I never thought how interesting it would be to visit a different place of worship besides Christianity. Since the day I was born I’ve been a Christian and whatever anyone else believes in is wrong and that they are going to hell if they don’t believe in Christianity. About 3 years ago I visited the International Buddhist Progress Society a Buddhist temple in Naperville. Buddhism from what I learned looks more like a way of life or guidelines to it rather than a religion.
Buddhism tells you how you could live life better but doesn’t scare you with the prospect of hell instead you live with ignorance. My own history with Christianity still made me doubt or fear the conquences of going to this temple. Part of me believed that I be punished by divine judgment and it’s that fear that make people who are religious very ignorant toward other people’s religion. At the same time however, during that period of time l’ve given up on religion so I decided to go anyway. It was still perhaps the most interesting choice l’ve made in my life.
Also, a choice that changed my perspective on religion and life. Twent with my grandmother and her co-workers because there’re the ones that dragged me into going even though I said I wanted to go but regardless I was still interested in going. My grandmother was a strong Christian but she was also dragged into this and she also wanted to make sure I didn’t get manipulated or something. Her co-workers treated me like I was the chosen one because they thought I was interesting kid also something about me having a good aura but I just went along with it.
I actually thought in the back of my mind that a series of unfortunate events were going to happen to me like be struck down by lighting if I kept going with it. Before going there I was taught the chant nam-myoho-renge-kyo which translates to “l devote myself to the lotus sutra of the wonderful law”, I didn’t really understand it but I needed to know it. When driving there, as we got closer I noticed a lot of suburban homes so I wasn’t sure what to expect from this Buddhist temple. In front was a small little house and I thought this can’t be the place.
I was right it wasn’t the place it was actually the small building in the back that looked like a school. I was so used to the flair Christian churches witch were usually big but this place looked as humble as place of worship could look up until I walked inside and that’s when I was blown away. Taking my first steps into this place filled me with such wonderment it was like being in an actual Asian temple. What really caught my eye were the three Buddha statues where we were going to have the service. The statues looked like they were made of gold but I just thinking it was the lighting.
As | entered I felt a sense of calmness it was very different than a Christian church. In a Christian church I always felt tense or felt uneasy because of all the people jumping around singing songs like some type of indigenous tribes. On the other hand going to a catholic church always made me feel guilty or depressed. Being in this temple was different I actually felt welcomed while everyone was calm and collected and not bouncing off the walls. As we entered the area where they have the service we had to sit down on these cushions and after a little bit of talking they started the meditation.
We repeated nam-myoho-renge-kyo over and over with a little bit of different words mixed in during the meditation. While doing it I was constantly feeling this sense of euphoria it felt like I was in a trace with everyone joining in. honestly, it felt weird because I never had a sensation like that before and just like that it was over. An hour passed and I didn’t even notice my legs were cramped but my body felt like it was floating, I actually thought I did some black magic or something but everyone was a cheerful mood.
We didn’t stay long after the service was finished but one thing I took away from going there is that Buddhism is more personal from what was explained to me. I didn’t like the idea of sitting around meditating trying to find my own answers to life I wanted to help other lives. So in the end I didn’t stick with Buddhism. In the end, going to this temple really changed my view about religion in a whole new way. Because Buddhism is so personal it really focused on one’s self on the path of enlightenment.
That’s not me I would rather not waste time focusing on myself and meditating for me when I’d rather find ways to help people. Even still I still don’t care for most religions esspeslly the ones with a history of violence just because people have different mindsets. I believe there is a supernatural entity guiding or pulling strings to much weird stuff happens in my life when I decide to pray or try to understand why I have this scar of a Christian cross on my knee. I don’t regret going to this place because I taught me how to be religious in my own way I just need to commit more to it.
