Wednesday, 7/25

Well I did do some stuff today, after a very interesting class on Chan Buddhism, the major form of Buddhism found in China (about 90% of all Chinese Buddhists are of the Chan school.) I have wandered all over the map with my own religious philosophy in the last 25 years or so, since my father's death. There is a lot to like about the simplicity of Buddhism, but I need to know a lot more about the philosophy before I make an serious changes to my life, but it is a good thing to learn as much as you can about other faiths and philosophies.

We finished around 12:15, and I went back to the dorm to drop off my briefcase/book bag, then headed out by myself to go to the Iolani Palace and the Mission Houses. I had been to the Iolani Palace before and it was worth going to see again for just $13 bucks. Then I walked down the streets, took pictures of the King Kamehameha statute in front of the courthouse (better known to lots of people as the HQ of Hawaii 5-0, both the original series and what I think is the very good remake) and headed to the Mission Houses Museum. I arrived around 2:45, and I was the last person to get on the last tour at 3pm. Okay, I was the only person to be on the 3 o'clock tour, and since they asked what I did, and I mentioned I was a college professor who taught history, I got a very personalized tour of the oldest Western structures in the Hawaiian islands (dating back to the 1820s-1840s). It was a fascinating insight into the life of white missionaries (almost all Congregationalists from New England) who came in 1821 and pretty much worked through the late 1840s (though the last missionaries left in the 1860s). Interesting, the first newspaper west of the Mississippi was likely printed in Hawaii, the first book printed and bound west of the Mississippi was in Hawaii, and from the tour guide (who was the director of public relations) the Hawaiian islands had a literacy rate over 70% by 1870, one of the highest literacy rates in the world during the 19th century, a rate that increased to nearly 90% bu the 1890s.

http://www.iolanipalace.org/
http://www.missionhouses.org/

Anyway, I found it very interesting, though a little biased. There was no mention of the banning of hula and other traditional practices by the Christianized royal court and missionaries, no discussion in Christianity as being an unwanted religious faith in the islands. It's a complicated story, but it is also interesting that it was missionaries who gave Hawaii its first written alphabet (prior to the arrival of Europeans, there was no written form of Hawaiian) and how that alphabet changed over time from 17 letters down to the current 12.

After that approximately hour long tour, I went by the 1st church established by the missionaries, made from coral blocks (totally illegal today), a tomb of a royal king, and then caught the bus and stopped by the Ala Moana Mall and Barnes & Noble. Picked up a book, a magazine, then got on the bus (though the first time in the wrong direction, though the right bus #) and stopped by the French bakery up in the Moana Marketplace, then walked back to the dorm around 6:30. Made some dinner, started some laundry (tomorrow will be a week here in the islands), and now relaxing and writing this update.

Tomorrow is a double class day: Chinese history in the morning, Chinese literature in the afternoon. Next week is Japanese stuff. Friday, I believe, is the first lecture on Chinese art. However, I think this weekend I will be staying around the dorms and working on my dissertation chapter I should have finished before I left for Hawaii. Not a lot of fun, but I still have one more full weekend and a couple of afternoons do to some more exploring.

Pictures from today will be in the next post...