Issues in Religion and Culture Buddhist Temple
How to be a Perfect Stranger
Being a "perfect stranger" can be more difficult than it sounds when it comes to attending a worship service that is different than your own. There is also a lot of necessary research that is involved in order to be the "perfect stranger". This past week I had the opportunity to visit the Samarpan Hindu Temple in Philadelphia, where I became the perfect stranger in a culture that I knew little about before taking this class.
The first thing that I did in my research was to find out the dress code and any other rules that I should know about in attending the service or "Puja" as they call it. I felt like the dress code was one of the most important rules of the Temple to be followed because I didn't want to offend anyone or become a distraction for anyone by the way that I was dressed so the knowledge of rules helped me out a lot. I learned that shoes are not allowed inside the Prayer Hall, all adults are requested to refrain from wearing short clothes in the Temple, it is necessary to leave the premises neat and clean as in any other Temple or Church, and finally they ask that you actively participate in the meditation session. Before the session began, I attended the orientation class because I wanted to make sure that followed all of the rules and also so I would know what to expect.
The orientation class is intended to be accessible to anyone regardless of previous meditation experience or lack thereof. Although many of the people who go through the orientation are beginners, experienced meditators who have not previously practiced at the Samarpan Temple would still benefit from going through the orientation. The ori ...