Journal #5: Fish Out of Water

San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin

This past Sunday I attending a service at the Buddhist temple in Japantown San Jose. The way the temple is designed is similar to the houses in Japan. The temple is surrounded with different plants and flowers. Once we opened the door you can see the altar with a golden buddha in the middle. The had pews and the place highly smelled of incense. The service was all in the Japanese language and many of their worship contained a lot of chanting. In the end they acknowledged the visitors and my friend and I were introduced to the congregation. I told them that we were students from San Jose State University and I was doing a project in class. Everybody was welcoming and smiling. After the service we were approached by a man who further informed us about their religion.

He was one of the youth leaders in the church and he further explained about their belief. Their path to enlightenment were the three treasures: Dharma (the teachings), Sangha (the people), and Buddha (the enlightened one). True Land Pure Religion was started by Shinran Shonin. The people in the temple is awaken to mankind to wisdom and compassion of Amida Buddha and that was the first time I learned that there were different types of Buddhas.

San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin has a great senses of community involvement. The church has many services that cater to both the youth and adult. They seem to have a very strong youth group because they have a choir, Dharma School, and Japanese Language School.

When I compare it to my Catholic Church there are similarities. My church also acknowledges visitors to our Parish. We have Saturday School for the youth but it is to receive their first communion or confirmation. The youth group is also active and they participate during the mass whether it is ushering people or being a part of the eucharistic ministry.

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