The Rubin Museum was an interesting experience in that it focused on sound, the art of sound. Just traveling from floor to floor in that museum, one could experience the exhibition “The World is Sound.” I had a hard time believing that as I was traveling from floor to floor up the spiral staircase in the museum that the different sounds that I was hearing were actually being emitted from one source. When I first entered the museum I was in this frantic mood because I thought I was going to be late so I ran from the train station; however, as I was exploring the museum and was really just trying to focus on the sounds, I became very calm and zen. I especially enjoyed sitting in the ‘OM’ room. It was very soothing and an unusual setting because all that was required in that room was to listen to human voices pronouncing the word “OM.”
Our tour guide was amazing. She knew so much information and was very enthusiastic when she was teaching and explaining things. My favorite moment was when she asked the class which gender in Buddhism represents wisdom and compassion. The class unanimously agreed that males represent wisdom while women represent compassion. Our tour guide chuckled and said that it is actually the other way around. Women represent wisdom, while men represent compassion. I had this ineffable feeling go through my body when I heard this. To learn that the stereotype of men and women did not comply with the laws of Buddhism was a nice change because in all my history classes in high school it was always women who were portrayed as weak and emotional, while men were seen as brave and intellectuals.
