religious exploration through Buddhism Essay

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,

My first experience in a Buddhist temple was quite different than anything I have experienced religion-wise. I visited the Quan Am Monastery (Vietnamese-American Buddhist) at 3500 South Goodlet. I got to experience first-hand how meditation in a Buddhist temple actually works. I was very intrigued to find out how someone outside of the Christian faith, worshipped. As one might expect, the atmosphere was very tranquil. My group members and I called ahead a few days earlier and a man answered the phone and it was very hard to understand what he saying but I know I heard him say “come on Friday so that’s what we did. When we arrived we stepped outside the vehicle we took a look around and there were two buildings outside. One that had

I was indecisive on where to go do my site visit. While I thought about if for a couple of days, I decided I wanted to learn more about Buddhism. I was unaware that there was a temple in Grand Island until my teacher mentioned something about it in class. I also felt more comfortable that the teacher and other classmates were going to be there too. As the time got closer to go, I got a little more nervous and was really thinking about it. I was thinking about how to not be disrespectful in their temple. For instance, remembering to take off my shoes and not to shake the monks hand when I introduced myself. I was aware about Buddhism before I went there, but still did not know a lot about the religion. For example, I knew they meditated and sat on the floor in front of a big statue named Buddha. I thought I was going to see a “fat” Buddha because that is what I have seen in movies.

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

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.

I have always been attracted by the study of religion and interested in the different disciplines that study religion such as: psychology, historiography, anthropology, etc; there are many aspects related to religion that can be analyzed. I believe in the existence of something superior; I do not belong to any specific religion, but I sympathize with some specific ideas of different religions. I used to get the ideas that I believe that are more logical and put it in practice. Taking advantage of the research paper ordered in class, I decided to visit a Theravada Buddhist temple. This temple is located in 15200 SW 240th St, Homestead, FL, Miami, and it is called “Wat Buddharangsi of Miami.”

On Thursday, April 21st I went to the Zen Buddhist fellowship meeting. It starts at six, but me and fellow classmate arrived a few minutes late and members were still in the living room of the house talking among themselves waiting. There were five of them and later during the meditating another woman shows up. I am thinking they were waiting on her to start, but after fifteen minutes decided it was time to start meditating. While we waited, we all did introductions and one of the members explained we will go upstairs and meditate for about twenty to thirty minutes then we will come back to the living room of the house for the informal part of the ceremony and have tea. As we were waiting for more people to arrive an older member named Paul started to ask questions and explained to us the proper way to sit and if it is uncomfortable to change until we are comfortable because being comfortable is one of the most important things. He also

breathing and mind was easier, and I felt at peace which was nice feeling in a

When arriving to the Buddhist temple, it is not surprising for one to say that this temple looks like an ordinary house from the outside. However, one can tell that they were Buddhist because they had a gazebo looking stupa on the left side of the front yard, which contain the remaining’s of Buddha’s teeth. On the right side of the yard, they had a replica of the Bodhi tree that represented the lifetime of when Buddha achieved enlightenment. As one took off her/his shoes, the house was transformed into a magnificent place where anyone could come to chant, offer puja, and the meditation of the dharma.

Meditation focuses on the mind and soul. It helps a person to disconnect from their thoughts and emotions to become more aware, alleviating negative thoughts and emotions.The goal is to achieve mental calmness including hearing, pondering, mindfulness awareness, effort, and intimacy.Meditation is associated with the Buddhism religion, there are two main types of Buddhist meditation, vipassana meaning insight and samantha meaning tranquility. The ritual occurs in schools of Buddhism in China and Japan the practice of sitting in meditation is called Ch’an or Zen Buddhism. Meditation is valuable for the the Buddhism religion it helps them reach Nirvana and liberate from the

Buddhism is one of the most popular religions in the world, it originates in Nepal, where the “enlightened one” Saddartha Gotama was born. The word Buddhism originates from the word “Buddhi” meaning to awaken. Buddhism is a nontheistic religion, meaning that they do not have any gods in their faith. Buddha is seen as one of the enlightened ones, rather than a God. One interesting fact about Buddhism, Saddartha Gotama acknowledges Jesus Christ as a very good man and a prophet, however does not acknowledge him as the Messiah.

Wat Buddharangsi of Miami is a religious non-profit organization that has now been around since 1982. As previously stated, they are a Theravada Thai Buddhist temple, Theravada refers to one of the two major schools of Buddhism which refers to its teaching by maintaining and conserving ideology inherited by elders. It is the predominant religion in Southeast Asia, and “today Theravada Buddhists numbers well over 100 million worldwide” (“What is Theravada Buddhism?”). I chose to step out of my comfort zone and attend Wat Buddharangsi of Miami as word of mouth had so described it as an architectural beauty. Also, on their website,

I have always been attracted by the study of religion and interested in the different disciplines that study religion such as: psychology, historiography, anthropology, etc; there are many aspects related to religion that can be analyzed. I believe in the existence of something superior; I do not belong to any specific religion, but I sympathize with some specific ideas of different religions. I used to get the ideas that I believe that are more logical and put it in practice. Taking advantage of the research paper ordered in class, I decided to visit a Theravada Buddhist temple. This temple is located in 15200 SW 240th St, Homestead, FL, Miami, and it is called “Wat Buddharangsi of Miami.”

Now I was finally going to begin my meditation session. Upon entering the hall, I noticed that everyone was taking their shoes off so I decided to do the same. I then took a spot on the floor like everyone else. Shortly after, a man, who introduced himself as Paramahamsa Prajnanananda, took a spot at the front of the room. Paramahamsa explained that he was the leader of the Temple of Harmony. He also explained that today he would be leading us in the beginner’s meditation session. The type of meditation we did was called “Loving Kindness Mediation”, which is meant to make a person more open to being kind and caring to others along with creating positive changes inside one’s self. Paramahamsa spent a good amount of time explaining the benefits of this type of meditation since this was a beginners session. We began the meditation session by sitting cross-legged with our backs straight and chin up. Paramahamsa explained that this was the normal position for meditation. We all then were asked to close our eyes and enjoy the space around us. We did this for the first 10 minutes of our meditation. Then, Paramahamsa asked us to join him in a series of breathing exercises to further relax ourselves. This was something I was personally used to because I do it with my therapist so I was surprised to see that it is also incorporated into Buddhist meditation. During this exercise, we did a series of deep breathing exercises that really got me to relax. After ten minutes

The history of Buddha, from the first moment, was very interesting for me. That was the reason because I selected a Buddhist temple as the place to go, for my site visit. Although a Buddhist temple in the Latin America’s capital sounds a little impossible, after asking Siri, I realized that there are more that one; and then I decided, that the Wat Buddharangsi of Miami, a Thai Theravada Buddhism temple, was a good place to visit. Wat Buddharangsi is a place where you feel yourself welcome from the moment that you pick up the phone and you try to contact them. Even the second sentences in their website tell us that everybody is welcome. That feeling made more strong my decision to go there and the next Saturday afternoon I was in my way to Homestead, the city where is the temple. After half of an hour driving, I turned left in a street with nothing more that grass and papaya 's tree in both sites. I was sure that I got lost, but because of my great confidence in the GPS I kept my route. Few minutes later, I saw a building with a design very different, and I realized that I had found the place that I was looking for.