So this is officially the start of what
I call my “wild cards”. This is #1 . I intend to mix it up with something
beyond a regular church every 10 articles and hit up a mosque, temple, smudging.
etc. So welcome to the Tao Buddhist Temple
of the See Zen Benevolent Society.
I
had a friend help me with this trip today, my wonderful co-worker Lonney. (
sorry if I didn’t spell your name right…) and as you can tell it was snowing…a lot.
I was informed before going there that
some of the people there would not speak any English but even with everything
that went on that night, I never saw it as an issue. After trudging my way
there I walked into the main lobby downstairs to take off my boots, and at that
point I realized that this place was defiantly going to be different. ( my
boots were 3-4- sizes bigger than most of the shoes on the rack.) so after hanging up my coat, I put on some
one-size-to small flip flops and was escorted upstairs where I had a tour
of a few different rooms, including a
office, meeting room(decorated in blue Christmas lights) and the temple space
all glowing in their bright yellow walls (supposed to encourage happiness).
I
was not sure how to imagine how a Buddhist temple would be laid out before I came
but no I have an idea. I looked over into the temple area and it was just a
open part of the upstairs with one small alter at the front with a much
larger one laying along the back wall. I
was surprised to see 5 figures on this back alter. One large Buddha in the
center, but standing beside him was 4 slightly smaller figures. I inquired about
them and in a brief explanation I was told that they were “the goddess of mercy”,
“the teacher”, “the god of justice” and a 2nd god also known as “the
teacher”. This 5 figures also are said to represent the 5 major religions and
how we all take differ spiritual paths to end up at the same location. It was emphases
to me repeatedly that Buddhist do not shun other religions and we are all ok to
take our own path. I have to take a
moment of to note that “ the goddess of mercy” is also referred to as “the
mother of god” and get this one….she can even be referred to by some as “mother
marry”. Crazy huh? Lol. And after taking
a moment to think about it, Kuan Yin kind of looks like Virgin Marry. What do
you think?
Over on the main alter we have incense burning
along with a large pot of smoldering cedar
with a specialized air fan of the ceiling
to suck out the smoke. In front of this pot was a whole assortment of rough
tooth pick size cedar stick grouped into 3. My co worker explained that they
place each of them to their forehead and ask god to remove their anger, greed,
and stupidity.
Off
to the left side there was an area with photos of elders that have passed on to
recognize and remember them, amongst the worshipers and floral arrangement that
filled the alters.
Most of the people
were dressed in long back Chinese style shirts with a mandarin style neck line
and collar. I was concerned about how I was dress but they said that I didn’t need
to worry as long as I am not to exposed (there were two teens right beside me
in t-shirts and jeans so i don’t think they were too concerned on how I looked)
.
During
the actual ceremony there were about half a dozen people that begin with bring
forward the fruit laid out on decorative risen platters towards the later to be
blessed. I noticed that the quantities on each plate were all in odd numbers. I
was told that is because there are no “bad numbers” in the Chinese language. By
that I mean that because the language has some words that sound similar they
can be mistaken when they are spoken and sound like something bad. Also, even
number are considered to be related to perfection, which we are not and must
always strive towards (hence the Chinese kid in class that always needs to get
100 on everything) . And apparently they also have some really scary numbers like 14 cause when
you say the number “14” on Chinese it sounds like “we are going to die” so that explains why there is no 14th
floor on buildings in China. I mentioned the bad vibes we have around the
number 13. Which for them is funny, because to them 13 is an extremely good number,
but for us represents the devil.
After that was done
everyone brought out their own knelling stool from the pile and set up in rows
facing the alter. I was asked if I would feel comfortable participating in
worship, and I said I would do they best and fallow the person beside me, and
they laughed :P .
Their worship is lot different
then anything I have yet encountered. In some ways it is the same, you have
people at the front leading the worship and some form of chanting going on but
this is a work out. These people move around a lot more than a catholic mass. Every
10 seconds it is get up, get down, on the stool, off the stool, forehead down,
forehead up and hand movements. I seriously burnt some calories during this
worship. And the crazy part was there was a 90+ year old lady next to me doing
it all like it is nothing. The elders at this temple are unbelievably strong
for their age.
I had a lot of meet
and greet going on, bowing and shaking hands with everyone and trying to
remember names amongst the 2 dozen attendants. With everyone being super friendly
even if some of them didn’t speak my language. But that didn’t matter, because
after temple it was dinner time. :P
Also the temple has a
puppy that they dress up in super cute little outfits and runs around looking
for love and table scraps .
Tao Buddhists are
ovo-lacto-vegetarians the do not use onion or garlic. So it was all meet free Chinese
vegetarian food at this dinner, which I was slightly learly about to start with
but it all turns out to be delicious. (Including the tofu dish that the young
boy at my table insisted I try). After blessing the food it was all eyes on me
as everyone was curious on how I would react to the odd setting of being squished
around a small round table with 11 other Chinese people having new kind of food
put in front of me. But I did well, ate everything. I actually had someone stop
to complement me on my chopstick skills. Win :P
There were no
beverages served with the meal so I asked for a glass of water which my
co-worker kindly brought me. Then she made a joke about it being “holy water”,
and then was I was drinking it her son piped up and said something to the effect
of “now you can spit on any vampires that might attack you on the way home”. Lol.
When I first met my co workers son he was looking very serious and professional
and helped lead the service. But after that it all came off and I had him sitting
down the table from me in his jeans and t-shirt cracking jokes, stuffing his
face with food, all while wearing a Santa hat??? Lol.
I had long talks with
one of the ladies that works in the temple and despite the language barrier we
did our best to inform each other about what we see and understand is both of
our religious views. I found it all very enlightening. She lent me a mini book
on Taoism which I hope to get read this week. But but one thing we talked about
was her concern for me. This is something that I have heard more than once,
that she feels that I might be weekend by not having a regular spiritual community
to lean on to keep me supported as I work on my mission. And like others I assured
her that I am a strong woman and that when my work is done I will be ready to settle
down in the right place. I am not made weaker by what I am doing, I am becoming
stronger and I am more loved and have more friends every day. And with this she told me I was amazing and
said “I will pray for you”.
So after finishing my
notes and taking home a load of blessed fruit and veggies, I thanked them all
and made my way out into the snow with a full heart and stomach. Thank you so
much and bless you all.
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