Bedtime with the Buddhists

On Wednesday we had the distinct opportunity to return to Madison to learn more about the Buddhist faith tradition including their form of meditation. It was really surprising to me first of all to see the number of people that gathered there regularly to participate in this faith tradition in Madison, Wisconsin! Upon our arrival we were quickly hustled into the community room and were expected to sit preferably in half or full lotus on giant pillows. After we founds our seats the leader of the meditation began to explain to us a little bit about the faith tradition. He explained how they originated and draw from the Chinese, Korean, and Japanese faith traditions. He also explained their chanting and invited us to participate. Not going to lie I thought it was very weird at first the whole singing the words to the clapping noise, but after a while the rhyming and beat seemed very natural.

The actual meditation I was a little worried about being the one person that moved during the ten minutes that we were supposed to sit still and contemplate the question "what am I" but I was happily surprised that the ten minutes actually seemed like two! I cant say that I stayed on topic the whole time during my meditation but it did really feel good to not worry about things and just focus on breathing.

Overall, I thought this was a great trip. It really opened my eyes to the Buddhism faith tradition and I felt honored to be invited to be part of the process.