BUDDHISM

Buddha is the name of a great teacher who founded the religion called Buddhism. Buddha, the enlightened one, was a prophet who lived in India 2,500 years ago. Buddha taught people the meaning of reverence, the love of truth, and the evils of superstition. Today in the western world, Buddha is honored as one of the great teachers of all times.

In 1987, the Buddhist Churches of America (BCA) became the first non-Judeo-Christian faith group to become an ecclesiastical endorsing agency. The national headquarters is the Office of the Bishop. Although the titular head of the American Buddhist Church bears the title of bishop, Buddhist clergy in parts of Asia are addressed as Bhikku and belong to the Buddhist monastic order called the Sangah.

The organizational structure of the American Buddhist Church varies with its branches. Buddhist churches are divided geographically into districts. Each congregation institutes programs to meet the spiritual, social, and educational needs of its members. Any officially prepared member ^{of the congregation may} conduct worship services.

LITURGY

The place of worship is the temple, pagoda, or dagobas. The statue of Buddha is the key symbol of Buddhism and the central figure in most temples and pagodas. You must show reverence in and around this area as a sign of respect for Buddhists and their religious beliefs.

The sacred book of Buddlism is the Triptika, sometimes known as the Three Baskets. The Triptika consists of the following three sections:

l The Vinaya Pitaka - Basket of Discipline

. The Sutta Pitaka -Basket of Discourses

_{. The Abhidhamma} Pitaka - Basket of Metaphysics

In Buddhism, there are a variety of worship services. Incense, an aid to meditation, may be burned before an image of Buddha. During worship, Buddhist scripture may be recited. Senior members of the

Buddhist community may conduct weddings, funerals, and other religious functions.

The holy men of the Buddhist religion are referred to as monks. You can identify a Buddhist monk by the robe, bonze, and the shaven head. In Buddhism, yellow is the favored robe color for worship services, religious events, or civic ceremonies. Buddhist monks use lustral, or holy water, in their rituals. Lustral is water that has been poured over a statue of Buddha to obtain Buddha goodness. For example, Buddhist monks will use lustral to pour over the hands of a corpse at a funeral,

to pour over the hands of a bridal couple at a wedding, or to sprinkle the area around a new house.

The Buddhist calendar uses lunar dates. Dates may vary each year and often vary widely from country to country in which Buddhism is practiced. Although most Buddhist groups will observe certain festivals, the religious festivals may differ according to the different branches of Buddhism. The Buddhist community in the United States embraces the Mahayana school. The centers for Buddhism in the United States are listed in figure 1-4. The address for the headquarters of the Buddhist Churches of America is shown at the top.

Figure 14.uddhist centers in the United States.

Figure 1-1.uddhist centers in the United Statesontinued.

Figure 1-4.uddhist centers in the United Statesontinued