Cheating on God

This past week, Jose and I decided to expand ourselves by visiting a Buddhist Temple his friend invited us to. I have never been to any religious sanctuary outside of Christianity of Catholicism, so I really had no idea what to expect, and even with that, it wasn't what I expected.

Upon walking in there was a lot of chanting. Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. Like all religions, this Buddhist sect is just one of many worldwide. This chanting phrase is supposed to channel your own devotion and power back into the good of yourself, and therefore the environment around you. I was suprised at this-- no god/God? Where was the "preacher," should I kneel? I wasn't confused, but unsure about who or what I was praying to. I said a quick prayer to God (Jesus's pops) in my head asking him if this was okay for me to do, or if this was disrespectful. I mean, I wasn't praying to anyone. My poor Western, Christian thinking mind couldn't understand anything outside of the church-equation so I just sat there looking around for about 20 minutes before I realized that I was the one people should be looking at, sitting out of my element. I then relaxed then and just went with the program.

After the service, we thanked the elders for dummying everything down for us, and for the invitation to the next service. We promised we'd be back, and I made a promise to myself, that I would keep my mind more open this time than to sit there with eyes in wide-eye wonderment next time.