Buddhism Temple Of America Essay

The Eastern States Buddhist Temple of America Inc, founded in 1962 by Mrs. Annie Ying was the first Buddhist temple on the eastern coast of the United States. Its initial purpose was to fulfill the religious and spiritual needs of Buddhist in the greater New York area. It’s first services where held in a small cramped space on 1544 Broadway in the rear of Mrs. Ying’s store. After of year of opening, Eastern States Buddhist Temple was relocated to their first official location. This temple was located in the heart of Chinatown and served as a convenient place for Chinese Buddhist to gather for religious and spiritual events. Though Mrs. Annie was doing her part in bringing the Buddhist religion to the east coast, she still saw a need for a little more. Mrs. Annie noted that hundreds of elderly Chinese men would sit on the side walks and drink coffee, while wasting

Because of Prothero’s detailed discussions on the beliefs and history of Buddhism I was able to understand a few concepts during my visit even though the language barrier did make it impossible to understand the complete service because it was done completely in Chinese. Because Prothero failed to describe a Buddhist service, I learned the workings of a Buddhist service in my visit to the City Campus Mahayana Temple. I learned the procedures of the service and how Mahayana Buddhist pray. If had the chance to change Prothero’s discussion I would just add a description of the inner working of different Buddhist services. I believe that in order to actually gain a complete understanding of a religion, it is to the upmost importance to learn how their services are conducted and everything that takes place during the service. Prothero’s discussion would have been perfect if he included a detailed description of a Buddhist