Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple Analysis

The Orange County Buddhist Church located in Anaheim at 909 South Dale Avenue is one of the few temples that practices and teaches Jodo Shinshu Buddhism in America. Although Shinran Shonin first established these traditions about 800 years ago in Japan, it did not reach the United States until the late 19th century by Japanese immigrants. Since then, Shin Buddhism has grown and developed Americanized features that contribute to its message of acknowledging the interdependence of all aspects in the universe as a way to reach a state of self-realization and happiness. With the help of Buddhist believers, the establishment of Shin Buddhist temples continues to grow and more people are welcomed to absorb the unique beliefs about oneness and transcending duhkha.

Sebastopol is a unique area in Sonoma County, it is the most liberal and the least ethnically diverse community in the county. It is filled with weird art (beautiful, fun, funky, but weird), with people who wouldn 't live anywhere else, but judging by their socks and 'stocks, I suspect many lived in Berkeley in the 60 's. Sebastopol is the home to Luther Burbanks ' original experimental gardens, and the Gravenstein apple, untended orchards cover the landscape. And just a couple blocks from downtown this odd looking complex called the Enmanji Buddhist Temple. The temple seems to always have a community event or fundraiser going on, often surrounding barbecues in the summer months. Barbeques usually involve meat, aren 't Buddhists vegetarians? Who are the people who attend services here, is this truly Buddhism, or some hippie highjack of another culture? I want to understand all of these things, and about this seemingly out-of-place temple, what their faith is all about and the people that come here.

I went to Grand Island, Nebraska, on Wednesday, March 2, 2016 to the Buddha Matta Phaaphayaram Lao Buddhist Temple. The temple used to be an old Faith United Methodist Church until purchased on November 28, 2013 by local Buddhists in Grand Island. I was not the only one from my class that went. My teacher and four other students were there too.

Upon arrival, I was given a brief history about of the Buddhist temple. The San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in the United States. Although it was established in 1907, construction wasn’t completed until 1937. During World War II, it was served as a home to many Japanese-Americans released from internment camps. Today, the temple continues to play an active role in the lives of their descendance

On October 24, 2015 the New York Buddhist Church was holding an Autumn Festival Service. Amanda and I attended the event from 12-4 pm. This Buddhist Church in particular is Jodoshinshu Buddhism which originated in Japan. This type of Buddhism is also called Shin Buddhism for short, within the school of True Pure Land Buddhism, which is based on Mahayana Buddhism. The main temple is in Kyoto, Japan and was founded by Shinran Shonin. This type of Buddhism is practiced widely in Japan. The New York City location in particular was established in 1938 by Reverend Hozen Seki and his wife, Satomi.(NYBC)

The purpose of such votive statuary placed in temples was to urge the donors might to remain in a state of everlasting prayer. For example, The relief scene beneath Ur-Ningirsu’s bare feet, of kneeling men bearing full baskets, may represent bearers of ritual offerings.

Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Order and its Los Angeles branch temple, Hsi Lai Temple practices Humanistic Buddhism. Humanistic Buddhism is the teaching of Buddha. It affirms that the Buddha was born into the human world, and was cultivated in this world. The difference is that Buddha was enlightened in this human world and he taught other human beings in this world how to reach Nirvana, the freedom from suffering, in this human world and not apart from it. Buddha taught others that it is through our humanity that Buddhahood, full enlightenment, will be attained. Buddhism says that “the Dharma is to be found in this world and not in another and to leave this human world to search for the Dharma is as futile as searching for a rabbit with horns.” Humanistic Buddhism teaches that you can fully live in this human world and practice Buddhism at the same time, the two are not separate and they support each other perfectly by cultivating the wisdom that clearly understands the true nature of the reality. Humanistic Buddhism is certainly not new, but Master Hsing Yun’s journey explains how it got here today.

Another important symbol in Buddhism is Buddha’s footprints. Followers believe that the footprints symbolize his presence in their lives. This is important because it is a reminder to them why they are following the teachings of Buddhism. According to the article Brief History of Symbolism in Buddhism, it states "Footprints of the Buddha traditionally symbolize the physical presence of the Enlightened One. This image was reproduced from a rubbing of an ancient stone imprint at Bodh Gaya, India, site of the Buddha's enlightenment." These footprints date all the way back to when Siddhartha was alive and was enlightened, and

The temple experience varied dramatically from person to person. It even drove one among us to leave early. Unfortunately, I identify with those who were disquieted with the experience within the Hsi Lai Temple. This isn’t to say that it was a negative experience or that there was nothing to learn from it, but there are multiple versions of simplicity and this is only one of them. It just happens that this is not the example that I perceive as true, nitty-gritty simplicity. The definition of simplicity is this: the quality or condition of being easy to understand or do…the quality or condition of being plain or natural…a thing that is plain, natural, or easy to understand.” For starters, there were many requirements at the temple that I didn’t

The Hsi Lai Temple was a very gorgeous outstanding place. With very exotic colors of different kind of orange. You felt the serenity upon entering the temple. There was Buddhist statues or figure on every corner of the temple and any location you walked through. Even in entering of every room there was tigers on both sides of the entrance. In each entering of the temple entrances there was some one greeting in different language. Every person at the temple was very helpful as much as they could. Everyone there spoke Taiwan even the visitors. There was rarely anyone who new perfect English. So there was a lot of pamphlets given to me in English. There social class seem middle and high class, it seemed like there was no poverty. Most ethnic backgrounds were usually Taiwan or Vietnamese. Most genders that I saw who usually females besides the monks were males. The average age that I saw was older than twenty. The number of people I saw were over thirty during my whole visit. Most of the architecture was made out of jade wood and walnut. They even had prayers carved inside or on the walnut.

The Hsi Lai Buddhist temple is located in Hacienda Heights and is the largest Buddhist temple in the West. The building was constructed to be a religious site by a Buddhist organization in Taiwan. The first thing that catches the attention, is the Chinese architecture of the temple and all of the Chinese words on the outside of the temple. The words on the four pillars of the gate, represent the four bodhisattva vows the Buddhists take to complete

These 2 statues depict the Buddhist deity whose name is Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. The other names for this deity is Guanyin Bodhisattva, and the goddess of mercy. This deity is worshipped by all schools of Buddhism, but is mostly associated with Mahayana Buddhism, which is a school of Buddhism which states that anyone can become a Buddha with practice. The purpose of Bodhisattvas is to guide those seeking to

Fa-hsien and his companions left his homeland to travel to India in search of rules of Buddhist discipline. In chapter two, he described his arrival in the kingdom of Shen-shen, where he first encounters the discipline of self-denial. The citizens of Shen-shen, including their King and priests followed the “rules of India” (Fa-hsien 2). In an effort to resist worldly temptation and comfort, they separated themselves from the comfort of family and friends in order to focus on Buddhist teachings.

For The Principles of Composition paper I chose two pieces of art that I thought dramatized one specific principle of art. I decided to chose “Temple I in the great plaza,” constructed by the Mayan Indians on page 276 and “Untitled” by Donald Judd on page 441. I thought both of these pieces of art were unique and displayed balance.

Hindu and Buddhist cultures are both rich in religion and expressing their faith through art. The Buddhist culture was formed by Buddha who went out to discover the causes of pain and suffering. Once Buddha realized what the cause was, he provided a set of four guiding principles know as the “Four Noble Truths” that are exercised in Buddhism (Kleiner, p. 13). The Four Noble truths are “Life is suffering, the cause of suffering is desire, one can overcome and extinguish desire, the way to conquer desire and end suffering is to follow Buddha’s Eightfold Path…” (p. 13). These truths are expressed in the following of Buddhism and commonly carried out through art. Buddhism is practiced throughout Southeast Asia and southern India where