Thursday, August 24, 2006

Gold Leaf

People work together for a more productive and prosperous community. They join hands in working and in praying as well. This is what I realized from the trip we did last Saturday at the Seng Guan Buddhist Temple. It's one heck of a great great experience. I had some ideas about Buddhism and how the people do their worshipping. That trip was my first time, first time I stepped on a temple that Buddhists give most value to.

Buddhists use alot of things during their worship and it seemed as though the process is a bit complicated. Well, I think it's just that I'm not a Buddhist neither a Chinese. Haha. Anyway, I was really amazed on what I saw (how their "masses" or praises were done) because those scenes are the ones I only see on tv. Yay! Strict, the chinese are. The tour guide cautioned us to be extra careful on things around us at the same time explaining the whereabouts of the temple. Remember, tables are not for the feet. Haha, some of my classmates, including me, stepped on a table to get on the platform where Gautama Buddha and others stood. We didn't notice that those were sacred tables until the guide told us so. Hehe, sorry for that.

Buddhism is about the teachings of the awakened ones and regarded as a practical philosophy based on the lessons of Gautama Buddha. Buddhism is about the reality or truth and that’s why it is been referred to as the awakening of people to the realm of truth. I also learned more about the concept of Nirvana, which is the truth, the extinguishment of desire (wikipedia). Furthermore, the followers (Buddhists) should act in a way of complete detachment or life without desires and people in the Nirvana are excluded from the birth and rebirth stages of Buddhism. I was struck by the concept that the Nirvana is neither good nor bad, it is just plain reality. The Nirvana for them is just like our heaven, the eternal life that is. That leads me to another thing I picked up in the trip, which is the concept of reincarnation. I am familiar with this idea and from what I knew; this means that before a person’s current life, he or she was an exact opposite entity of what he or she is now. Lastly, the idea of karma was discussed and it enhanced my understanding of it. They say that every action incurred by an individual is topped up with either a good or bad karma depending on the action done. It led me to thinking of how Filipinos often use and attach karma with the negative. Buddhists value goodness and at the same time face the reality that there is the “other side.”
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Statues of Buddha and the rest did not appear to be golden at first until the chinese community joined hands in buying golden leaves to cover the statues and the wall behind their altars.

How wonderful.

Any person who has become awakened from the "sleep of ignorance" by directly realizing the true nature of reality is called a Buddha.

Hinampas nung 8:45 AM