Ahmed

AL Bouri

Professor Sinclair

LBST 2101

27/11/2017

Buddha Temple

I and my friends decided to visit Buddha Temple in Charlotte. It is about 25 mins away from the

university. The workers in the Temple were really nice and they were welcoming to everybody.

Taking an appointment to visit the Temple is not hard and they would be happy to introduce

you to the place. Wawy was the person who introduces us to the place. The design of the

Temple was incredible; I have not seen it before. It was colorful and you would feel like if you

are in old Chania emperor's house. Before he took us to the temple he introduced himself and

he talked a little bit about himself. His parents from China, but he was born in Philippine. And

he raised Muslim community even though he is not a Muslim. He knows a lot about Islam and

he respects all religions. What really surprised me is that he is not a Buddhist but he works in a

Buddha Temple. I think this is an amazing thing that he is flexible with all religions.

Before you enter the Temple, you need to take your shoes off. You cannot enter with your

shoes that would be disrespectful. The signs inside and outside the temple were all in English

and Chinese. There were over thirty statues with names of deities in both Chinese and English.

All statues had different facial expression and pose. Somewhere quite angry while others
looked peaceful. Buddha comes from Gautama Buddha was one of the greatest religious

teachers in the world. There was a lot of difference of Buddha statues function on the top.

There is a protection Buddha or some people call it overcoming fear. The explanation of this

statue is like a seated Buddha with right hand raised with facing outwards and this has two

meaning. The first means, as the raised right hand, symbolizes a shield. And the second

meaning is overcoming fear so the one who is receiving the protection will be lee fearful. The

second statue is for meditation Buddha; this statue is for people who look for relaxing and need

to be calm. Third, calls the witness of the earth, the statue is with the legs crossed, the left hand

in the leg, and the right hand pointing to the ground with the honor facing hidden toward the

Buddha. This pose is known as Calling the Earth to Witness. Fourth is the medicine Buddha, The

Medicine Buddha is venerated by those seeking health and for people who are having pain in

rare diseases. And there are thousands more different of statues. There is a statue almost to

everything. There are also statues for directions, for instance, there is North statue which

means the lord of the North.

To sum up, I had great experience in Buddha Temple. This was the first time I have gone to a

temple. I learned a lot about Buddhism and I have learned a lot about many different of

statues. The person who introduces us to the temple was really great guy and was really nice

with us. From what I have learned from the temple is that that Buddhism is not a religion. It is

jut whenever you need to pry for something or you need to be relaxed you can pray for your

need. And there are many types of Buddha statue, so you need to ask the specific statue on
what you want. For example, if you need to be calm, you need to pray to a meditation statue.

From this visitation, I have learned a lot about a good life and happiness because the person

who walk with us to look around the temple, he is not a Buddhism, but he works at Buddha

temple that shows us how this guy is living a good life. Working at holy place for a different

religion and he shows respects to their religion that show you how he lives in peace. And when I

ask him how do you feel working in a temple. He responds with big smile, saying all religions are

great and we all human and we all should respect others believes. His respond was a mazing. I

think the idea of visiting a place that you are not familiar with is a great idea that would let the

students experience new things. I really have learned a lot about Buddhism and I really enjoyed

talking with workers at the temple.

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