BUDDHISM

Our Sunday School class has been studying Adam Hamilton's book Christianity and World Religions.  There is a  Buddhist retreat center  up in Leesburg. Our class visited there on Sunday. It is still under construction. They have dorms for men and  women to come and stay to learn to meditate. There are plans to build a small temple and to bring in 100 more statues.

The monk who talked with was very friendly and said everyone is welcome to come and walk around the grounds, but if a retreat is going on you can not disturb the meditation by going in the building. You can meditate when sitting, standing, laying down or walking around. This retreat is a Vietnamese Retreat center. 95% of Vietnamese are Buddhist. This monk had had a job and family with 3 children. He had to voluntarily become a monk and he had to have permission from his family. He is separated from his family with very little contact. He told us there were two branches of Buddhism. One Northern which is in China and is much more culturally influenced. The other branch went to Indonesia and Vietnam which is where he is from.
  Karla did a very good job of asking him questions.

Buddha was a man that was born in 563 BC as Siddhartha Gautama. His father was a prince and his mother died in child birth. His father kept him protected from anything bad or ugly. He was married and had a son. When he did venture out he saw old age, sickness and dying. He was unable to handle or understand it.  He left home when he was 29 years old to find his place in the world and became a monk. Siddhartha attains enlightenment and becomes the Buddha in 528 BC at the age of 35. He spent the next 45 years of his life teaching others about his insight and experience.

There are many statues of Buddha on the grounds representing different times in his life. They do not worship Buddha but revere him and look to Buddha as a guide and example hoping to achieve the kind of enlightenment that he achieved.

Buddha teaching others about his insights and experience.

 The death of Buddha.

Adam Hamilton looks at each world religion and sees what we can learn from each and how we differ and  how can strengthen our own faith. Meditation practices and not being attached to the things of this world are what we can learn from Buddhism.  Buddha's answer to the suffering he saw was detachment from clinging. Christianity has a different answer, a personal relationship with God. Through Jesus we see a God who loves and cares for humanity. Through Jesus life and death it teaches us that we can find abundant life here and now and in the resurrection in the life to come. Jesus's answer to suffering is a promise that suffering will never have the final word. This is the powerful message of Easter.