Reflection

 

While reading the “Twenty-Seven way of looking at vision” article I found a few things that seemed to catch my attention. The Yolmo wa had an interesting take on vision as they stated that “much as a hand extended outward from the body can make tactile contact with an object, a person’s gaze can make contact with an object” as well. This fascinates me as what the Yolma wa have to say is quite correct, If we lay our eyes upon an object we are basically in contact with the object, person, or whatever thing it may be. For example, if I look someone in the eyes it is said that we made eye ‘contact’, which is exactly what the folks of Yolma are trying to preach and live by.

 

Another statement that caught my attention was made by Mheme’s son “it’s like a flashlight” referring back to our eyes, “just as a new batteries in a flashlight generate a strong beam of light, so early in life the eyes possess a strong power, and so one can see well. But  later in life the eyes get much weaker.” This makes absolute sense in terms of optics, as we tend to get older we seem to rely on optic lenses or contacts to correct our vision to see better or in terms of the Yolmo wa, create a stronger ‘contact’ with the respective object.

 

An interesting distinction was also made within the article as the Yolmo wa tend to use the word ‘Sem’ to describe both intentional and unintentional means of perceiving an object, person, place etc. ‘Sem by my understanding basically referred to the vision of the heart ? I am still a bit unsure on that but from my understanding the ‘sem’ is fictional, not in terms of fake, but in the sense that its not visible yet powerful. The distinction that was made was between the act of seeing and looking. If one were to open his/her eyes I believe the article is saying that we are just seeing the wide range of visual data, but if we were to focus in on an object then we are looking at that particular object with our ‘sem’. I found this interesting as we do this everyday of our lives, we either focus on something or nothing in particular.

 

Last but not least I found two statements made by the Yolmo wa in the article that I could relate to one hundred percent coming from a Hindu background. When I was younger and up until today my mother tells me not to stare at ones food while they are eating as it is said that your giving a ‘Gandi Nazar’ (Bad Vision) upon ones food. Just like my mother the Yolmo wa preached similar things, they believe that if someone stares at your food while your eating it, they put some type of omen or curse on it and as you eat you will get sick and something bad will occur in your immediate life. I found this interesting because I always knew that Buddhism spurred from Hinduism, but never really knew that so many similarities can be observed. The second statement that fascinated me was the fact that “Yolmo wa often speak figuratively of being ashamed or dishonoured  as an act of having one’s nose ‘cut’”, similarly within India we also tend to use the same statement in terms of dishonour and shame.

 

In conclusion the article was great and fun to read. Please get back to me as I am still a bit unsure on how to write these reflections. Hope all is well !