In the wise words of Bhikkhu...

         Walking into the house, which was supposedly considered a ‘temple,’ I was a bit hesitant about what I was getting myself into. But the monk I spoke with on the phone seemed friendly enough and I had my roommate in tow, so I figured, why not? We entered this old, bright burnt-orange colored house and were greeted by one of the resident monks wearing a traditional bright orange robe. Bhikkhu, as we were instructed to call him (the title was one of respect indicating his status as a monk), greeted us with a cheerful smile and a slight bow of his head. Bhikkhu then instructed us to remove our shoes and situate ourselves with a mat and a cushion below us—soon we would start the service.

             It was a beautiful early Sunday morning (7:45 to be precise) and I had decided to go to the Minnesota Buddhist Vihara for what would be the equivalent of a church service for those practicing the Buddhist faith. MNBV is a place of worship that teaches Theravada Buddhism, or the Buddhism of the South, in the language of Pali.

            Jumping right on into the service, we were told to sit comfortably in a lotus, or crossed-legged, position with our hands in our laps, making sure to keep our thumbs together.  The two resident monks then began to chant The Three Refuges and The Five Precepts. The first chant paid homage to the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, while the second chant was akin to the 10 Commandments.

The Five Precepts are very similar to the 10 Commandments. 

            After those scriptures were recited, we were then led through meditation.  Neither my roommate, nor I, had ever meditated before.  The monks were very helpful, and the rest of the attendees (some regulars and some visitors) were very patient with us also. 

            Imagine sitting crossed-legged on a circular cushion in a cold room facing a Buddhist shrine.  Your back is straight and your eyes are slowing closing to the sound of the soothingly deep voice of the monk leading you through the meditation.  You are slowing sinking deep into your cushion, your body is just heavy, and you feel as though you are having an outer body experience.  At the same time, you are instructed to tell your mind to quiet itself, to be still.  Stop wandering, stop daydreaming; stop thinking about your class or the blog you have write, stop thinking about the strangers’ breathing around you, stop thinking of the coldness on your toes. And as you are trying to calm your mind, thoughts are constantly rushing in and out at super-speed; your body just keeps sinking deeper and deeper into the cushion.  Then you are told to practice mindfulness, off in the distance you hear the monk telling you to observe yourself.  Observe your body and your breath; observe the way your mind hops around.

            I observed how haphazardly my brain works, jumping from one extreme to the next.  This is what the monks called a “monkey mind.” It’s never still, or rather, it takes practice to make it still.  I observed my breath and how on every other inhale, I had this hitch where the air seemed to get caught between my throat and my lungs.  I observed how my exhale was halting and not as steady as I had anticipated. 

            Then all too quickly it was done.  We were slowly brought back into reality and told to gently circulate our joints to get blood flowing back to our extremities again. Directly after that, we ended the service with another prayer, Karaniyametta Sutta, or the Discourse on Loving-Friendliness.  (Below is a YouTube Video of the Discourse on Loving-Friendliness recited in Pali--not taken during my Intercultural Experience.)

            Everyone has their own experience meditating.  It’s such a personal journey that you may embark upon with a group of fellow practitioners, but one in which you arrive to your destination alone. After making our own journeys, we asked the monks to elaborate on the teachings of the Buddha.  Bhikkhu said it all in one simple phrase: “Don’t do bad. Do good. Purify your thoughts.” Of course, there were other principles that we spoke of and emphasis is placed on several different aspects of the Dhamma, or the teachings. But a lot of what we learned was simple and we were told to think about some of these principles before meditating. One of those ideas was mindfulness. There’s also the principle of karma, in which you strive for happiness and joy through the lack of bad intentions towards others. 

            During meditation one could focus on positivity, trying to turn all the negative thoughts into positive ones, or even neutral ones.  Bhikkhu used an example of “hate to non-hate.”  The Discourse on Loving-Friendliness was to help us practice spreading this “boundless love” to all around us.  

            Looking back to analyze my experience, I would have to say there were two things that really stood out and related to class concepts: the subject of values and the idea of mindfulness. Both of these concepts came up in our discussion with the monks after our meditation.

            Values, as defined by our text, were shared ideas about what is important and unimportant, right and wrong, fair and unfair, etc. We learned in class that these tend to be fairly stable and enduring throughout one’s life. We also learned that it helps to answer the question: who am I? A lot of our discussions have centered on the socialization process of how we come to have the values we have. Many of us have the same values as our family members, our schoolmates, or our churches. We were taught at a young what was right and wrong based on what our parents taught us or what we gathered from our schools or religious ceremonies.

            The teachings of Buddhism are comparable to those of any other religion.  These particular teachings emphasize the values of nonviolence, compassion, and loving kindness. In The Five Precepts the Dhamma reminds those practicing of the rules that should govern their lives; rules like don’t steal from others and don’t kill others. In the Discourse of Loving-Friendliness the Dhamma stresses the importance of being kind and wishing all people well; of living a virtuous life and not slighting others or doing anything you know is wrong. Intent is a huge factor in the ideas behind Buddhism.  Intent is the key to karma.  Good karma may come your way if you consciously do good and don’t do bad. But bad karma may befall you if you consciously do bad.

            I think the origins of these values are important because they seem to be fairly universal. In most religions that I know of, there are ideas of right and wrong, good and bad. While the practices may be different across borders (even across the Northern and Southern parts of Asia) and across different religious sects, I think if the basic principles and teachings are the same, people should have just one more thing in common.  One simple understanding between two people or two groups of people could lead to better and more open communication amongst those cultures. Consciously thinking about these things can also help us better communicate.

            This brings me to my second observation pertaining to mindfulness. Mindfulness, as Bhikkhu pointed out to us, was being aware of your surroundings and your being.  Practicing mindfulness would help put you in touch with your inner self and help you learn about yourself and about others.  Being mindful while practicing would help you in meditation and help you observe your thoughts.  This would in turn allow you to learn from your mistakes and consciously be more attentive to how your actions are perceived.

            In chapter nine of our text, we read that mindful listening and reframing skills would allow us to be more flexible when communicating between cultures.  Being able to listen carefully and attentively helps the listener to create new categories of culture-sensitive concepts, as our authors had mentioned. This mindfulness can also help us in our perception checking skills; giving us time to fully take in the situation and analyze it accurately from multiple lenses. 

            As our Bhikkhu stated, Buddhism is a way of life.  But based on my experience, I think it’s safe to say it a very open and humble lifestyle.  Practicing Buddhism and meditating by yourself can help you in many different ways; it can help us shape our value systems of what is right and wrong, it can help us better understand where different people of different backgrounds come from, and it can keep our perceptions in check if we are consciously being mindful and practicing with intention. And remember the words of Bhikkhu: “Don’t do bad. Do good. Purify your thoughts.”