Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #5: Bongwonsa Temple and Nature Walk

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #5: Bongwonsa Temple and Nature Walk: "After visiting the Zen Buddhist Temple, Bongwonsa and attempting to see nature as a Taoist, answer this question: What is it about creation,..."

The purpose of religion is to lead people to the right way and to teach how people should behave. Buddhism is all about reducing the suffering in life, but overcoming such suffering depends on people’s behavior and attitude in confronting their difficulties. Whether to reach Nirvana and get enlightened is people’s choice in how they react to their suffering. People tend to be very desperate when they are in a difficult situation. Hoping to go to paradise or reach nirvana even after death for a better future, some people believe in Buddhism and try to act according to its teachings. On the field trip, one of the Bongwonsa monks explained about the several types of Buddha who are responsible for people after death, responsible for the spirits, and people’s wishes as well. He explained about Buddha, which grants one wish to people if they bow three times. I think the reason why people try to bow to Buddha is not merely to be granted a wish but to endure their suffering. Getting what one hopes for, people think, will make them happy. Buddhism, however, ultimately teaches to reduce wants, or even greed in the more severe case, and to accept the world as it is. Self control is a way to reduce suffering, it teaches.

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #4: Buddhist Meditation

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #4: Buddhist Meditation: "Spend 20 mintues in a silent meditation; a place you won't be disturbed, your own 'fig tree' as was Buddha's inspiration. In those 20 mintue..."

During the twenty minutes, I meditated sitting down silently under my quiet “fig tree.” For the first few minutes, I focused only on my breathing. It was quite hard to breathe using my stomach muscles instead of my chest ones. While I was breathing in and out slowly, I found myself calming down and relieved from the stress of trying to do my school work everyday. I had time to feel the good weather with a breeze blowing past and hear some boys playing soccer below in the apartment grounds. After a few minutes, I started to think about my future and college. Some of the upper classmen friends I know were worried about entrance tests and college applications. Talking to them made me worry too. I was setting out my goals and deciding what to do at university and in my career. That was one of my greatest concerns these days, strangely, even though a career seems such a long way off. My concentration, trying to feel nature and the peace in mind, began to break. Focusing just on emptying my mind for twenty minutes was difficult. Since I usually don’t meditate for such a long time, I am not yet trained to focus for that long. However, through the meditation, at least for a few minutes, I could calm my mind and reach a strange and unfamiliar mental state. I was trying hard not to think of anything for a change.