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Kosala Buddhism Center Analysis

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The Kosala Buddhist Center in Carrboro, North Carolina helps preserve the Buddhism tradition in American by assisting current and newly reformed Buddhist participants through a variety of programs each day of the week. At the Kosala Buddhism Center, the instructor for Meditating 101, Gunther Huang, is originally from China and is in the Chapel Hill area on a scholarship visa. His since of humor and sincerity is an excellent trait to exhibit when welcoming people into the practice for the first time to gain a sense of welcome and comfort. However, Gunther Huang is not the only person who welcomes people with open arms, all of the instructors of the programs have an underlying goal to teach others the original traditions and beliefs of Zen Buddhism …show more content…

One thing that stood out to me at the Kosala Center is that the instructor takes time out of every step to explain some of the key values associated with that practice for the Zen Buddhism belief. This trait of explaining what he is teaching and how it correlates with the religion is essential for beginning Buddhist to be able to correctly preserve the Zhen tradition. For example, during the first step of meditation, relaxations and object placement, the instructor made sure to ask everyone if they would like water or tea. After making the atmosphere the most comfortable and relaxing he then began to explain the importance of keeping your back straight during meditation and the significance of putting the left hand over the right hand in the meditation position. When keeping your back straight you allow the power of Chi to enter into your body and by crossing your left hand over your right you are showing Buddha that you are ready to sacrifice your body and begin focusing on your inner connections with yourself and the environmental factors. This is extremely important when trying to conserve a religious belief form many reasons. In this case it seems to be important because if a student who has no prior knowledge of Buddhism comes into the center and is just …show more content…

The classes range from levels of 101 to the highest level of training new teachers for the Buddhism religion. Some examples of classes that the Kosala Center offers are Meditating 101 and Introduction to Buddhism along with a prayer for world peace. These classes are offered on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday after typical work hours so more people will be able to attend and learn their traditions. On Sundays the center offers prayer for world peace. In this tradition the aspect of peace is very important because of the Law of Karma. The Zen tradition teaches that the Law of Karma is effective in your everyday life. When there are negative thoughts and actions it is believed that negative Karma builds up and in turn negative actions will come your way in the future. Positivity is essential in the Buddhism culture so that every can build up positive Karma and have good actions come their way in the future making the prayer for world peace extremely important to followers of

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