Seven Wonders of the Buddhist World
Staff (Lion's Roar, lionsroar.com, 10/13/11) edited by Wisdom Quarterly
Bettany Hughes at Hsi Lai Temple, Los Angeles |
Her travels begin in an ancient part of India, the land of the historical Buddha’s awakening and teaching [though he was born in adjacent Scythia/Sakaland, Gandhara now Afghanistan (ranajitpal.com), at Maha Bodhi ("Great Awakening") Temple. While there, the historian tells us about Buddhism's Three Jewels:
- the Buddha (Teacher)
- the Dharma (Teaching)
- the Sangha (Taught).
In Theravada Buddhist Thailand, Hughes discusses samsara — the "endless cycle of rebirth and redeath" — while at Wat Pho Temple, before going to magnificent Angkor Wat in Cambodia and discussing Buddhist meditation.
Hsi Lai is the largest in western hemisphere.* |
*Upstate New York's Chaung Yen Monastery (BAUS.org), where American Theravada Buddhist scholar-monk and translator Bhikkhu Bodhi teaches, may be as large or even larger, with its pond and rural setting in Carmel. Hughes would do well to visit it for her next installment.
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