Zen Buddhism Observation Report

Observational Experience: Inside a Zen Buddhism Temple For my observational experience I went to the Great Heartland Buddhist Temple of Toledo in Holland, Ohio. This experience was very eye opening, but I felt so at peace afterwards. I learned that Buddhism itself is more broad than what I could have imagined after learning about it in class. There are many different forms of Buddhism, but this particular temple focused on Zen. Zen Buddhism focuses on the meditation aspects. They strive to be at upmost peace with themselves and others. This type of Buddhism has grown from Mahayana Buddhism where the monks work to refine all the rituals of Buddhism. Part of meditation in Zen Buddhism is the enlightenment process which is called Satori. The Great Heartland Temple did not practice meditation for the aspect of enlightenment; they meditated to be peaceful with themselves and others. …show more content…
In Buddhism they follow the Eightfold Path when it comes to their ultimate meaning and personal vocation. The Eightfold Path is a process of removing suffering by having the right knowledge, right motives, right speech, right action, right occupation, right perseverance, right awareness, and the right absorption. At the Zen Buddha temple, they followed their dharma names, and don’t really focus on the Eightfold Path too much. They try to relate their practice of meditation towards the goal of removing suffering from their lives. Buddhism wants life to be a harmonious and they want to be able accept life’s sufferings as well. For personal identity in Buddhism, they aim to make themselves better people. I saw that with just observation. They were all very peaceful and graceful. By graceful I mean that they took their time to really feel the moment. Each breath was taken in slowly and surely. Meditation enabled them to really connect with themselves on a whole new