Good Example Of Buddhist Temple Visit Essay

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In this essay, I am going to give information regarding a personal visit I made to a Buddhist temple. Specifically, I am going to describe the place that I visited, discuss the religious activities that I observed, and consider the dialogue that I had with members of the community. Ultimately, it is my goal to give a thorough explanation of my visit and to begin to bridge the gap between my understandings of other religions and the reality that truly exists.
There are numerous types of Buddhist worship services. The one that I attended was called Buddhist Devotion, where the adherents of the religion are working to become closer with the Buddha. When I arrived to the Buddhist Temple, I was somewhat surprised by the lack of grandiose that was associated with the building. With large churches in America, you can drive by and absolutely see that it is a massive church. This was not the case here. While the grounds were nicely maintained, other than a sign out front and on the building, I would not have been able to tell that this was the place I was supposed to be had I not put the information into my GPS. I think, though, that this isn’t uncommon; based on my experience here, these people are not ones for show, usually. They are more interested in the authentic relationship they have with their religion. A place, it seemed, was just that; a place to gather and worship.
I spoke with a few of their lay members; that is, I did not speak with any of their leaders as I spoke with them prior to the start of the service and the monks were getting ready for their roles as leaders. One of the most striking things about my experience was how open and welcoming the entire organization was to my visit. They were very excited that I was interested in their religion and were open to my questions. Further, they invited me to participate, even though I politely declined.
In regards to the people that were there, there were approximately 35 people that I counted. They varied in age, although there were more elders than there were young children. There were a couple of families, it appeared, and perhaps a few that spanned numerous generations beyond the traditional family set up in American. There was not a single white person that was there, although there were many individuals of far eastern descent. I believe that they were probably either from or have family in places like China, Japan, and Thailand.
They were wearing traditional Buddhist dress, which means that they were almost all wearing robes. There were some variety in color, however most were wearing. Further, there was a monk that was leading the ceremony. This is typical, as each organization has a series of monks that are their leaders.
In regards to their service, I had done some preliminary research so I knew what to expect and could somewhat follow along with my previous knowledge I had gathered. The first thing that I noticed is that there was a bell that was rung to commence the start of the service. This looks different in different areas, but considering the size of our congregation, this was a modest bell and I think more for ceremonies sake than anything else. Following this, there were a few songs that were sung in a language that I did not know.
After this, there were short teachings that are called Teachings of the Buddha. After this, there was the lengthiest section of the entire service – the message. There wasn’t any particular scripture that was referenced; rather it was a personal message given based on the monk’s own experiences. I actually found this to be somewhat of a letdown, but perhaps that is coming from my own western viewpoints. One of the things I like most about the Christian religion is that often the scriptures are the basis for the message, thus allowing the congregation to understand their spiritual text better. Following this message, I didn’t walk away from the service understanding their religious texts any better.
While I was speaking to one of the members, he really impressed upon how Buddhism was about finding peace within oneself. They were talking about how there are so many temptations and negative things in our world that what we must really work to do is to ignore all of that, ignore the worldly issues that are so prevalent in our society, and truly concentrate on finding inner peace. This was refreshing for me as in my own spiritual journey I am constantly looking for inner peace, and the Buddhist philosophy really spoke to me. Again, I think that this adds a lot of value to the idea that most of the religions preach very similar messages, something that I was not thinking I would coming into this assignment.
On the whole, I was incredibly impressed by the Buddhist religion. While the Christian religion can sometimes come across as grandiose, a word that I would use to describe this religion is humble. The people seemed very humble. Their dress was very humble. Their actions were very humble. It seemed like an incredibly welcoming place. Further, I was surprised that the service was not that much different that Christian services; the format was very similar. There was an opening call, songs of worship, a message, and a closing. This is very similar to my own experiences and I think adds value to the idea that a lot of religions are very similar.
In conclusion, this was a fantastic experience for me. I absolutely agree that seeing a religion first hand is an amazing experience and can totally break down barriers that we tend to assume with one another. Simply put, the religion was not completely different than my own, and I sincerely believe that if we learn to understand each other’s religion rather than always fighting about whose religion is right, we can make the world a better place.