World Religions: Buddhism

On Sunday October 24, 2010, I attended a Buddhist service at the Buddhist Church of Florin. The service was held at 10:00 a.m. and it lasted for about an hour. The morning service began with the ringing of the kansho. The reverend and his assistant entered bowing to the area where the Amida Buddha Statue was and they placed fruits and flowers in the table that was in front of the statue. They chanted a nembutsu, “Namo Amida Butsu”, which means “I rely upon Amida Buddha”. This was followed by the singing of a sanbutsuka and the reading of a passage, the "Golden Chain." After the sanbutsuka and reading, a brief silent, seated meditation period was followed by the reading of a second passage, the "Three Treasures." After the second reading, children that attend the dharma school were asked to come to bow in front of where they offered oshoko. They came in order of lowest grade to the upper grades and their parents came as well to do the same ritual. This was followed by the chanting of a sutra or gatha and a Dharma talk. The Dharma speech was about Gratitude-the giving of thanks to everything, after this, we gasho and chanted. The service is concluded with the singing of another sanbutsuka, the "Ondokusan” and announcements are made. After the announcements are finished, everyone gets up and offer oshoko, offering of Incense. Proceed toward the altar and bow lightly at a distance of about two steps in front of the shoko table. Step up to the table, and with the right hand take a pinch of granulated incense and drop it over the burning incense. Take two or three steps backward, bow, and return to your seat. It is symbolic of the followers purifying their mind and body before paying homage to Buddha. At the same time the smoke rising from the burning incense teaches us a lesson on the transiency of all existence. I noticed that there were a lot of symbols around the church. The first symbol I noticed was,”The Wheel of Law”, known as the Wheel of Life or