Six rules of life from Buddha’s teaching and science:
Before you pray… Believe
Before you speak… Listen
Before you spend… Earn
Before you write… Think
Before you quit… Try
Before you die… Live
This morning I attended the Temple Buddhist Center of Kansas City via a live broadcast. I wanted so badly to attend a service this morning in person but because of the COVID-19 most places of gathering/ worship chose to go live stream.
I cannot complain as I was able to sleep in a little longer on this rainy and slightly chilly Sunday morning while also “attending” the Buddhist service in the comfort of my pajamas and warm bed.
And from what I have been reading and hearing, most places have chosen to close their doors for the rest of the month so as of this moment it seems like I may be “visiting” a few other places from the comfort of my bed. These are the times I really really appreciate how far technology has come. I may not have been physically sitting in front of anyone today, surrounded by other like minded beautiful people, but I was still able to experience something quite wonderful from the Buddhist Center of Kansas City this morning.
There are two different Buddhist temples on my list of places to visit this year. The one I was able to watch this morning was a western Buddhist gathering. The other will be a rime Buddhist temple. I am not 100% sure what the two differences are exactly but from what I have read so far it seems as though the western temple is a bit more modern. And I am hoping to visit in person the rime Buddhist temple on a later date.
This morning I had a handful of churches and temples to pick from… Wondering which religion to visit this morning via my lap top…
I figured, rainy morning and unfortunately a lack of sleep from the night before, I needed something calming and relaxing. I needed some meditation! And that was all she wrote, Buddhist temple here I came! Just a flew clicks away…
So I rolled out of bed and made my coffee, warmed up a bagel and slid back into bed for a new experience. The description on their website wrote that their service consisted of chanting, meditation, Dharma talk and loving kindness practice. Well, that sure sounds like a good service to me!
As I have written more about in my last posts, I grew up very conservative. Attending a Buddhist service would have been out of the question had I been invited fifteen years ago. But upon making my 30 religions before 30 list a few weeks ago, Buddhism was one of the religions I was most excited about visiting. So what happened between that gap of would Never Attend to Most Excited religion on my list?
Well, at age 13 I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Before being diagnosed and starting medication, my body felt like an 80 year old’s body. I could hardly make it up the stairs to the second level of the house, my joints hurt so bad. And forget about opening up a can of anything, my hands were so swollen and achy.
But after a handful of doctor’s visits, I was diagnosed with arthritis in multiple joints. I was honestly so relieved to have finally been diagnosed with something, to give my pain a name. I wasn’t going crazy after all! The doctor’s told me that movement and stretching would help me out allot. So enters yoga, well kind of!
I didn’t get into yoga right away, actually the doctors didn’t even prescribe a regular yoga class but upon high school the choices were either weight class with all the football players or a yoga class held in the wrestling room with all girls. The choice was clear as anything heavy terrified me and caused my hands to get immediately sweaty. Woops, didn’t mean to drop that heavy pound weight on you Mr. senior caption of the football team.
Whether it was my sophomore or junior year of high school that yoga entered my life, I can’t remember, but that was when the door opened and I found my love for a new kind of movement/ exercise and meditation. I can still remember allot about those classes, where we were, what yoga videos we watched and laying there on that nasty wrestling room floor trying to meditate as best as I could without really knowing what I was doing.
As an adult I have been a member of multiple yoga gyms. It is my main form of exercise. I have also been certified as a yoga teacher with 500 hours of classes. I even found my way to a yoga retreat in Minnesota about two years ago. I have found such peace from meditation. I have used a few apps, some guided and some unguided. I can feel such a difference in my day when I slow my thoughts down and concentrate on my breathing. Meditation is such a beautiful process, especially in a world of go-go-go!
I’ll be honest, the only thing that I have not tried yet has been chanting. When I think of people chanting, I think of the movie, Eat Pray Love when Julia Roberts goes to India for three months to live in an ashram and there she is surrounded by a bunch of sweaty individuals chanting to their guru. Was the Buddhist temple to be anything like this, I had not a clue?
To best describe the Temple Buddhist Center of Kansas City, would be slow (in a good way), calming, peaceful and encouraging. The service was very simple and had a grace of flow that I recognized to be different than other services I’ve attended in the past. The service didn’t seem choppy or like they were rushing from one announcement to the next thing, there was instead time for many big inhales and slow exhales, especially before starting a new part of their service.
I’ll be honest, it’s been over an hour since I finished watching the service and I am still riding a feeling of calmness and tranquility. If you’ve ever been to yoga class and felt “in the zone,” this service also left me feeling something very similar to that peace and “in the zone” feeling.
There was some chanting but honestly nothing like Eat Pray Love. And upon more research I came to understand that an ashram is is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions, a bit different than a Buddhist practice. The chanting today was quite nice and nothing to the extremeness that I pictured beforehand. The chant wasn’t that long and in fact I wished it was a little longer.
There was guided meditation of about fifteen minutes and then a teaching from Robert Brumet. His topic was about turning poison into medicine. He used the acronyms ROAR to stand for 1. Recognizing 2. Observing 3. Applying 4. Relaxing
The three poisons are greed, craving and delusions. When we come up against the poisons we then recognize our own experience, observe and feel without judgement or prejudice, apply the remedy or antidote (example: craving we would relax and open) and finally relax or release what the feeling is. Therefore, turning our poisons into medicine for mind, body and soul.
After Mr. Brumet spoke, the director, Victor J. Dougherty, lead us all in a loving kindness practice. It went something like this, “May I/you be filled with loving kindness, May I/you be safe from inner and outer dangers, May I/ you be well in body and mind, May I/ you be at ease and happy.”
We repeated the loving kindness practice five times, each time thinking of someone new to send our good wills to. First, was ourselves, second was someone we cared about, third was for an acquaintance or a passer byer, the fourth was to a difficult person in our life, the fifth was to the world, all living creatures and all living humans.
The service ended with a beautiful closing dedication. Then Mr. Dougherty brought his hands to his heart, bowed his head, raised his hands in the air and wished us well with and ending, Namaste.
Today was the perfect day to welcome a little Buddhism into my day. I exited the service feeling more rested, uplifted and even encouraged as I began the start of another week.
And so I say to anyone reading this post, Namaste!
Closing Dedication: “May the pure, brilliant sun of Bodhicitta dawn in each and every heart and mind, dispelling the darkness of suffering and confusion unstoppably , until all are illumined and awakened.”
Stars and Sunsets 