Thursday 2/25: Jade Buddha and Yoga

On Thursday, we started out our day with a seminar on part one of the book that we have been reading, Wherever You Go, There You Are, by Jon Kabat-Zinn. We had been reading the book on our own time throughout the week, and during the seminar, we answered our questions about meditation, non-doing, non-judging, and mindfulness. I think it was helpful to be reading this book throughout the week because as we were reading, we were also hearing similar information about meditation from the experts we went to and those who came to us. That way, we could compare all of the information we have received to gain the largest understanding of what meditation really is.

After our seminar, we went to the Jade Buddha Temple, which is named for the giant buddha statue carved entirely out of jade. 

All of us in front of the Jade Buddha

I think that everyone really enjoyed this experience. Most of the time at the temple was spent listening to our guide talk about Buddhism. Buddhism started with the birth of Buddha, who was a prince. At his birth, a wise man told his parents that their son would either be the greatest king on Earth or the greatest religious leader on Earth. As he grew up, his parents sheltered him and kept him in the palace, so he did not really know what the lives of his people were like. When he got older, his father took him outside the palace gates so that he could see the outside world. Our guide at the Jade Buddha Temple talked about how the Buddha saw many new things, like an old man in tattered clothes, and wanted to see more of the world. At this point he had a wife and kid of his own, but he snuck out of the palace.

Buddha spent several years amongst those who used to be his people and began gaining followers. One day, during his travels, he sat down under a bodhi tree and was meditating deeply, reflecting on his life, and he became enlightened. Our guide also showed us the Kwan Yin Temple. She is the bodhisattva of compassion and there is an entire temple at the Jade Buddha Temple dedicated to her. 

Kwan Yin

After we went to the Jade Buddha Temple, we came back and Maria Theresia came to the school to do a yoga class with us for the afternoon. MT told us that she mostly teaches classes to people in the corporate world, but she also teaches some classes that are open to others. MT teaches classical hatha yoga, which started in the early 1900s. I thought that the class was really great. It was both relaxing and challenging at times. 

Yoga with MT