Zen Center

Well when we first began to study Buddhism I could see a few similarities between the religion and the martial arts. However, when we visited the center I was able to visually observe how a big part of my life has it's roots from the religion.

When we first walked in the room, I saw the to Zen teachers dressed in their outfits and I was immediately reminded of the Korean uniforms some of the black belts from my Tae Kwon Do school purchased on a trip to Korea a few years ago. The next thing I noticed was how the regulars to the center would bow to the meditation room when they would walk in or out. This too is strikingly familiar to me. In Tae Kwon Do everyone bows when entering or exiting our training room which we call a 'dojang'. We bow to show respect for our training space so I'm pretty sure that the worshippers were bowing to their room too show respect for their worship space.

I found the chanting that they did very interesting as well. It was a little different from the Gregorian chanting I'm used to hearing in the Catholic church. Their were two differences that I immediately noticed when they began to chant: 1. They mostly stayed on one note, they rarely moved up or down in tonal pitches. 2. They were clacking wood rythmically to keep all who were chanting together in time. Their form of chant is actually easier for an average person to participate in than Gregorian.

Overall, I found our visit to the center to be a very interesting experience, one that will definitely something I will remember for the rest of my life. It also has given me a couple new insights on my martial art. I know the next time I'm training I will be remembering my visit.

Hindu Temple

Well, to start off with I would have to state that hands down visting the Hindu temple in Aurora was my favorite trip that we have taken during this class. It felt like we actually went to India at times. There were people that were wearing both western and traditional Indian clothing. The fact that we had the opportunity to even eat Indian fod also furthered the illusion of being in India. It gave us an opportunity to understand a little portion of Indian culture and therefore understand Hinduism as well.

I found it interesting how the Hindus lavished their statues of their gods with real gold, jewels, and flowers. It seemed that they spare no expense when it came to their temple. They cared about giving the best of what they can give to their gods. I also found it interesting how almost everything in the temple was made back in India or was made by an Indian artist or architect. It gave the people that worshipped in the temple a connection back to India. For most it;s probably their homeland and for their children it would be their heirtage.

One more point of interest to me was a similarity I saw between the architecture of a Catholic church, Jewish temple, and a Hindu temple. They all keep the most important item in their worship space behind a curtain or a door. The catholics have the Eucharist, the Jews have the Torah, and he Hindus keep the statue most important to that particular temple behind gold doors. While the Hindus keep the statue behind the door for a different reason than Catholics and Jews keep their items behind curtains( Hindus have the door to wake up the god in the morning and to put the god to sleep at night) it still is an interesting architectural similarity.

Islamic Mosque

When I first found out that we would be going to visit an Islamic mosque, I began to imagine tall golden spires and domes. Therefore when we drove up and saw the one, small, blue minneret, I was a little disapointed. Even on the inside of the building I was disapointed to see that there was no fancy, colorful decorations. However I must say that the building, though lacking in beauty, is very practical for many different purposes.

I did find it interesting that like the synagogue we saw, the building was more of a community center than just a worship space. There were class rooms and even a gymnasium. Since this puts an emphasis on community, this led me to think that community is also an important aspect of Islam.

When we got to walk into their big prayer room, I was struck by how extremely plain the room was. Just plain white walls, red plush carpeting, and an archway facing towards mecca. There was nothing in the space that led one's eye to wander upward towards heaven. The sole focus point instead keeps people's minds on Mecca and the Ka'Ba. Perhaps this only is the case in this smaller mosque but still I found that observation to be very interesting.

I also didn't remember that Muslim's remove their shoe's when they enter to pray. I was reminded of the story of Moses in the Old Testament with the burning bush. When God first spoke to him through the bush He told Moses to take off his shoes because he was standing on holy ground. If I was thinking during our tour, I should have asked if Muslims remove their shoes because they consider it to be holy ground.

Anyway, overall I was very curious about the mosque. In a age where one rarely turns on the news and hears about Islam one way or another it was interesting to get to see the actual inside of a mosque. It gave some insight on the culture and a real face to people that we so often hear about and rarely get to meet in real life.

synagogue

Today we traveled to Madison WI to visit the Beth Israel Center. I have to admit that when we first drove up I was a little disapointed to see that it looked nothing like the synagogues that you see when watch the movies about Jesus. I thought it looked a little like an ordinary office building and even the inside seemed to resemble a school more than what I expected the synagogue to look like. So when we walked into the actual sanctuary, I wasn't surprised at how simple it was. However, I still found the synagogue to be in it's own way beautiful. Perhaps this was partly due to how familiar looking the sanctuary looked. Even though the space was designed for a different type of worship, I was struck by how similar the layout is to a Catholic church. There was a table in the center of the altar, a podium for which teaching can be delivered to the community, and they even had a light that is never extinguished which reminded me of the sanctuary lamp found in Catholic churches which is always kept lit when hosts are left in the tabernacle.

I also really like the quote in Hebrew written above their altar. A large part of the Jewish identity is their language and I thought that the sight of the language above their heads really serves as a reminder of their community identity and the quote itself, "Know before whom you stand" serves as a reminder of God watching them.

One more thing I found particulaly interesting about the synagogue was the fact that they have a Jewish ibrary actually inside the building. I thought that it was a nice how a community and religion that requires lots of study actually provide the books for their people to study from.

Overall I found visiting the synagogue an interesting experience, yet not at all strange. I think that because of the similarities that the sanctuary and religion had with mine, I didn't find it to be a completely foreign environment.

St. Francis Xavier Basilica and New Melleray Abbey

These two spaces have many similarities and differences. They both have the distinct features that make them Catholic churches. For example they both have altars, ambos, tabernacles, crucifixes, and icons of Mary. These similarties make it possible for a non-Christian to see that both of these spaces are indeed Christian. The differences lie only in the overall styles of the two churches. The Basilica's outside and inside architecture is very ornate. It's murals and statues remind one of the majesty of God. It's design draws one's eye upward toward the murals of angels painted on the ceiling, perhaps to give a visual of angels and Heaven existing above us. The mural above the altar also has this effect, portraying Heaven with the angels and saints surrounding God. In contrast, the church at the monestary was very simple and plain. There were no murals, no statues. The walls were just the plain limestone and if one looked up they would see no paintings, only the plain wood ceiling and the wood braces supporting it. The church's architecture is not supposed to distract a person. In fact, it's supposed to free one's mind allowing a person to focus on prayer.

I started off thinking that I would most likely prefer the Basilica and it's gradeur above the monestary's church. However after visiting both I now find myself preferring the monestary's church with it's simplicity and plainness. I was stuck by the realization that the design of the church reinforces the way of life the monks live. During our tour, their belief of simplicity was continually pointed to us in different examples. The monks even find the bolts on the ceiling braces of their meeting room to be too ornate. As part of the materialistic world outside the monastic world, I would never have even had that thought enter my mind. When I made the connection that the church's designed reflected the lifestyle of the monks, I much preferrred the
monastary's church.