Thailand in Utah, my Sunday at the Thai Buddhist temple

This past Sunday, I went to the Thai Buddhist temple in Layton, Utah, named Wat Dhammagunaram. The branch of Buddhism practiced is known as Theravada, one of the main branches of Buddhism, and what is often called Buddhist orthodoxy.

Most branches of Buddhism people think of today (Tibetan Buddhism, Zen, various Japanese sects, etc.) are part of a larger branch known as Mahayana. Mahayana is similar to Protestantism in the fact that it's a term used for a very diverse group of sects with a similar origin and some underlying principles.

Theravada on the other hand is a smaller branch of Buddhism, mostly found in South East Asia. It's sometimes called the Little Vessel, with Mahayana called the Big Vessel. Though I have heard that followers of Theravada take issue with it being called the Little Vessel.

Theravada is the oldest surviving branch of Buddhism and is much closer to the Buddhism originally practiced by Buddha and his followers than any branch of Mahayana.

I previously visited the Japanese Buddhist Church in Ogden. In my pre-service blog for that, I talked about the general teachings of Buddhism. Rather than rehash that here, please visit this blog to learn more about Buddhism:

http://52weeks52churches.blogspot.com/2014/02/off-to-see-pure-lands-of-buddha.html

Main differences between Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism:

• Mahayana has other buddhas, (often called Bodhisattvas) which are those who attain enlightenment and assist others to it. Usually seen as demigods in many ways. These beings are often prayed to (for lack of a better term) similarly to Catholic saints. In Theravada, there is only one Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama.
• Mahayana often takes on local flavors of worship and doctrines and is much more adaptable to different cultures. Theravada is much more traditional and purist.

There are dozens of other differences. However, they require much more explanation about Buddhism than just the basics I'm willing to go into here. For now, this is the information you'll need to know for this blog. I encourage more people to learn about this old and diverse faith from other sources. It is fascinating.

So how was my time at the temple? I'll tell you, but first, this service was unlike any of the others, so I'll only be talking about the atmosphere, people, and service since there was no sermon and no message.

Atmosphere:

The outside of the temple is an interesting bit of architecture. I don't know much about traditional South East Asian architecture, but it certainly doesn't look anything like the local. The building kind of looks like a boat to me of some kind. I'm not sure if this is an intentional design. I'm not sure if I care for the look of the building on the outside, but it's definitely unique.

We had to leave our shoes outside the temple, common among Eastern religions. Once we were inside, we were no longer in Utah. Everything about the building was very Eastern, there were no pews, only a few chairs along the side for the elderly and those with disabilties, and most everyone was sitting on the floor with their legs tucked under them. I sat down next to them and tucked my legs under. It's a sign of disrespect to point your feet at someone in South East Asian cultures.

Everything in the room was written in Thai, there was no English anywhere. The monks talked to the people in Thai and Pali, and none of the service was translated into English. I was definitely in a different world.

There was a main altar at the front of the sanctuary with several statues of the Buddha, along the right hand wall were several chairs reserved for the monks, all of which were wearing the traditional saffron robes of Buddhism. There were several artificial and a couple real trees that people were hanging money off of, sometimes in strings, sometimes just one bill at a time. I'm not familiar with this custom, and don't know what it means, but it was pretty interesting.

I loved the atmosphere here. Very few places anymore can strike a sense of awe and otherness in me anymore on this journey, but this place did. I truly felt like I was no longer in the US but in a modern temple somewhere in Thailand.

The People:

The people were quite interesting. Mostly it was people from South East Asia, as I was told, mostly Thai and Laotian immigrants. Most were speaking Thai or Laotian and didn't speak to us. There was one nice man who introduced himself to us when we first got there, but then didn't say anything else. There was a really nice man from South Africa who did introduce himself to us and he kind of guided us through the service explaining everything, then had a nice talk with us afterward.

The people seemed very kind and jovial, though I was an outsider and didn't speak their language, they seemed very happy to have me and my friend there. I really enjoyed the people at the Thai Buddhist temple and would love to go back and talk to more of them.

The Service:

I didn't understand a word of the service as it was all in Pali and Thai. The nice man from South Africa, however, was kind enough to explain the service to me.

First you must understand that there are three central things in Theravada: the Buddha, the Dharma (the teachings), and the community (represented by the monks).

Following this pattern, there were a series of chants. The first set was done facing the altar with the Buddha, and honored the Buddha. The people sat on the floor with their hands together in a prayer position similar to how you see in India or when children pray. At various parts, they would then touch their heads to the ground similarly to how you see Muslims do during their prayers.

The second set of chants followed the same sort of format, but the people faced one of the monks who held a fan with some kind of writing over his face. They then did their chants towards the monk including bows. I assume this was to honor the Dharma.

After that, the third set was a set of chants to the monks following the same sort of format.

The people then went outside carrying various food items and money and put them into metal bowls lined up in a row. It was explained to me that these were the offerings to the monks and that the monks live off of these donations.

After this, people brought in the bowls and offered the things in them up to the monks, who put the contents into plastic bags and took them into another room. After this, the monks offered a blessing to all the people there, then said a chant for purification that also honored the ancestors. During this chant, people poured water into metal bowls in a slow trickle and then most drank the water out of the bowls. I was told this was a purification ceremony traditionally done in the culture.

The monks then left to go eat lunch. I am told that in traditional Theravada cultures, that the monks go and beg for food at this time, however, since we live in America where people aren't familiar with this custom, the monks instead go and share a meal which the community is invited to participate in once they're done.

While we waited for the monks to eat, several young women came out holding candles and performed a traditional Thai dance. It was very lovely to watch.

After their dance, a woman came out and did a traditional Thai hand dance, again, quite lovely to watch. Then, a few people came out and performed a song on traditional instruments. This was a very lovely way to pass the time as the monks ate.

After the song, one of the monks came in and said something in Thai, then said the only English phrase they uttered this whole time, "Lunch is served, help yourself."

Normally I don't include the after service meal (if one is served) as part of the blog, but because this is seen as part of the ceremony, I shall. The meal was served buffet style and featured a lot of Thai food, most of which I couldn't identify. After seeing the chicken feet, I decided to pass on those, then I told the people around me not to tell me what I was eating, but just let me enjoy it. I sampled most everything and it was, for the most part extremely good. The best things were what I chose to believe was a beef hash, and a nice dessert with coconut milk and beans. I even went back for seconds just to try more of their food.

Overall Experience:

This was quite a neat cultural experience. It was very traditional, but didn't feel stifling and oppressive. The people were very kind, the food amazing, the chanting inspiring. I would definitely return to Wat Dhammagunaram for another service and highly recommend it just for the cultural experience.

Additional Notes:

Still working on that blog for the Bible. Tomorrow I am going to visit the United Methodist Church. Sorry there's no pre-service blog for that, and that those have been missing lately. I'll try to get on top of that.

Until next time, peace be with you.

Video update on the blog

Here is another video update on the blog.

Namu Amida Butsu, Hail to the Infinite Light, the Amida Buddha!

This week I went to the Japanese Buddhist Church here in Ogden. Was it the peace inducing experience I thought it would be?

Atmosphere:

The temple is technically not in Ogden, but in Harrisville a little city just North-West of Ogden. The area isn't particularly a pretty area of town. It's most noted for it's Walmart and the adjoining strip mall. So, when you come upon this rather eastern style building, you take notice immediately. Around the perimeter of the property is a wrought iron gate The gardens are beautiful surrounding the building, I can only imagine what they look like in Spring and Summer.

When you walk in through the main door, there is an image of the Wheel of Dharma, an eight-spoke wheel that represents the Eightfold Path to Nirvana, hanging over the doorway.

There's nothing really remarkable about the building when you first walk in. the walls are white and fairly plain. There are a few offices. The only thing that would really give you any indication of being in a Buddhist temple are displays like this one:

However, the atmosphere changes entirely when you enter the sanctuary. The room looks much more Eastern in design, there are windows covered in red curtains, pews (really Western actually), the room is filled with the perfume of spicy incense, and then you see the altar.

The altar is very traditional looking and set upon a stage. There is a main altar piece and two smaller altars on either side of it.

The one to the right of the altar is of the monk who founded this sect of Buddhism. His name was Shinran and he took a form of Buddhism inherited by the Japanese from the Chinese and brought it to the lay folk, at the time, Buddhism was something for the upper crest of society, not something for the common lower casts.

If you'll notice in the foreground, there is a singing bowl, which they did use in this service. If you want to know a little more about those, check out my Unitarian Universalist blog. The image of Shinran is in the background with the lamps and flowers surrounding him.

On the other side is another important figure of this tradition. For the life of me, I cannot remember his name, but he was explained to me as a man who took the highly learned teachings of Shinran and simplified them so that the laity could follow his teachings more easily, therefore bringing Buddhism even more to the masses.

The high altar is dedicated to the Amida Buddha I mentioned in my pre-service blog. This was explained to me as not a historical person, but as the teachings of the Buddha made manifest. In traditional depictions, it was a scroll in the center of the altar, but over time, with the Western influence of seeing God as a man, the image has taken the form of a man. This image is in the center of this altar, and is hidden by golden medallions. If you look closely, you can see the image of the man standing, though not really clearly in this picture.

On the altar are candles (fake ones), which symbolize eternal light, an offering of rice and fruit, flowers which represent impermanence as flowers begin to die as they start to bloom, and in front is a temporary altar set up with pictures of the pets of loved ones. (More on that in the service section.)

On the ground level directly in front of the altar was a lovely incense burner. The burner had a dragon on either side, one with an opened mouth and one with a closed mouth. The opened mouthed one represented life and the closed mouth one represented death. Our birth has already happened to us, and our death is guaranteed to us. Between the two is a bowl that you place the incense in and the incense waft between the two with highs and lows symbolizing our life, the only thing we have to worry about as our birth and death are already given.

The atmosphere here was spectacular. I felt immediately like I was in a space that was other to my day to day life, and I really love when that happens.

The People:

The people were wonderful. When we first arrived, somebody asked if we were visitors. They found a lovely woman who gave us a rundown of what would happen during the service and then gave us a tour of the sanctuary and explained everything in it.

After the service, they had a reception for the new associate ministers. Everyone was very kind and warm at the reception. The congregation was a mix of many types of people, Japanese, American, a few others as well. We shared what we were doing with a few of them and they were all very intrigued by the idea. I even gave the blog address to the nice lady who gave us the tour of the sanctuary. If you're reading this, for the life of me I cannot remember your name, but I want to say thank you for everything today. One man I met told me that he and his wife had been following my blog and knew we were coming. That was kind of surreal to me knowing that others knew we were coming to their church.

The reception had a lot of traditional Western foods like meatballs, cheese and crackers, lemon bars, etc. but also a few Japanese pastries. One was a pancake sort of turnover stuffed with a sweet black bean paste. There was also a tea that was traditional green tea mixed with brown rice. I have to say that both the pancake with the bean paste and the tea are two things that I feel have been missing from my life way too long and I feel cheated not having had these before.

The Service:

The service was short and sweet. It started with someone chiming a gong to summon everyone to worship, much like church bells in the West. The service began with those who had lost a loved one in the month of February getting up and offering incense in the bowl shown earlier.

Next there was a chant done in Japanese. I understood nothing of this chant, but it really calmed me and did bring a sense of peace. The chant was led by the minister and punctuated periodically by chiming the singing bowl.

After the chant, there was a recitation of a verse called The Golden Chain which talked about having an attitude filled with pure and lovely thoughts and pure and lovely actions. Then we sang a Japanese hymn, which again, was lovely but I didn't understand any of it.

The minister then got up and gave his sermon. See the "Message" portion below for that.

Afterward, everybody got up and offered some incense (myself included) in the incense burner and then the service was over. The whole thing took about a half hour to forty minutes to complete. It was quite lovely and I have nothing negative to say about it at all.

The Message:

The sermon was about loss and death. He explained that today was Nirvana Day and that it celebrated the death of Buddha, but Buddha died 2600 years ago and that his death doesn't have much impact on us today. But today they were memorializing our pets which had passed away. And we are often devastated by the loss of our pets. Indeed our pets are usually the first experience we have with death and loss as a child.

He then played a gorgeous piece of music called Galloping Horses. He then related it to a Mongolian legend of a young man who had a white horse which he loved and shared a close bond. One day, a town governor, took the horse from the boy and kicked the boy out of town. The horse would not behave with the governor, so the horse was ordered to be killed. But the horse ran away and arrows were shot into it as it ran away. Somehow the horse made it back to the boy's home. The boy and his mother tried to save the horse, but his wounds were too great and he died. The boy was devastated and mourned his horse.

That night, the horse appeared in the boy's dream and told him not to grieve him, for all things are impermanent. Instead, the boy should take his body and make use of it. So the boy crafted a fiddle from the horse and the fiddle was topped with the carving of a horse head. That day forward the boy went along the countryside playing upon this fiddle. For though the horse had tragically been taken from him, he would live on through the music that touched those who heard it. And to this day, the horse-head fiddle is the national instrument of Mongolia.

The minister then said that when a loved one dies, our relationship with them does not die, it is only transformed. We still hear them in our head talking to us, we still feel their love in our hearts. Death is a part of life and a lesson we must learn, for all things are impermanent.

I loved this message, and no matter what your beliefs or where you are in life, this is a very true message. I feel that we often try to ignore death in our culture, but that does nothing to help us. Instead, we must confront it, better yet, we should embrace it. Our deaths are inevitable as are the deaths of all our family and friends.

Overall Experience:

This was an amazing service and an amazing community. I loved this experience so much. It filled me with peace and a sense of belonging I haven't felt many other places. I will definitely be back sometime soon to this place, though I'm not sure when because of this blog.

Additional Comments:

I am having so much fun doing this. Also, my friend Austin has been accompanying me to all but one of these. He's also blogging about the experiences he's having. There's overlap in our posts, but he does have a slightly different approach to things. You can check out his blog here:

http://52paths.blogspot.com/

I know I said I might be making a video blog last week, but I never got around to it. I will definitely be making one this week, it might even be up tonight. I have many things to talk about, so tune in for that.

Join me next week as I return to where it all began for me: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon Church).

Until I speak with you next, peace be with you.

Off to see the Pure Lands of the Buddha

This week is going to be quite different from the previous weeks. Up until now, all the faiths I had been to have been Christian in one form or another with the exception of the Unitarian Universalists, who, though not a Christian religion, still have their roots in the Christian tradition. But this week, I am going to something completely different, the Ogden Buddhist Church.

Buddhism is a commonly practiced religion, in fact, it's the fourth largest religion in the world following Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. It's the religion of the Dalai Lama (though he's Tibetan Buddhist and I am going to a different sect than his this Sunday), a number of celebrities, and possibly many people you know. Yet for how common and exposed the religion is, it's not widely understood.

If you ask most Americans about Buddhism, a few images come to mind, Zen, monks in burgundy or saffron robes, statues of a serene man in lotus position or a jolly fat man laughing. They may know of the Dalai Lama or that it's a path to enlightenment, but that's often it.

Here's a quick list of some key points about Buddhism:

• Buddhism was founded by a man named Siddhartha Gautama in India in the fifth to sixth century B.C.E. (B.C.). Siddhartha was a noble man who upon seeing the suffering outside the palace decided he wanted to find a way to end suffering. He tried living an extreme lifestyle as a monk in the Hindu monasteries and seeking it elsewhere. But it was his discovery of the Four Noble Truths and the Eight Fold Path which led him to enlightenment. He became the Buddha after that, which means 'the Enlightened One."
• The Four Noble Truths are as follows:
1. The truth that suffering exists.
2. The truth that suffering has a cause, it is craving and attachment.
3. The truth that suffering can end.
4. The truth that there is a path out of suffering, the Eightfold Path.
• Buddhists believe in the Eightfold Path, which is a path leading to enlightenment. The Eightfold path is as follows:
1. Right view - perceiving the reality of ourselves and how we relate to the world around us.
2. Right intention - that your intention should be directed to towards enlightenment.
3. Right speech - taking care that your words do not harm either yourself or others.
4. Right action - taking care that your actions do not harm either yourself or others.
5. Right livelihood - taking care your life and life's work cultivate wholesomeness and good.
6. Right effort - that your passions should be directed towards enlightenment and the betterment of our world.
7. Right mindedness - your mind should be disciplined to look past delusion and attachment.
8. Right concentration - that you discipline yourself to perceive reality as it is.
• Buddhists' ultimate goal is a state called Nirvana. Westerners often look at Nirvana as Buddhist Heaven, but that's not how they would see it. It is a state of being that can exist both in this life and an afterlife if one believes one exists.
• Buddhists believe in reincarnation. This belief can range from the full on belief in the transmigration of souls from one body to another, or just the belief that everything cycles in this universe, matter, energy, etc.
• Buddhism itself has no central deity, but merely is the pursuit of enlightenment. Therefore, Buddhists may not believe in gods or they may have one or many different gods they worship. As such, there are many branches of Buddhism with rich and complex pantheons.
• Buddhism doesn't teach that it is the exclusive truth. They believe there are many paths to enlightenment and that theirs is just one that may work.
• Buddhists do not worship Buddha. Buddha insisted he was just a man through his entire life.
• There are many sects and traditions of Buddhism based on nationality, culture, beliefs, and practices. Some examples are Theravada, Mahayana, Chan, Zen, Tibetan, etc.

The sect of Buddhism I will be visiting this Sunday is called Jodo Shinshu. They are a branch of what is called Pure Land Buddhism. Pure Land Buddhism is a form of Buddhism with some unique traits that include:

• Devotion to the Amida Buddha (Amitabha) who is the Buddha of Infinite Light. The Amida Buddha is one of many buddhas. In many sects of Buddhism there are many buddhas as the term simply means one who is enlightened. These buddhas can be anything from examples to live your life by to something akin to gods or saints to whom prayers can be offered.
• Belief that the ability of humanity to follow the teachings of Buddha and draw closer to enlightenment deteriorates through the generations. Thus they turn to the Amida Buddha to deliver them.
• If you trust in the Amida Buddha, he will deliver you to the Pure Land. The Pure Land is a haven where one may more easily achieve enlightenment (viewed metaphorically though I do believe there's a literal dimension to this too among some believers.)

I'm quite excited to see this service. They're celebrating Nirvana Day this Sunday which celebrates the death of Buddha and his complete entering into Nirvana. I expect lots of chanting and rich symbolism. I'm also excited to see pets get blessed as their website's calendar says they will be doing.

Until next time, peace be with you.