Buddhism: A Personal Experience

Paper Summary:

The paper is a personal account of one individual's visit to a Buddhist temple and his reflections and thoughts following the visit. The paper's author, an American citizen born in Indonesia, discusses the reasons behind his desire to visit the temple and investigate Buddhism, describes in detail his visit, and concludes by describing his feelings following the visit and the conclusions he drew.

From the Paper:

"I was told that the Nembutsu is actually more than a prayer. They believe that merely saying the chant is the only way to Buddhahood or nirvana. This made me very curious. As a Christian, I was told to speak, act and think properly, to be good, to be charitable. Salvation in my faith meant that one has to be morally upright. With Buddhism, salvation is as simple as saying three words, in my mind I was thinking that it's absurd and I kept conjuring up an image of a magician pronouncing "abra cadabra, you're saved!" I asked about this, trying to get a more concrete alternative to the seemingly obvious and convenient path to enlightenment that they prescribe. I learned that like all religions, they do follow their teachings called the Dharma, and having faith in the Amida Buddha. By faith, they meant entrusting yourself to the Amida, with a gratefulness that spurs you to do good for the majority of people. Aside from gratefulness, they also prescribe humility, sincerity and selfless giving. One of the more pronounced difference with the Jodo Shinshu Buddhism and Christianity is that they don't believe in conscious efforts to attain enlightenment or salvation, and that they don't believe that anything is absolute. For them, mankind will never be perfectly good because humans were born imperfect, and they allow for this limitation. What's important is for a person to accept this "true nature" so that he could uses his "other power" which is the teachings of the Dharma."

Sample of Sources Used:

• San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin. http://www.sjbetsuin.com/WhoWeAre/WhoWeAre
• Shin Buddhism. Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha Official Site. http://www2.hongwanji.or.jp/english/shinbuddhism.html

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