Andrea Gonzalez Cultural Experience Florida Gulf Coast University Abstract This paper explores my cultural experience at the Samudrabadra Kadampa Buddhist Center located in Fort Myers, and it will also illustrate my feelings, emotions an reactions, before, during and after this experience. This paper will also provide a brief history of the temple, Samudrabadra Kadampa Buddhist Center; the founder, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso; the resident teacher, Kelsang Tashi. Finally the paper shows how Buddishm is humanistic in nature and how similar their values are to the Social Work values. Cultural Experience My cultural experience took place at Samudrabadra Kadampa Buddhist …show more content…
In the word, ‘Kadampa’, ‘Ka’ refers to Buddha’s teachings, and ‘dam’ to Atisha’s special the stages of the path to enlightenment, or Lamrim instructions. The mission of this temple is to help people find inner peace and a happy mind through meditation using the Lamrim instructions. The founder of the temple is Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, a meditation master and a Buddhism teacher, whose teachings focus on how to find happiness and cultivate a good heart through mediation. Kelsang Tashi is the resident teacher of the temple whose primary function is to bring happiness to people through his meditation classes around South West Florida. Tashi was ordained as a monk in 2014 by his spiritual director in England. I have always had a deep desire to learn how to mediate, and it made sense to attend a meditation class at a Buddhist temple as part of the cultural experience project. I decided to experience this mediation class on my own since I knew my parents as Catholics would never agree to accompany me and because children were not allowed during the mediation class,
Lama, Dalai. “ Four Noble Truths.” Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. 2005. Web. 8 Apr. 2015.
The Southern California Buddhist Church established in Los Angeles on Jackson Street with its first resident minister, the Rev. Koyu Uchida in 1905. In the year of 1917, the name of the church changed to Hongwanji Buddhist Church of Los Angeles, and its location changed to Yamato Hall. The new temple was constructed and built at central ave and 1st street in the year of 1925. When going to the temple, the first thing you see is a grand temple with a Japanese style architecture. It has a beautiful lawn area and a big bell. There is a lot of great work and dedication towards this construction that you can tell how important Buddhism means to the founders of this temple. The master artist created a statue of the founder of the Jodo Shinshu Buddhism which was very interesting. I did not see a Buddha statue outside of the temple but once I was inside the temple I got to see a lot of interesting art showcasing the life of the historical Buddha. The Altar itself sets apart from the rest because it is paved in gold. The decorators of this altar designed it just like the ones in Japan. As you can see the design of the temple was well planned out, and that the people who wanted this temple built must have been very proud of their Japanese heritage because everything felt like it was a total different atmosphere. However, there were pews inside the temple giving a Christian essence to the
I would like to consider my cultural heritage as diverse, but this is far from reality. Over the years as I matured through my teenage years, I was exposed to different cultures by life experiences and travel. I struggled to create both a personal and cultural identity while trying to adjust to my sight loss and with the support of my family I traveled overseas to experience other cultures for the first time. My family opened up their home to a foreign exchange program in turn allowing me the opportunity to travel over to Europe at the age of 16 years old. This opportunity started the slow progression of experiences that would open my mind to others who are unlike myself, especially traveling to a strange place and feeling different in a mainstream culture. It was not until the past 5 or 6 years until I fully accepted my disability that changed my view on being different, whether it’s race, class, gender or disability. Before this time period, my own fear of being different was so intense that I thought my weakness (disability) made me inferior of not only other cultures, but also my own family members.
Yakushi the healing Buddha is a central image. It was sometime during this period that he
Bibliography: Religious Persons and Traditions Buddhism- Plain and Simple
It is a tan dome shaped building. It has about three floors with multiple windows on each. Carvings take over the building, all of which can be described as an upside down U. The material of the building is solid tan with stones embedded in the walls. This building was extremely respected by the White-clad Brethren. Although, Mani was no longer feeling the pressure to abide but the rules of this group, he still respected it but did not perform the rituals such as the chanting.
The temple of Angkor Wat faces west, which in the Hindu religion is associated with the god Vishnu and death. Researchers believe that this was symbolic of gateway to the afterlife for Suryavarman II. Suryavarman II wanted the temple completed before his death so that, he too, could join the gods in heaven. The temple is on a massive 500 acres of land, and is surrounded by a massive moat. The moat is also symbolic of the vast oceans of the universe. Researchers are still puzzled as to how they built this temple in 32 years.
"Basics of Buddhism." n.d. The Living Edens: Thailand. Public Broadcasting Service. Website. 6 March 2014. .
The smell of burning incense seeped inside the temple walls, the ocean breeze always drafted though the house frequently giving me chills whenever we chanted, however, sitting next to my grandmother and seeing her smile always made me feel cozy and comforted. The shades of orange saffrons varied between each monk and always contrasted against the white walls of the temple. Shrines filled every corner of the temple but the shrine upstairs astonished me every time I visited. The complex layout and detailing of the vivid hues of food, candles, flowers, and crystals in the shrines was impeccable and necessary to express reverence and gratitude for Buddha. The strong scent of lemongrass meat, fresh rice, and seasonal fruit flowed from the kitchen to the living room. Which always used to distract me. On the contrary, ever since my grandmother passed away I am now unable to attend temples. My grandpa would always tease me and bug me if I were to ever visit the temple again and thus, would be one of the conflicts I experienced. My mom would state that I didn’t believe in God nor Jesus because I didn't go to sermons. In like manner, my peers would always argue that I can only believe in one religion, not two. The fading conflict of attending temples was a relief but food was another opponent on the rise to introduce another conflict
During my visit at the “West End Buddhist Temple and Meditation Centre”, what stood out to me were their use of statues and room design as well as the structure of the meditation center. I noticed that everyone in the room was facing towards the front and center where the statue of the Buddha stood, and everyone need to be barefoot. I noticed that there was a red carpet that ran across the room and to a podium for the Monks to walk on. Once the monk sat above everyone on the podium, they began saying a prayer. The Monk was a male, and during their prayer, they would say parts of a religious text, and the people sitting on the floor, repeated the same chant the Monk had said. After each verse of their prayer, the Monk would chant “saddoo, saddoo,
Ever since I was in high school, I was always curious of other religions groups and how they worship. Growing up in the Christian faith, I had an idea of what it like to be a part of Buddhism. I always respect the words of the 14th Dalai Lama for he always looks so happy and kind hearted. I remembered that for one of my classes in high school, we watched The Little Buddha movie. Even though the movie gave a basic history of what the religion is, I always wanted to ask questions as to what a Buddhist really is and what the religion represents. For these reasons is why I decided to visit an actual Buddhist temple for my field assignment.
Tenzin, Gyatso and Jamyang Gawai Lodro. Essence of the Heart Sutra. Trans. Geshe Thupte Jinpa. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2002. i-xii, 1-179. Print.
In the first article “The Cultural Experience of Space and Body: A Reading of Latin American and Anglo-American Comportment in Public,” author Elizabeth Lozano writes about the idea of culture and how different cultures have their own idea of personal space and how it differs between Latin-Americans and Anglo-Saxons. This peaked my interest because it explains the constant battle and survival of being exposed to different cultural settings requires from people. I tend to find myself observing people more often than I should because I am intrigued with body language and how people react when to their environment and things going on around them. It is very important to me to respect peoples boundaries and although I may not always watch what I say or do I have learned through reading this article it is vital to pay close attention to these things. I grew up learning and practicing Judaism which tend to be very
I was very skeptical and cautious about the lesson on meditation. A few years back I had taken a course on relaxation, which I had found to be only somewhat helpful. I was hoping to find another alternative to calm myself and release the stress. Although I became disbelieving of meditation-I was proved wrong.
There are a lot of different cultures in the world we live in today. Finding the place you belong and discovering your own culture can be a challenge. This is especially true when you look at culture as an individual versus culture in your family, or even within your community. I’ve always been very family oriented, so that plays a big part in who I am and how my family’s dynamic works. I believe that my family has had a huge impact on the development of my culture, and I hope that I have had the same impact on theirs.