When first enrolling in this Buddhism course, my main objective was to further my ever growing interest in world religions. Although it is every student’s dream to fully engage themselves in the subject they are learning by actually experiencing it, I never thought I would have this opportunity with Buddhism; this was before I was introduced to the possibility of participating in the Zen Center Assignment. I had very little expectations coming into the assignment. At the time we had submitted our applications, we had not learned much about Buddhist philosophies, ethical conduct or how Buddhist in our modern society practice; but this same unawareness intensified my curiosity and reassured me that this would be the experience of a lifetime.
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At approximately 5 o’clock p.m. we left the small confines of the Syracuse University campus to travel a mere fifteen minutes away to the Zen Center of Syracuse. The purpose of our trip was to surround ourselves and ultimately be practicing Buddhists for three hours. On the car ride over, we discussed each of our expectations for the upcoming journey. One student expressed his hopes of, as he said, “Zenning out” and learning how to manage his stress. Similar to the rest of us, another student wasn’t sure what to expect. He had a type of preconceived notion that this would be somewhat like a cult, but still understood that this would be a drastic shift from what most of us in the West have about religion and religious practice. Although we all had different hopes and ideas on how our time at the Zen Center would be, all three of us were certain that our legs would surely go numb.
Upon our arrival to the site, the outward appearance of the Zen Center was not what I had imagined. It looked like a white residential house, in a fairly populated part of the city. Based on my own perception from television, film, and the few photographs we had seen during lecture, I expected to see a stereotypical temple designed in an Asian influenced architecture in a secluded area. Because of its ordinary appearance, we drove past the entrance but soon noticed the quaint sign depicting “Zen Center of Syracuse”and the Japanese characters spelling “Hoen-ji”, the name of the center, written in black
At approximately 5 o’clock p.m. we left the small confines of the Syracuse University campus to travel a mere fifteen minutes away to the Zen Center of Syracuse. The purpose of our trip was to surround ourselves and ultimately be practicing Buddhists for three hours. On the car ride over, we discussed each of our expectations for the upcoming journey. One student expressed his hopes of, as he said, “Zenning out” and learning how to manage his stress. Similar to the rest of us, another student wasn’t sure what to expect. He had a type of preconceived notion that this would be somewhat like a cult, but still understood that this would be a drastic shift from what most of us in the West have about religion and religious practice. Although we all had different hopes and ideas on how our time at the Zen Center would be, all three of us were certain that our legs would surely go numb.
Upon our arrival to the site, the outward appearance of the Zen Center was not what I had imagined. It looked like a white residential house, in a fairly populated part of the city. Based on my own perception from television, film, and the few photographs we had seen during lecture, I expected to see a stereotypical temple designed in an Asian influenced architecture in a secluded area. Because of its ordinary appearance, we drove past the entrance but soon noticed the quaint sign depicting “Zen Center of Syracuse”and the Japanese characters spelling “Hoen-ji”, the name of the center, written in black