Cultural Visit: Exploring a New Culture and Life Adventuring - Essay Sample

Introduction

The cultural visit is an activity that surpasses artistic exploration. Cultural travel involves an amendment in the way of life. Fundamentally, cultural tourism does enhance life adventuring within a foreign culture. In this case, people acquire new levels of understanding and appreciating various cultures. Thus, cultural visitors depart their home environs to establish crave for being part of the culture they pay a visit. Primarily, culture mostly deals with people leaving within geographical touring sites rather than places or things. This paper highlights on incidents encountered with during a cultural visit in Atlanta. Cultural visiting involve touring in urban regions, specifically in historic and large cities not leaving sites equipped with cultural facilities like museums and theatres. In connection, cultural visiting can also include rural areas that exhibit traditions with aboriginal cultural communities as well as their way ways of living and core values.

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There are various significances associated with cultural visiting: economy and social interactions effected positively, the building of image and reinforcement of identity facilitated. Lastly, the visitors/travelers are in a position to learn the cultures of tourism areas - a cultural visit to Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical site (Historical landmark), SGI-USA Atlanta Buddhist Center (religious organization), Kadampa Meditation Center Georgia (a meditation center) and Atlanta Soto Zen Center (a meditation center).

Buddhism Religion

Buddhism is a form of religion named after the founder of the Buddha. Also, Buddhism is said to have two aspects of approach in life; religious aspect and philosophical doctrine. Approximately 500 million people are Buddhists who share and follow Buddhism, traditions, beliefs, and practices. Buddhism, as a religion, highlights physical and spiritual as a way liberating people from the physical world. The main objective of Buddhist is attaining nirvana and a condition with the fullness of peace that is genuine. Through the visit, I discovered that there are four types of Buddhism:

Theravada- it is the most ancient form of Buddhism, which is the authoritative school in Southeast Asia regions.

Mahayana Buddhism- mainly unfolds from Theravada tradition approximately 500 years since Buddha acquired the Enlightenment.

Vajrayana Buddhism- it is a form of Buddhism ensued in the Himalayas thus main religion of Bhutan and Mongolia.

Attended Ritual Services for Buddhism Religion

A ritual is a chronological order of activities that involve the application of gestures, words, and objects executed sequentially. Religion is a well-ordered troupe of beliefs, cultural systems, and worldwide opinions that associate with humankind for existence. Different religions hold on to their narratives, symbols as well as sacred historical backgrounds thus intending to give and elaborate more about meaning and origin of life or the universe. Religion is considered to establish phenomenon by identifying the cause, nature, and primary objective of the world most first the creation of the superhuman agency.

Buddhism as a religion has Buddhist scriptures which are regarded as sacred texts and also as studying objects, cultivating wisdom, compassionate acts, renouncement of materials acquired on the universe, the practice of meditation are a few of Buddhist practices. Buddhism rules developed from Buddha teachings identified as "dharma." Lessons included virtues like; Wisdom, kindness, patience, and generosity.

There are main sacred rituals and practices in Buddhism religion which are: meditation for mental attentiveness and being mindful of others, Mantras are holy sounds, Mudras are symbolic and hand gestures, Monasticism, Pilgrimage just a few to mention. Buddhists prohibit any form of killing living things.

Buddhists issue on disposal of the dead. Even though cremation of the dead is more of traditional, some rites would be carried out to the deceased by the monks in case they are present. Below are some of the Buddhism images we encountered at the religious site.

Cultural visit to Museum and sculpture garden is an African culture based site located in South Africa. A sculpture is a form of artwork that involves use of hard/ plastic materials to design free upright objects concerning surfaces, environments among others. Sculpture can be categorized into two: relief sculpture and sculpture in the round. In the process of making sculptures, there are three ways applied: modeling, carving, and joining.

Cultural visit to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. The site is the leading in the Southeastern United States. It is a division of the Woodruff Arts Center. In a visit to an art museum, there is a giant rubber dragon structured from tubing, ribbons colored with many colors and an animal skull following the Xhosa myth. Beneath tunnels used to transport grains. I also came across an artwork "Dissolving Continents," made of Aluminum and Copper. The Ghanaian artist portrayed the nature of how the continent dissolving process to be more appealing to the eye. The use of brown color makes it appear more of an earth surface with some patches implying that the earth is not uniform. Among the tools studied in class, I have been in a position to interpret the meaning of the art.

Paid a visit to Botanical Garden where there were fascinating and life moving biological structures. The Atlanta Botanical Garden was a magical place where we spent our evening hours after a long day at the Museum and the Buddhism historical sites. Lights displayed through the garden established a wonderland with dearest features like Radiant Rainforest.

Conclusion

In conclusion, through my cultural travel to the highlighted places, I have appreciated different cultural practices undertaken by different communities. It has come to my attention that cultures promote unity within community members since they all understand nature and have a meaning of life phenomenon occurrences.

Works Cited

Kirk, John A. "State of the Art: Martin Luther King, Jr." Journal of American Studies 38.2 (2004): 329-347. http://aliran-mulajadi-nabolon.perjanjian-baru.puisi-lucu.buddha-vajrayana.forumsingo.com/_lain.php?_lain=17737

Stoffle, Richard W., et al. "Calculating the cultural significance of American Indian plants: Paiute and Shoshone ethnobotany at Yucca Mountain, Nevada." American Anthropologist 92.2 (1990): 416-432. http://www.academia.edu/download/34663833/Calculating_Plants_Stoffle_1990.pdf