Power relations have had a significant impact on communities throughout history. For some communities, power relations proved to be beneficial and allowed the communities to prosper. For other communities, power ultimately led to war and major changes. The main factor that differentiates the two above scenarios is the group which had the most power. For this reason, identifying which group has the most power is extremely important. In this essay, I will examine a ceremony that was performed at the Buddhist temple “Fo Guang Shan” in an attempt to determine which group is the most powerful. By examining the order in which members of the temple performed rituals using Louis Althusser theory of the ideological state apparatus, the monks who sit …show more content…
The robes that were worn by the monk sitting at the highest position off of the ground were a bright shade of yellow and orange. Also, I noticed all of the walls were a bright white color and doorways were covered in a very shiny gold-like metal. During the prayers many references to brightly colored objects, such as fire, lamps that would guide the user, and red and yellow banners that would either bring happiness and peace or remove bad omens, were made. Brightly lit candles that were used to pray for good health of members of the temple, were also prevalent in many areas throughout the building. The outside of the building was also red with red pillars, yellow highlights, and an orange roof. A bright, gold colored bell was also displayed outside of the …show more content…
One possible limitation was the language barrier that occurred. An example of this was that the written prayers had been translated from a language I did not understand into modern English. As Nye points out, not all languages have words with the same meaning, which can lead to multiple interpretations of the word. This may have happened in the text that I was reading, where a certain word may have been used in the text that did not have a clear translation in English. If this had occurred some of the meanings of the prayers may have been diluted or changed entirely. Another example was that some of the signs that were posted on the bulletin board as well as on certain signs were only written in a language that I did not understand and did not have an English translation. This made it impossible for me to obtain the meaning of the notes and signs which may have affected my observations. Also, the site was only visited one time. This may have affected the observations if an accident or an unplanned for event had occurred. For example, during my visit a machine was given to me that would repeat the ending discourse in English, but the machine was unable to pick up on the signal on that day and so it did not work. This may have also happened in other areas of the ceremony, but in less obvious ways, such as the main monk may have been sick and therefore was unable to come.