Buddhism Experience

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,

Zen Buddhism isn’t exactly a “religion”, but a way of living. It creates peace within the human mind that allows one to grow, develop and look at the world more positively. Originating in China in 650 C.E., Zen Buddhism is a combination between Indian Mahayana Buddhism and Taoism. Mahayana Buddhism promotes bodhisattva, which is practicing the way of life in the direction of Buddha. Taoism is a religion developed by Lao-tzu, a Taoist philosopher, and focuses on obtaining long life and good fortune. It was brought to China by an Indian monk named Bodhidharma. Eventually, Zen Buddhism began to spread to Japan in the twelfth century CE and Korea in the seventh century CE, and it eventually became very influential and popular in western society around the mid-twentieth century.

Meditation is very difficult to describe and can only truly be explained once experienced. It is the practice of mental concentration leading ultimately through a sequence of stages to the final goal of spiritual freedom, nirvana. The purpose of Buddhist meditation is to free ourselves from the delusion and thereby put an end to both ignorance and craving. The Buddhists describe the culminating trance-like state as transient; final Nirvana requires the insight of wisdom. The exercises that are meant to develop wisdom involve meditation on the true nature of reality or the conditioned and unconditioned elements that make up all phenomena. The goal of meditation is to develop a concept in the mind.

Buddhism is a philosophy that is often viewed as a religion and dates back to approximately 6th century B.C.E. Buddhism originated in the Indian subcontinent by a man known as Siddhartha Gautama. The original language of Buddhism is often debated as some scholars believe that it was first practiced in Pali while other believe it was first spoken in Sanskrit. The practice of Buddhism first spread to China in the 2nd century A.C.E and was translated to Mandarin in 3rd century A.C.E. Today, there are approximately half a billion Buddhists worldwide (CNN). The main branches of Buddhism are: Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Vajrayana Buddhism (Whittlemore). To speak briefly of the three schools; Theravada Buddhism is the most conservative or orthodox of the branches as it uses Buddha’s original teaches and themes without alterations; Mahayana Buddhism teaches that spiritual bliss is universally accessible to everyone no matter of the person’s background or religious belief; Vajrayana Buddhism, also known as Tibetan Buddhism, is the smallest of the three branches and hold many gurus as political leaders. The most well known leader of Vajrayana Buddhism is the Dalai Lama. Buddhism has several main components such as its early teachings from Buddha, co-dependent arising, and the concept of no self.

For this experience, I decided to explore Buddhism in order to enhance my involvement with the religion and build a strong understanding. What intrigued me about Buddhism was the social aspect and diversity that it had to offer. In order to explore this religion from a critical and analytical viewpoint, I decided to attend a weekend service offered at San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin. The San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin main temple is located in the Japantown section of Central San Jose. What made this temple stand out amongst the others was its historical standing in the community. It is one of the oldest temples established in the United States. In order to learn more about the history, environment, and community as a whole, I decided to contact the temple’s staffs. After a brief phone call, I was able to schedule a tour. In preparation, I decided to do a brief research on Buddhism to familiarize myself with the religion beforehand. With all preparations and research necessary, I was ready to visit San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin.

According to the website aboutbuddhism.org, the founder of Buddhism was Buddha Shakyamuni who lived and taught in India about two and a half thousand years ago, and meditation is at the heart of the Buddhist way of life - it is basically a method for understanding and working on our own mind. From the book, World Religions for Healthcare Professionals, what I learned about Buddhism is that they follow the Four Noble Truths: Life means suffering, the origin of suffering is attachment, the cessation of suffering is attainable, the path to the cessation of suffering; and as well as the Eight Noble Paths and Buddhists also practice between 5 to 8 precepts. The lay Buddhist would practice the five and while the more devout Buddhist practices 8

Mindfulness is another way of meditation. Meditation was used to seek to improve one’s psychological or physical health, or spiritual growth. (Brantley, 2007). The history of Mindfulness comes from Buddhism and his search for enlightenment and a foundation of the four noble truths. The Buddha teaching focus on the four noble truths which consist of knowing suffering exists, there is a cause of suffering, there is cessation of suffering and there is a path that leads to the cessation of suffering. (Van Gordon, 2015). The four noble truths were not only there to represent the Buddha’s experiential understanding of suffering, but also to express the truth (Van Gordon, 2015). Studies of Buddhism and the Four Noble Truths teach us that there is always going to be suffering in our life but to find ways to overcome suffering (Tsering, 2005).

There were several monks in the monastery that were part of the traditional feeding of the monks. In traditional Buddhist communities, the monks would beg from house to house for food. In Akron, the community came to them, and lined up as the monks walked by while each member of the community gave them each a piece of food. This was done in the morning as monks are traditionally only allowed one to two meals before noon each day. As guests of the community, we brought food for the monks and after the food was passed out, everyone went inside; upon entering we were required to take off our shoes as a sign of respect. Inside, the

Buddhism is a religion that focuses more on the individual and the actions of that individual, which was prevalent to me when I made my way into Portland and set foot in a Buddhist temple. The man I met within the walls of this temple was far from my stereotypical thoughts of Buddhist monks. The man I met looked like your plain old, average Joe, American man. Before I delve into the depths of my visit to this inspiring place, I need to sum up the Buddhist religion and why I chose to study this particular group of people.

In the practice of Buddhism meditation is the primary means of purifying ones soul and letting go of all worldly desires. Elimination of the desire to cling to works of the world such as judgments, possessions or pleasure by gaining wisdom serves to free the mind and gives one sense of peace. It is the clinging that limits the ability to be at peace. Buddhist who has obtained enlightenment are free from the endless cycle of birth and rebirth and have transcended. It is thru the process of this intense meditation that the ultimate goal of Buddhism can be reach, the achievement of Nirvana.

Buddhism began in India 2,500 years ago and, although virtually extinct in India, it remains the dominant world religion in the east. Buddhism is a nontheistic religion that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs, and practices largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as Buddha. This culture is used mostly in East Asia, Sri Lanka, and South Asia. However, most traditions share a common set of fundamental beliefs. Buddhist believe spiritual peace and liberation from anxiety through following Buddha’s teachings are important in promoting health and recovery. It is a path of practice of spiritual development leading to insight into the true nature of reality. They believe that helping sentient beings

Buddhist the fourth most popular religion in the world, with 370 million people who practice Buddhism. Buddhism is a world renowned religion and is the founder of the religion was SIddhartha Gautama or you Buddha as he is commonly known as. Buddha taught his teachings about 2500 years ago. Buddhism is not only known by its unique beliefs but as well for it’s temples. Temples come in all shapes and sizes and are unique in their own architecture and design. Buddhist temples are very well known but do you really know all the story of Buddhist temples and the religion?

After learning about the major religions of the world, Buddhism seems to be the most relevant for someone living in western society. While many religions are considered monotheistic, with an all knowing powerful god to worship, Buddhism doesn’t put one god high up on the altar, in fact the focus in this religion seems to be more spiritual.

Although the Four Nobel Truths are great concepts of Buddhism there are many other aspects that make up Buddhism. Daily practice of meditation helps develop one's sense of awareness, to grow, and develops compassion and loving kindness (Buddhanet). Following the laws of Karma and following right speech are also integral to Buddhism.

One of the reason I took this class is to learn more about religions and their origins but I was specifically interested in Buddhism so I was excited that it was a religion that the class was going to cover. I had little prior knowledge of Buddhism but I didn’t know the origin, important figures and important teachings but I learned that what I thought was inaccurate. This class deepened my interest of Buddhism more because I learned what it really is about and their teaching while also correcting the ideas I had of Buddhism that were wrong.