Stumptown Stories Weekly Lecture Series: Hindu and Chinese Mythology February 29, 2012

Every Tuesday, The Jack London hosts free lectures by the best and brightest in Portland on Oregon history, art, science and philosophy. Always fascinating and always free. 21+ only. Full bar. Full menu. This week, Kate Bruner will be speaking on various Asian mythologies, including Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Shinto, and other stories and beliefs. She will be discussing, among other ideas, the Hindu Trimurta, what an omphalos is, what orientation really means, where we get the word "thug", what Indiana Jones has to do with the death goddess Kali, the differences between Eastern and Western dragons, goddess worship in India, China, and Japan, why the Chinese have a woman in the moon and who she is and how she got there, Chinese alchemy, ancient beliefs about jade, the Chinese kitchen god, the Feast of Hungry Ghosts, avatars, and the Indus Valley civilizations of Harrapa and Mohenjo Jara.