;  and ISBN-10: 0-7679-2034-1). It was a great pleasure to me to reread the Introduction of this book and I now would like to share with you some following passages (page 8)      “I spent my days at the libraries and archives of Paris, researching material on Descartes and his work; I traveled to the locations at which he stayed or lived throughout Europe-Descartes was a great traveler who saw most of the continent... …But sometime in the middle of my search, I made a surprising discovery: Descartes had kept a secret notebook. I was now sitting at the heart of the area in which Descartes loved most to live whenever he was in Paris for longer stays -the then and-now-fashionable district of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Richard was talking fast about Descartes and history and Paris, but we were too often interrupted by the perpetual ring of his cell phone. I looked at the ancient church in front of us. I knew it was very old -its construction began in the sixth century. The church has a graceful tower, dating to the tenth century and still in its original state. It has a rustic kind of beauty, seen more often in churches in the French countryside, and in fact it used to be out in the fields, outside the city walls-hence the designation "des Prés".And I knew something else about this church: inside it is a crypt containing the remains of René Descartes. But the body of the great philosopher and mathematician -so revered by the French- lacks a head. Descartes'skull or rather a skull purported to be that of the philosopher ,is displayed elsewhere in Paris. Nothing about Descartes is simple, and nothing is what it seems, as I learned in my quest to understand Descartes and to uncover his secrets.” I guess some of you would ask how such a situation could happen to the remains of Descartes? Where is his skull? Descartes died on February 11, 1650 in Stockholm (Sweden) and was buried in the cemetery of the hospital for Orphans. Sixteen years later, on October 2, 1666, his body was exhumed and the remains arrived in France in January 1667 and were placed in the Chapel of Saint Paul in Paris. Probably the skull was already missing, before or during the travel. In 1819 the remains of Descartes were finally transferred to the crypt of the Church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. In 1821 a French baron, G. Curvier presented to the Musée de l’Homme in Paris the skull of Descartes he received from the famous Swedish chemist Baron Jons Jakob Berzelius (1779-1848). Berzelius told in a letter to Curvier that he bought the skull of Descartes at an auction in Stockholm and sent it to G. Curvier as a donation to the French nation so that it will “be placed with the other remains of the philosopher”. But for reasons that have never been explained, Curvier placed it on display in a museum…. I closed the book on Descartes, and closed my eyes.  Then I thought of several questions for me and one question for you…   Charles Phan Hoang, September 17, 2017

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POST 313 02SEPT2017 MOURNING PERIODS IN VIETNAMESE TRADITION - PICTURES OF KYOTO

POST 313 02SEPT2017
-EXERCISE Posture Thien, the Sky
-Text: THE MOURNING PERIODS IN VIETNAMESE TRADITION
- PICTURES OF KYOTO

EAST WEST NEWSLETTER  (since 1997) AUGUST 2017

 from Charles P. Hoang, Ph.D.

Emeritus Professor of Research Methodology                                                                        

Formerly with Union Institute &University (Cincinnati ,USA)

and UQAM (Montreal, Canada)

drstevenhogan@gmail.com ============================================================================== 

THE MOURNING PERIODS

IN VIETNAMESE TRADITION

To researchers who are interested in the field of Vietnamese tradition and custom I would like to indicate one of the most reliable sources which is the series of articles written in Vietnamese language and  published in the review Dong Duong Tap Chi, from issues 24 to 49 in 1915 , by Phan Ke Binh. Sixty years later, in 1975, it is translated in French language by Nicole LOUIS-HENARD and published in the format of large book by the respected ECOLE FRANCAISE D’EXTREME-ORIENT under the title MOEURS ET COUTUMES DU VIETNAM. I have checked with this book before writing the following note on the mourning time periods in Vietnamese tradition.

In Vietnamese tradition the mourning period of time for spouse or children of the deceased is called để tang and it is lasting for a period called ‘three years’ but in fact it is for two years and a few months. In practice the heavy mourning period lasts for the first 100 days and the light mourning lasts for the rest of time if it is observed by concerned people. During this heavy mourning period of 100 days spouse or children must observe the mourning code consisting of ceremonies to organize at home or at a Buddhist temple, and activities to avoid of doing such as participating to wedding event, initiating business project, performing music and dance, and so on. There are two important ceremonies which mark the two distinct periods inside these 100 days, as follows.

-The Forty-nine-day period (chung thất). During 49 days after the date of death, according to popular belief and the teaching in Buddhism, the soul of the deceased is in the period of searching the way to reincarnate, so the deceased is still present at home or nearby. Therefore meals should be presented morning and evening at the altar to the deceased. Sutras and mantras are recited most of the time. Some families could ask a Buddhist temple to carry out these ceremonies on their behalf. For some important deceased personality the reciting of sutras and mantras could be organized by a group of devoted people and monks to keep it continuous day and night up to seven days. Among sutras and mantras to be recited, the Kinh Sám Hối  Repentance sutra ,the  Bát Nhã Tâm Kinh Heart sutra, and the Chú Vãng Sanh Rebirth mantra, are the main texts, especially the Rebirth mantra. At the 49^th day an  important ceremony will be organized, often at a Buddhist temple, among family members close friends are also invited to participate in. Reciting sutras and mantras is core activity. After the ceremony people are often taking meals together. This ceremony is likely marking a farewell to the deceased. The deceased is now gone but the mourning period continues up to the 100^th day.  

   

-The 100^th Day ceremony (tốt khốc). From the 50^th day to the 100^th day family members of the deceased continue to observe the same rule of the previous mourning period regarding activities to be refrained from doing. However presenting meals at the altar of the deceased is no longer required. But as an act of remembering the deceased, the ceremony dâng hương (burning incense and bowing in front of the altar) must be performed daily and frequent visits to the grave is encouraged. In the end of the heavy mourning period, at the 100^th day,  a ceremony called tốt khốc will be organized at a Buddhist  temple or at home to recite sutras and mantras. The term tốt khốc means ‘end of  lamentation’; so after the 100^th day ceremony life resumes its normal course. But the mourning period  could continue in much less formal way up to ‘three years’, in a curious Vietnamese way of counting!

-The First Anniversary (giỗ đầu). This is an occasion to reunite family members and close friends for remembering the deceased all together. After the ceremony they will take meals together and continue to talk about memories of the deceased.

-The Second Anniversary (giỗ tất). This ceremony will be organized quite similarly to the previous ceremony. But the meaning is different , from now on the deceased will be part of the group of ancestors and every year he or she will be remembered, on his or her anniversary of death,  by a regular ceremony called giỗ reserved to ancestors who were counted up to five generation in a family.

Two or three months later after the Second Anniversary the mourning period will end, quietly or with a small ceremony called đoạn tang.

(Charles Phan Hoang, 2017)

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PICTURES OF KYOTO





I visited Kyoto for the first time in 1983 and the following pictures were taken  on my last visit.
Could I ask you to guess the date of my last visit????
Hope you enjoy visiting this Post 313.

 
DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS MY UNFORGETTABLE SOUVENIR FROM KYOTO?

-All these fabulous cakes!!!! You could never find these so good cakes in the rest of the world :-) 

 END OF POST 313 02SEPT2017