Joel Lopez
05/25/2014
Person Interviewed: Sanit Songphrawas
Wat Buddharangsi Theravada
Religious Exploration through Buddhism
There are over 7 billion people on this world and over four-fifths of these people identify with a religion in one way or another (Livingston). Upon the hundreds of religions on Earth it is difficult to even begin to comprehend all their most basic beliefs, their scriptures, or even to whom they worship. The least any person can do is to learn about one of them and understand their belief system. During an assignment for school I was required to immerse my-self in a totally different religious belief system in order to acquire a greater knowledge of what it is like for humans to have religion and to have a …show more content…

The people were not as informative as Id hope but I carried on and went inside the temple, with my shoes off of course. The person giving the meditation class was the abbot of the temple, Phrasiridhammavidhet. "Monk Interview." Personal interview.. I was surprised he did not live there and that he was not dressed in the clothes of a monk. I found out he was merely the care taker of the temple and that he still practices Buddhism while teaching it to all who wish to learn. In the temple there are small pillows provided so while you sat on the floor you would be a lot more comfortable. I sat myself down by copying some of the people around me since I thought they would have known which way is most comfortable to sit. I was wrong most of the time I was fidgeting and moving around a lot. The abbot saw me and said if you feel uncomfortable lay on your back with your head facing north (towards the wall right of the shrine) and your feet towards the south (wall left of the shrine) (Abbot). As soon as he said that, I immediately took my opportunity, as did a lot of people, and took his direction. I found this to be very amusing. When the abbot began to speak, he spoke in a soft voice through a microphone, while sitting. Speaking about how to meditate and how the Buddha wants you to meditate. He began by first relaxing the people by asking them to find their most comfortable position and to focus on the different thoughts going through their mind at that very