Lion's Roar Mandala Tibetan Buddhist Meditation & Dharma Center

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,

While this dimension is not as important as in some other faiths of a strongly sacramental kind, it is still highly regarded. This can be attributed to the fact that it is through certain rituals that the core experience of enlightenment is obtained. (Hope, 1995) The ritual central to the Buddhist faith is the practice of meditation. The importance of meditation is paramount because it was through meditation that Buddha was able to gain enlightenment. Consequently, Buddhists attempt to emulate Buddha when meditating by endeavouring to cultivate wisdom and compassion, whilst also trying to gain control of the mind and expel suffering. (Mudge et al, 1993) If a Buddhist is successful in accomplishing this then they are said to have gained enlightenment. In terms of mass rituals, Buddhism maintains a plethora of ceremonies dealing with both the 'Sangha' (Order of monks and nuns) and laity. The primary rituals concerning the 'Sangha' includes; the initiation ritual in which the shaving of the head is a common practice and the annual Kathina Festival, in which the laity of the faith offers fabric to the monks for their new robes. For the laity, worship is more personal than congregation. A common practice is the taking of the three refuges (See appendix 3), in which adherents chant the same three sayings in repetition. This type of chanting, along with meditation, are common acts of devotion in Buddhism. Recently

The stereotype that I had before attending this service was one, I thought the followers of Buddhism worshiped Buddha as a deity. Second, the assumption that they are all happy and just love the world I associated with the stereotype of them being similar to “hippies.” These notions were proven false in that Buddha is not revered as a deity and the happiness they achieve is from knowing that life is not about status and possessions, however, it is about being satisfied with yourself. The monk spoke to this when he asked the people what are the keys to happiness? After several answers the monk disclosed the five keys to happiness by a 5th century monk that are, ability to eat, walking, bowl movement, talking, and sleep. The monk explained

When I visited the Phat Da Buddhist Congregation in San Diego, a Vietnamese Buddhist temple in San Diego, I was taken by surprise that the service was given in Vietnamese. The decorations on the wall, the sacred images displayed at the altar, and the vibrant color of the monk’s robe were still familiar, but what was being said was (very) foreign to me. I quickly became impatient and preoccupied with the question on why I was there in the first place. What would I write about for my final Buddhism assignment if I could not understand what was being said? One thing was clear, the day I visited, they were celebrating Buddha’s birthday with huge display of rituals and ceremony, and a big birthday cake at the end.

Free-will donations are not to be collected during The Porch’s hours of operation to prevent any person from feeling financially pressured to donate. Any offered donations should be deferred to the church’s main office during normal business hours. All of the previous recommendations are attempts to eliminate the power of sin, such as racism and economic classism; and continuous reappraisal of The Porch shall be made to ensure its procedures maintain a healthy community. The Porch is to function as a community of Christians and non-Christians both inside and outside of the church building as each person is challenged to authentically and continually grow in love of neighbor.

Every single furniture inside the room consists of excellent details that reflect the culture and history of Buddhism. The wood works are an example of an excellent carpentry. I along with my friend was there

The modern interpretation of the Buddhist Ordination ritual that I have chosen is the Badge Ceremony, that occurs in my school Mary Mackillop College. This ritual is performed to welcome new students predominately from primary school into the college community, and it occurs in week two of the first school term. While the date of the first Badge Ceremony is unknown, it is safe to assume it occurred when the school first opened in 1964. As well as the new students, other people from the college community such as the Seniors, principal, parents and families are involved in the ceremony. The students are dressed in their formal school uniform for the entire ritual, and it takes place in the College Hall. The ceremony starts with an opening mass

Mandalas are from Tibet of more than two centuries ago. It is a creative pattern of explanation within a circle. Many ancient and recent Native Americans Tribes believe in using this type of spiritual practices/forms in their own ways and inventions of using the same kind of ideas. Mandalas express the idea of life and your own life. It helps users to develop a complete understanding of themselves. As teenagers, I believe that this was an important activity to help each other understand the symbol and words that describe ourselves and our peers. It was an amazing activity to look at yourself as other perspectives around the world. What we see, and what we experience is not all there are. Mandalas help anyone develop a good understanding of

Meatto just a few months back. I remembered the Eightfold Path, the Four Noble Truths, and the many things Buddhist people value. All of this was reflected in a small, simple temple. Just by walking around in silence, I’d already learned so many new things about the religion and what it stood for. I walked towards the main display. It had a gold shrine in the middle with a donation box and individually sealed fortunes below. I put my crumpled dollar into the box and grabbed my fortune. It was a mini scroll, rolled up and tied with red string. A woman in front of me had just made an offering and lit up a stick of incense, letting the strong scent travel through the room. I felt more even relaxed now, and even though I’d never practiced Buddhism, I felt intrigued to learn more about it in the future. I didn’t take as many photos as I’d wanted to, simply out of respect. I knew it would be best if I stayed quiet and didn’t try to disrupt the others that had been in meditation. Stepping out of my bubble felt uncomfortable at first, but it let me get a better understanding of my community. Now I also understand a religion that is practiced by thousands around the world on a more personal level. Although I’m not Buddhist, I still felt welcomed and safe in the Eastern States Buddhist

Since 1976, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas has occupied 700 acres of land in my hometown of Ukiah Ca. When I was growing up in elementary school our school and many other schools would take a field trip to the Buddhist Temple on the Chinese New Year to watch their celebration and have lunch. This had been my only time visiting until this research project. I had always wanted to know what it was like but never had the chance to visit until now. When I went home for Spring Break I decided to take tour of this religious community with my sister. Before our visit I had called to see when the perfect time to get a tour would be so we showed up around 8am when they first open. When we drove in we went

There were these rugs that were put at the front of the service, so people could sit their if they wanted to, but if you did not want to sit their you could sit in the chairs that they provided. Through the whole entire service, they spoke nothing but Thai, so for a person that did not speak Thai it was very hard to understand what the Monk and the people were saying. I also realized that the Buddhist religion are not bothered by anything, an example would be time, on their website where they gave the beginning and the end of their service when it should end but when the service was supposed to end the people were not bother by that fact that the service was running behind

Tucked away in the mountains of the northern San Diego County, hidden in an avocado orchard is the Metta Forest Monastery. The Metta Forest Monastery was founded in 1990 by Ajaan Suwat Suvaco and practices the Theravada tradition, primarily the Thai Forest Tradition. At the monastery there are currently nine American monks and one Thai monk. I arrived to the monastery at night for their evening meditation service on March 12th, 2016. The pathways that led up to the monastery were lined by small lights. After driving up the winding switchback roads I finally reached the monastery. One of the lay people of the monastery came out to greet me and handed me a flashlight. We then proceeded to walk to the main worshipping area together. As we walked you could hear nothing but the calls of the animals within the forest and the cool night breeze blowing through the trees. After removing our shoes we walked into the small worshiping area at the top of the hill where it was completely dark except for a couple of small candles that lite the front of the room. In the candlelight you could see a huge Buddha statue surrounded by multiple smaller Buddha statues as well as other adornments. The area was very open and had raised benches lining the right side of the room.

A monolithic red volcanic boulder at the entrance to the Algonquin Beach Meditation Center and Spa immediately caught Surina’s attention. An engraving on it in italicized black letters read: “The universe is everywhere even within you. No one can own the universe.”

I am very excited about this field experience. It has been the one I have been looking forward to all semester. I chose to attend an Introduction to Meditation session at the Vajradhara Buddhist Center. I chose this for my Religious Service because I have always wondered what the teachings of Buddhism are. The Vajradhara Center offers these introduction sessions every Wednesday at 7 p.m. I went to the Week 1 session on November 4th, the first Wednesday of the month. I found out about this session just by googling “Buddhist centers Charlotte, NC”. This center has many great reviews on various websites, so I thought it was a great fit. About to have the experience of going to a Buddhist Center, I think I am really expecting to enjoy this session, mostly because I have always been intrigued by the teachings and morals of Buddha and how they can be achieved through meditation. I have grown up non-religious, which I think makes this experience more interesting because I have nothing to compare it to. I expect this session to be sort of intimidating at first because it is a new experience. I also believe that I will not be very comfortable, at first, while meditating. Through research, I hope to find out ways to adjust and to fully understand why meditation is important in Buddhism. Most importantly, I am excited to attend this session.

I was persuaded to join the group and hated it at first. I always heard that meditation is a healthy exercise for people, so when my mother started doing it I was really happy for her. Then it all changed once I joined her. I realized that there was not just meditations, we were also asked to pray to Master Miao Chan. Master Miao Chan was not like any monk I see in other buddhist group, he is relatively young and has a wife that attends all the Sunday meditation session with him. To me, bowing down to a man that claims himself