Learn English with the News: “Karma and snacks”

Konnichiwa!

(that’s hello in Japanese).

So we all know about good and bad karma, right? But this artist has taken it to a whole new level: food.

1. Read the text
2. Understand the vocabulary
3. Watch the news

Text

How about a little good karma with that snack? Artist Koshi Kawachi is offering just that. The artist carves images of Buddhas into these corn sticks, using what looks like a dental tool.

– The Buddha simply exists inside it and what I am doing is just carving the shape out. My mind is empty when I look at the snack and carve.

Kawachi was inspired by a 17th century Japanese Buddhist monk named Enku, who sculpted Buddha out of wooden sticks and then gave the statues to people who took care of him.

– What’s great about using snacks is that it is just a snack. If you use stone or metal, it becomes kind of preachy, a bit like a sermon you don’t want to listen to. It starts to become authoritative and you go ‘ehh’. But if it is a snack, people will just say it is a snack and it becomes casual.

But these divine delights come at a price. Kawachi is hoping to get 300 thousand yen – that’s about 3000 U.S. dollars – for the lot. Luckily he says, there’s enough oil and salt to keep these crunchy until an enlightened buyer comes along.

Vocabulary

Offering – to give someone the opportunity to accept or take (something).

Carves – to make (something, such as a sculpture or design) by cutting off pieces of the material it is made of.

Dental – of or relating to teeth or to the work dentists do.

Sculpted – carved or molded into a particular shape from wood, stone, clay, etc. .

Preachy – trying to teach something (such as proper or moral behavior) in a way that is annoying or unwanted.

Sermon – a speech about a moral or religious subject that is usually given by a religious leader.

Divine – relating to or coming from God or a god.

Delights – something that makes you very happy : something that gives you great pleasure or satisfaction.

Crunchy – having a hard texture and making a loud sound when chewed or crushed : not soft or mushy.

Enlightened – having or showing a good understanding of how people should be treated : not ignorant or narrow in thinking.

News