A Tale of Two Temples

This past weekend I visited two different temples. The first was on Saturday with Venerable Seongwon, my Unsa Seunim (benefactor/master is how I think that is translated).  He is the professor/monk who is helping arrange my move to Korea after I graduate next spring.  Venerable and a Taiwanese student from UWest and I went to Kwan Eum Sa (Avalokiteshvara Temple) in Korea Town, Los Angeles. 

It was originally a synagogue, but was converted into a Korean temple.  As you walk up the steps, it opens into a large foyer.  To the left is a small room that houses the memorial tablets of those who have passed away.  There is also a small altar room, the ceiling of which is covered with paper lanterns from the recent Buddha's Birthday celebrations.  To the right is a large open room, filled with cases housing various Buddha statues and other artifacts from around the Buddhist world with a giant seated Kwan Eum Bulsa (Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva) statue.  It also has long rows of tables and chairs.  It kind of looks like a lunch room.  Passed that is the kitchen.  Next to the open room is the main shrine room. 

At the end near the doors into that room are two large drums, kind of like Japanese Taiko drums.  One of the monks we met showed us how to do some drumming.  He's a rather famous monk from South Korea, an expert in a monastic martial arts tradition who has published several books.  He doesn't speak much English, but hopes to get into the ESL program here at UWest soon.  He also is a licensed acupuncturist.  I can't read his name on his business card because it's written in Korean.  I've only just begun learning the Korean alphabet.

There was another monk, the new abbot, Ven. Bum Hyu.  His English is quite good.  He used to in the South Korean military and be a liaison between the U.S. and Korean militaries.  I think he prefers the life of a monk.

In any case it was a relaxing day and my first time having Korean food.  Kimchi is pretty good!  I'm looking forward to visiting again as I hope to begin learning Korean chanting and more about the life of Korean monks prior to moving to South Korea.

The next morning, my friends Ed, Daphna, Jennifer and I went to the Nichiren Shu temple in Los Angeles for their Sunday service.  It was a spacious building in an otherwise largely residential neighborhood, white with turquoise trim on the outside.  The shrine room had pews with an elaborate altar.  The priest was accompanied on the raised area in front of the shrine by an elderly woman who had recently been ordained.  There was a young Japanese man down in the pews with us, working one of the drums as well.  Otherwise, the service was sparsely attended.  Two Americans and an Italian woman, as well as the priests wife were the only ones in attendance I think.  After the service, the priest explained that the members come in droves to the larger services, especially for memorial services and holidays.

After the service, we went to a small study room in the basement where we had an interesting discussion about the differences between Tibetan and Japanese Buddhism.  One difference I hadn't been aware of is the belief in Japanese Buddhism that you don't necessarily get reborn in this world, but you go to "the spiritual world" where the prayers of the living can help you get enlightened.  At least that's how I remember his explanation, but don't take my word for it. 

Anyway, we then had tea and cookies and got to know each other a bit.  The funny thing was the priest didn't quite understand that my friends were not my disciples.  I tried to explain that a couple of times, but that didn't get through.  So when we got back to campus, Ed and Jennifer bowed to me, palms together.  I said, "What, no prostrations?"  Ed said the blacktop in the parking lot was too hot, so I let them off the hook.

Sorry there are no photos.  The batteries were dead on Saturday, and the pics I took on Sunday are stuck on the disk.  I can't seem to get them to download, but they weren't very good anyway.  I'm going to a temple again with Venerable Seongwon this coming Saturday, so I'll be sure to get some pics and find a different way to download them.  I might also go to another temple Sunday with Ed and the gang again, too.

In other news, I'm going to pick up another shift at work probably and be an almost full-time temporary Head Cashier (the job I did at Barnes and Noble in Bloomington) for the summer.  Some people have left and one full-time bookseller was promoted to a management position, so the store has several positions to fill.  I'll do that until mid-August, just before the fall semester begins.  I need to earn as much as possible over the next year prior to my move to Korea.

Comments

[scruffysmileyface]

Namaste, Venerable Gyatso!!! I found out this weekend that we have a mutual friend, a Taiwanese young lady who's studying at UWest, and is here in Houston at Chung Mei Temple for the summer. I had the honor of helping her a little with her English (which is, of course, light-years beyond my Chinese).
Anyhoo, she had wonderful things to say about you. :)

[Susan Law]

You spoke of "the belief in Japanese Buddhism that you don't necessarily get reborn in this world, but you go to "the spiritual world" where the prayers of the living can help you get enlightened." And you said this was unlike Tibetan Buddhism - but there is also a belief in Tibetan Buddhism that one can be reborn in a pure land rather than in this world. I don't think pure lands are quite the same as this world.

Anyhow - it is easier to get enlightened in a pure land.

Tulku Thondup in his book on death and dying, "Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth," also speaks of how the prayers of the living can benefit those in the bardo - he has quite a bit about that.

I was surprised by most of this - so much to learn!

Cheers and best wishes - as always!

[Rinchen Gyatso]

Susan,

The spiritual world of which the Japanese priest spoke seemed to be different than the pure lands generally spoken of. I'll have to check with him on exactly what that difference is, though. As for Tibetan Buddhism, while one can be reborn in Amitabha's Pure Land, generally one is reborn in one of the six realms unless you have specifically set your sites on the Western Pure Land (and have thus created the causes to be reborn there), and the Bardo is not a spiritual realm really, but simply an in-between state--between this life and the next. Thanks for your comment, though! As soon as I can I'll check with the priest to clarify.

[Kalsang Dorje]

Gyatso-lha!

I thought you took down your blog so I stopped happening by. I come back expecting a dead page with many lamentations about the demise of your blog identity but end up being surprised that I can't even see the death knell anymore and I've got a link in your side-bar!! Thanks!

Tashi Delek,
Kalsang Dorje