Mandy Millington

HUMA 1100, Barton

7th Period

3/7/21

Spirituality and Human Experience Active Learning

I watched a Buddhist Salt Lake Temple meeting on March 7th, 2021. I couldn’t make the

zoom meeting on time due to my Sunday schedule, so I watched the live recording on their

Facebook site. I watched their thirty-five minute Sunday service titled “Zen and Jodo Shinshu”.

The meeting was mostly focussing on finding peace and appreciating life and existence, but the

priest also talked about life with Covid and being able to handle and live with the change in

everyone's lives, emotionally and spiritually. He led the entire meeting, which was new to me

since most religious services I attend are led by multiple people. He opened and closed with a

sort of prayer or vow, I think that was what he referred to as Shinshu but I’m not sure. He also

opened with a sort of song or hymn that lasted a few minutes, and I found it really interesting,

even though I didn’t understand any of the words.

I chose this service because I studied Buddhism for our class presentations and I really

enjoyed it. I appreciate that there is a religion that focuses more on the positive impact you can

make as a person rather than leaving it up to a God or a higher power. Not that there's anything

wrong with believing in a God, after all I believe in one. However, I think people get caught up

in thinking there is nothing they can do to stop the bad parts of their life or of others' lives and

just plan on enduring through it. I think we should all be active in finding peace and alleviating

suffering whether of ourselves or others. I also find the religious culture in Southern Asia very
interesting and plan on traveling there one day, so I should probably learn as much about the

religion as I can.

I learned a lot about the way at least the Priest views his life and his different takes on his

trials in life. He told a story about his mom dying of cancer and how he was not there, but

through the teachings he grew up with he was able to feel at peace with it and was not suffering

with the realization she was gone. It was a lot like focusing on elevating yourself above suffering

so you feel at peace with your life. He also spoke about seeing self and appreciating that your

self exists and what you are able to do with your life when you recognize that. He spoke of his

future and existence after death and how his daughters could watch the videos he has recorded

and remember him, and referenced the idea of “I will be dead...or will I?”. I find that idea really

interesting and it also made me wonder about the constraints of time within existence. Do we all

exist at the same time? Do we only ever exist when we begin to be thought of and cease to exist

the last moment we are thought of? Or do we exist with no relation to who thinks of us or who

does not?

It is extremely important to be accepting of contrasting faiths, in a small or large society.

As a society we will always have differences in culture, background, language, personality,

religious beliefs and more. If we are accepting of every aspect of our differences besides religion,

the society will crumble. An inability to accept religious differences is what has led to countless

acts of war and turmoil throughout history and crumbled countries and economies. If we can’t

respect one another's opinions and beliefs it will result in feuds and contention that will pull a

society further apart. Some of my favorite quotes from the meeting was when the priest said that

all religions were “different approaches to the same thing,” and each one was “one of many

many thousands of ways to find the truth.” I wish more people would realize that. We don’t all
have to believe the same things, because they all stem from a root of being good and believing

that somewhere in the universe there is the power to do good and cause good.

I really enjoyed the experience. It was interesting to see a separate view of how life and

religion is viewed without bringing godly beings into perspective. I really want to learn a lot

more about the religion and how it can guide daily life, and to be able to apply that to my life. I

see no problem with living my life as a Christian and adopting views and perspectives of a

Buddhist to center my life around peace and less suffering. I wish more people would see how

encompassing each major religion is to another rather than arguing over which one has to be

right.