I went to a temple today, I immediately flashed back to standing in wat pho in Bangkok. Men in robes ran around with incense, candles where slowly lit, mantra's where recited and chanted throughout the service. Young monks bowed before an older monk, they "splashed" incense smoke onto a red book, they talked to it, an older monk carried it around over his head and young monks bowed to it. I figured that the book was their diety.
I had a hard time though, figuring out what the whole thing was about... was it the book that we where all gathered to see? Was it the statue in the front of the temple? At least at wat pho the giant Buddha was so large, it was obvious what we where there to worship. But here, there where to many things to worship. Did I need to bow at the older priest? They kept quoting an revered monk, maybe I needed to worship him...
At one point, it reminded me if a Sikh temple that I had visited, there they blessed some snacks, and then we ate them. They didn't really explain what it was about, but the bread dough type stuff was tasty at the Sikh temple. The snacks at the temple today where really dry and flavorless.
This temple also was much less friendly, other temples in Asia people would offer me food, and if I forgot to take off my shoes they would kindly remind me with a smile and a laugh. But today at this temple I felt like I was treading on eggshells all day, nobody would tell me what I was doing wrong, but I felt judged by all of the super grumpy staff and priests and monks. There where chants in other languages, and although the priest spoke in English, his accent was so thick that I could barely understand him - but that is normal in my experience at temples. Just like at Buddhist temples, they asked for donations to keep them open, which I always found strange when the temple itself is so lavish, and the people just outside the doors have nothing. Similar to Asian temples, this one was lavish! A huge garden, beautiful property, and of course the essencial gift shop and food vendors. I may as well have been back in Thailand or China. But it felt strange being in LA, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. "this is Catholicism? This is the religion that people say is the same as what I believe?" I thought Christianity was about freedom, forgiveness, grace, gloryifying God and building a relationship with Him. But the people at this temple thought differently, they where religious. For them its all about tradition and liturgy. There is absolutely nothing personal about these peoples religion. Buddhism is more personal, and a ton more appealing to me. It felt like watching a well rehearsed play, not people worshipping God.
I had a hard time though, figuring out what the whole thing was about... was it the book that we where all gathered to see? Was it the statue in the front of the temple? At least at wat pho the giant Buddha was so large, it was obvious what we where there to worship. But here, there where to many things to worship. Did I need to bow at the older priest? They kept quoting an revered monk, maybe I needed to worship him...
At one point, it reminded me if a Sikh temple that I had visited, there they blessed some snacks, and then we ate them. They didn't really explain what it was about, but the bread dough type stuff was tasty at the Sikh temple. The snacks at the temple today where really dry and flavorless.
This temple also was much less friendly, other temples in Asia people would offer me food, and if I forgot to take off my shoes they would kindly remind me with a smile and a laugh. But today at this temple I felt like I was treading on eggshells all day, nobody would tell me what I was doing wrong, but I felt judged by all of the super grumpy staff and priests and monks. There where chants in other languages, and although the priest spoke in English, his accent was so thick that I could barely understand him - but that is normal in my experience at temples. Just like at Buddhist temples, they asked for donations to keep them open, which I always found strange when the temple itself is so lavish, and the people just outside the doors have nothing. Similar to Asian temples, this one was lavish! A huge garden, beautiful property, and of course the essencial gift shop and food vendors. I may as well have been back in Thailand or China. But it felt strange being in LA, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. "this is Catholicism? This is the religion that people say is the same as what I believe?" I thought Christianity was about freedom, forgiveness, grace, gloryifying God and building a relationship with Him. But the people at this temple thought differently, they where religious. For them its all about tradition and liturgy. There is absolutely nothing personal about these peoples religion. Buddhism is more personal, and a ton more appealing to me. It felt like watching a well rehearsed play, not people worshipping God.
