Olympia Mahayana Buddhist Center - November 3rd 2010

        What do Mahayana Buddhism and Catholicism have in common? As I discovered in China, my readings and today at the Olympia Mahayana Buddhist Center...quite a lot. What I discovered today was more of the common themes that many religions share who have the ideal of perfection or near perfection, and the belief that it is possible to reach that state through help from outside powers.

       The Kadampa Mahayana Buddhism at the Olympia Buddhist Center came out of Tibetan Buddhism, which explains the many Buddhist deities and living and past masters as guides to attain Enlightenment. Certain Gurus have attained Enlightenment and are there to guide their pupils to achieve Buddhahood through worship, much like honoring the Saints in order to get closer to God and more Godlike. The main difference is in Mahayana Buddhism it is taught that you can become a Buddha, in Christianity a person cannot become a Christ. As it turns out both depend on outward salvation from a higher power in order to attain goal of living virtue.

      How to describe the Center? The Center was a small building located near the park by the Capital building. Once inside there was a shop, an area to get tea and the worship area where Golden Buddhas sat with offerings, as well as a picture of the Guru who had come from Tibet.

      The prayers reminded me of the Lord's Prayer.
Our Father who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. They Kingdom Come thy will be done on earth as is Heaven. Gives us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not unto temptation but deliver us from all evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever.

    The prayer that the two nuns lead us in was the "Heart Sutra" which involved praying to the guide and protector Je Tsongkhapa to lead us to virtue and protect the disciples from straying from the path and the temptations of Samsara (the cycle of death and rebirth). It involved confessing mistakes and how living virtuously had not been done and to help bring virtue upon the disciples and to be like the Master Kelsang Gyatso (who is the founder of the New Kadampa tradition of which the Center is based on) and past Buddhas in mind, heart and body. The prayers were based in praise and submission while asking to be made better and Buddhas. The Pure Land was referenced as the place where the Buddhas were which is similar to Heaven in the Christian tradition since it is a place of bliss, happiness and an end to suffering.   

      It was an interesting experience and reminded me of my experience in China where the Buddha and Bodhisattvas/Deities were prayed to. I think was this reveals to me about us humans is our desire for salvation outside ourselves. We can seek out Allah, God, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, the Gods of past religions or other honored teachers or symbols in order to better ourselves or to have the peace of mind that maybe death, really isn't the end and that there is something or someone out there watching out for us and helping us reach paradise in this world and the next.