Recently in Eastern Religion Category

This Good Karma Flag illustrates an informative meditation on the genetic effects of the relaxation response.

The research team looked at long-term practitioners of mind-body exercises, a group of controls, and a third group that they trained in guided relaxation techniques, using 20 minutes each day of practice. The long-term practitioners were a diverse group, including practitioners of ‘Vipassna, mantra, mindfulness or transcendental meditation, breath focus, Kripalu or Kundalini Yoga, and repetitive prayer.’

A large number of genes seemed to be affected, with significant overlaps between the long-term and short-term practitioners. 260 genes were up-regulated and 168 genes were down-regulated in both the group of long-term practitioners and the group given short-term training. As the article reports: ‘they represent GEP changes characteristic of RR practice over at least 8 weeks.’ Some of the gene changes seem to cluster in genes expressed in hematopoietic cells, those linked to blood formation, and in genes linked to stress, oxidative metabolism, and primary metabolism. As the abstract reports: ‘gene ontology and gene set enrichment analyses revealed significant alterations in cellular metabolism, oxidative phosphorylation, generation of reactive oxygen species and response to oxidative stress.’

The researchers found that relaxation response was a kind of reversal of the genetic and cellular stress response. As the Discussion of the article suggests, ‘It is becoming increasingly clear that psychosocial stress can manifest as system-wide perturbations of cellular processes, generally increasing oxidative stress and promoting a pro-inflammatory milieu.’ In contrast, their analysis of relaxation response ‘reveals altered gene expression in specific functional groups which suggest a greater capacity to respond to oxidative stress and the associated cellular damage. Genes including COX7B, UQCRB and CASP2 change in opposite direction from that in the stress response.’

Catholicism has a rich tradition of integrating sensory experience with religious worship. This Italian ad campaign, however, looks to a more Eastern tradition for its holistic imagery.

I'd planned to be out of town at a conference all weekend, so I didn't make any arrangements to attend NYC's World Science Festival, which is being ably chronicled over at Science Fair. Alas, the events I'd wanted to see are sold out, and in my infinite wisdom the very time I'd chosen to drop by the Street Fair at Washington Square Park was during the thunderstorm. Still, it was cool to see the little kids with their galactic face paint--as well as the Park's atheist protestor who, given the immediate context, seemed a bit redundant.

On the way to the Fair, I had a religious experience of another sort, this time at the Madison Square Park Kids Fest. The event announced as I walked through: Karma Kids Story Time Yoga. Which got me thinking of the question I'd ask if I were a precocious Karma Kid--namely, if reality is an illusion, why do I have to go to school?

Taking the culture of personal production one level higher, in this spiritual clay sex kit you create your own instructors.

But if the whole clay thing is too earthy for you, Kama3D provides a comprehensive set of virtual Kama Sutra sexual position sculptures for your spiritual edification.

Congratulations to Mok & Paul at Eyeteeth, which has one of the most informative wedding blog write-ups I've seen, chock full of insight into the religious significance of Thai wedding traditions and a nice image of global spirituality.

Without, thankfully, the traditional Web 1.0 MIDI accompaniment.

Just in time from Valentine's Day, Sugah! offers this line of chocolates designed to reflect seven different--and distinctly NSFW--positions from the Kama Sutra. Of course, if you're reading this blog, I'm sure you're only interested in its religious significance:

Tantra is the philosophy of Spirituality, art and science that has eroticism at its core. Like our approach to chocolate, the Tantric approach to life is joyful and sensual.

Chocolate has long been heralded for its aphrodisiacal qualities. Ancient Tantric teachings have long been used to spice up new and old relationships. Take your lovemaking to new heights and treat yourself and your partner to a little something more than some fine chocolate with our tantric tablet collection.

One of my favorite Socratic dialogues is the Euthydemus, in which Plato explores the link between words and things. One of the limitations of language highlighted in the wordplay of this text is the way that one word can mean different things.

For instance, take the classical Greek verb "porneuo." In English we translate this most directly as "to prostitute", with its most common usage in the passive voice signifying "to engage in prostitution." Yet if we look at the most ubiquitous English cognate--porn--we find that it is rarely if ever used in reference to people classed as prostitutes, either by law or convention, despite the fact that any number of people depicted in pornography are doing so for money. Indeed, depending on the jurisdiction or observer the person depicted in the image need not be engaged in a sexual act at all; mere exposure of certain body parts may suffice.

Then there are other languages in which the word porn has no reference to sex at all--and that's the story behind the picture above. Design blog Eyeteeth explains:

One of the reasons my wife Mok goes by her nickname is that in the U.S. she's sometimes met with snickers when she says her given name: Julaporn.

But in Thailand, the word "porn" has a very different meaning. It's the name of the king's daughter (and technically, no one else is supposed to use it) and means "silk." Often a part of women's names, "porn" is a formal and somewhat antiquated word for a blessing from God. So the name literally refers to the ceremonial silk one would present to monks at a Buddhist temple: prayer silk, if you will.

For a complete explanation of Julaporn's neon sign, check out the rest of this enlightening post!

"With this--necklace?--I thee wed."  That's the headline of this USA Today article discussing a recent engagement and wedding trend:  forsaking the traditional rings in favor of more personally meaningful jewelry.  Above is one such item--the Double Face Unity Medallion, with the couple echoing the yin and yang of the tao.

The article doesn't go into spiritual adornment in depth, but I can't resist mentioning this quote regarding a woman who chose to memorialize her marriage with a necklace:

"She was married in a choker," Delaney says. "On their 20th anniversary, she'll just wrap it around and around."

The big question is, whose neck?

Hat tip:  the divine Ms. Emick

For Communist revolutionary Mao Zedong, religion was the opiate of the people.  Now that Mao is dead, however, he has for some of his more devout followers become an object of religious veneration. 

Pictured here:  a Mao pendant often used as a safety charm, akin to the Catholic St. Christopher's medal.  For more on Mao as a pop culture icon, check out this article on Mao trinkets from today's New York Times.

Abe Kenji is a Japanese swami with a peculiar talent:  he can transform silver jewelry into gold & materialize diamonds out of thin air.  This article chronicles the Swami's awakening to divine alchemy and ponders what kind of otherworldly stone could be neither diamond nor glass.  Whatever it is, the reporter knows it's miraculous because

I tested it with my dowsing rod and the energy was stronger than my quartz crystals.

And who can argue with the techology that the U.S. government just might be using to find Usama bin Laden?