I was always fascinated in the Buddhist religion and this class assignment was a great opportunity for me to take advantage of my curiosity. I decided I would visit a Buddhist center. With the company of my mother, I went to the Diamond Way Buddhist Center in Miami. According to my interview with the Buddhist that instructed the meditation service, every Monday and Friday they have a meditation service for the 16th Karmapa meditation from 8:00pm to 8:30pm. This center is part of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism (Anonymous). Upon arriving, I realized that it was in someone’s home. Many Buddhist offer their homes for Buddhist centers and are unpaid for their services. However, they do accept donations. Before entering the house, we had to remove our shoes. When we entered I could smell the scent of incense burning. As presented in World-Faiths, removing your shoes before entering a Buddhist center or temple is a form of worship. Also, incense and candles are used to represent Buddha’s enlightenment (World-Faiths). A man and a woman led us to a small room. The man wore jeans and a regular t-shirt and the women wore a colorful dress reaching her knees. The man later told us that he typically didn’t wear jeans, instead he is generally in a more relaxed and comfortable attire. In the small room, there were four quilts laid out on the floor with cushions to sit on. All of the small quilts faced one wall, which contained three statues and a couple of pictures. On the left side of the wall was a statue of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha. As stated in an article in World-Faiths, Buddhism was established upon Siddhartha’s teachings. He was an Indian prince who began his spiritual journey when he was 29 years old. After six years, he rea... ... middle of paper ... ...earn how to be completely aware of my surroundings in order to experience the serenity that comes with meditation. Overall, my experience of the Buddhist religion was very eye-opening. Not only did I get to acquire more knowledge on the Buddhist way of life, but I also got to practice the traditions and rituals of a different culture outside of my own. Works Cited Anonymous. Personal interview. 30 Sept. 2013. "Buddhism." World-faiths. J.Cordeaux 2001, n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2013. Deleanu, Florin. "Agnostic Meditations On Buddhist Meditation." Zygon: Journal Of Religion & Science 45.3 (2010): 605-626. Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. DiamondWay. Diamond Way Buddhist Centers USA, 2013. n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2013. Kunz, Sandra Costen. "A Buddhist in the Classroom." Buddhist-Christian Studies 31 (2011): 231+. Religion and Philosophy Collection. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
I arrived at the Hsi Lai Temple in the city of Hacienda Heights around 3:00 p.m. on March 7, 2014. Although I am Chinese, I have never been to this temple before because my family does not practice Buddhism. This is my first time collecting data about the His Lai Temple. This method is referred to as participant-observation which is, “the anthropological method of collecting data by living with another people, learning their language, and understanding their culture” (Arenson and Miller-Thayer 521). The temple is built on a hill top. After driving up the long hill into the parking lot, I found that before entering the temple, I walked up many stairs. In the brochure For Guang Shan Hsi Lai Temple, it said that the name Hsi Lai stands for “coming to the West”. The temple, which was founded by Venerable Master Hsing Yun, signifies the dedication of Taiwan’s largest Buddhist organizations called the Fo Guang Shan. It took ten years to build the temple and was completed in 1988. This $30 million Temple on 15 acres of land was financed by donations from Buddhist devotees from around the worlds.
Yu, Han. “Memorial on Buddhism”. Making of the Modern World 12: Classical & Medieval Tradition. Trans. Richard F. Burton. Ed. Janet Smarr. La Jolla: University Readers, 2012. 111-112. Print.
Walking into the Hall of the Buddhas, there was a sense of peace and guidance lingering inside me. The seated Bodhisattva, of the Northern Wei dynasty (386-534), CA.480, from the Yungang, Cave xv, Shani Province, made of sandstone, guarded the entrance. At first, I thought it was a time to be disciplined, but the transcending smile from the statue was a delicate fixed gesture that offered a feeling of welcome. It was not a place to confess your wrongdoings; neither was it a place for me to say, “Buddha I have sinned.” It was a room to purify the mind, the mind that we take for granted without giving it harmony. There was a large mural decorating the main wall called “The Paradise of Bhaishajyaguru”(916-1125). I sat down wandering if the artist of the portrait knew that his work would one day be shared on this side of the world, in my time. Much like Jesus Christ and his followers, the mural is a painting of healers and saviors. It was a large figure of the Buddha of medicine, (Bhaishajyaquru) surrounded by followers of Bodhisattvas, Avalokiteshvara, and Mahosthamaprapta with twelve guardian generals who have pledged to disseminate the Buddha’s teaching (Tradition of Liao 916-1125, Metropolitan Museum wall plaque).
Buddhism is considered as one of the leading religions throughout the world today. In order for a Buddhist to follow the religion, there are certain set of guidelines that one has to follow to gain a better life, but most people have other factors that they have to face along this path. The story, “The Journey of One Buddhist Nun” by Sid Brown, is an account of a Thai woman, Maechi Wabi, who entered a spiritual life along with life struggles and outside influences. According to Brown, Wabi faced many challenges along the way to liberation and two challenges she faced most are the gender and socioeconomic issues which she overcame during her spiritual journey.
24 Amore, Roy C. and Julia Ching. The Buddhist Tradition. In Willard G. Oxtoby, Ed. World Religions: Eastern Traditions. P. 221
Menn, Stephen. “The Problem of the Third Meditation.” American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly. Edited by Robert E. Wood. Volume 67. American Catholic Philosophical Association: Washington DC. 1993. 537-559.
On Sunday, September 8, 2013, I visited the Wat Buddharangsi Buddhist temple of Miami in Homestead. Every Sunday, they present a meditation service in English for two hours from three to five in the afternoon. Once I parked, the place of ritual was conveniently located across the parking lot. There was a shoe rack outside of the temple. Before I came to this temple, I read the guidelines from their website. The requirements for new guests are to remove your shoes before entering inside. Therefore, when I saw the shoe rack, I was not in shock. I was relieved to see that the temple provided a neat spot to place shoes rather than having them scattered on the floor.
Descartes, Rene. “Meditation I & Meditation II”. Discourse on the Method and Meditations on First Philosophy. Yale University Press., 1996.
Meditation is an age-old practice that has renewed itself in many different cultures and times. Despite its age, however, there remains a mystery and some ambiguity as to what it is, or even how one performs it. The practice and tradition of meditation dates back thousands of years having appeared in many eastern traditions. Meditation’s ancient roots cloud its origins from being attributed to a sole inventor or religion, though Bon, Hindu, Shinto, Dao, and later, Buddhism are responsible for its development. Its practice has permeated almost all major world religions, but under different names. It has become a practice without borders, influencing millions with its tranquil and healing effects.
The book Buddhism Plain and Simple, by Steve Hagen, caught my attention and became more interesting to me than I thought. I have always heard of the religion Buddhism, but I never knew what it was all about. I never thought that Buddhism was as huge as it is. I knew that it existed in other countries, but I never knew what exact countries. Many of the views in this book surprised me and the book taught me a lot about morals and better ways to live your life. The word “ Awareness” is talked heavily all through this book. For Buddhists, this is probably the most important aspect in their religion.
Siddhartha Gautama is famously known as Gautama Buddha and was the founder of the idea of Buddhism. The Buddha was known to possess supernatural powers and abilities. He was born in the holy land of Nepal and his journey began in India when he decided to travel and teach himself about life. In the midst of his journey, he discovered Buddhism after he experienced a profound realization of the nature of life, death and existence. Buddhism became a religion based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama and since then Buddhism has been popular throughout many civilizations. Buddhism is now one of the most ancient religions in the world, where people follow Buddha, which stand for “awakened one,” and Buddhism which has gained popularity because of the teachings of the Buddha.
"Basics of Buddhism." n.d. The Living Edens: Thailand. Public Broadcasting Service. Website. 6 March 2014. .
Seeing the monks was deeply enlightening to me because it was new to see grown man live in humbleness and peace. They wore an orange robe over their bare upper bodies and a white fabric-pants to cover their lower bare bodies. It was clear to me that these monks were individual men indulged in a simple of life. Fortunately, I was able to make the connection between what we learned in my Introduction to Asia lecture and what was from the temple. In lecture we learned that Thailand was deeply rooted in Buddhism, and often time’s, young lay men would make a temporary journey to leave behind their belongings and possessions to live a life of humility as a monk. Carlos, shared some information about the monks stating they were men from Thailand who decided to take a great leap in leaving behind their families and duties in the Thailand economy to live a simple life that avoided stress and societal troubles similar to how monkhood was referred to in lecture. Eventually I was given the opportunity to speak to one of the monks. He stated that Wat Buddharangsi was a Buddhist community that was home to rotating monks from Thailand travelling all over the world. I asked him the principles that the monks live by, and he roughly gave me an ideas of Buddhist principles of—no stealing, cheating, adultery and rules that would inhibit a life of humility and simplicity. I also learned from the monk that they live their days through the kind hearts of others who donate food. If people did not come to donate food to the monks in a particular day, then they were fine with eating food from the previous day’s left overs. I know understand that Buddhism includes a sense of community and teamwork to support the men who took up the mantle as a
"What is Buddhism? | The Buddhist Centre." What is Buddhism? | The Buddhist Centre. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. .
Story, Francis. "Buddhist Meditation." Access to Insight: Readings in Theravada Buddhism. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.