Buddhism

World Religion Class

March 16, 2015

Observation field research

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                                                                  Buddhism

        I discovered 2 Buddhist places of worship in Volusia County. The first
Is in Sanford, Florida. It was almost hidden, and hard to find. It is called
Wat Navaram Buddhist Temple. There was a scheduled service for 7pm.
In the front yard of the Temple there was a Giant gold and white structure made mostly of steeple-topped structures. The center section was like tiers of a cake rising above all. It was about 25 feet tall. It was surrounding by a black ornate iron fence. and it had flowers laying around the outside of it. There was no Buddha, just a beautiful ornate structure painted very bright gold. A notice on the door canceled the service for the night.
        The second Buddhist place of worship was in Deland, Florida. It is called “The Volusia Buddhist Fellowship.” The service was held in the Sunday school room of a church called “Unitarian Universalist.” The room was small, and as I entered I notice that some people sat in chairs arranged in a circle, somewhere sitting on the floor. The next thing I realized was most of them had taken their shoes off. I followed and took my shoes off, then I chose a chair. There was a small painted concrete statue of a Buddha on the table. There were plastic flowers on the table arranged on either side,
and many tropical flowers lying on the table in front of the Buddha.
On this table, which seemed to be the alter there was a small candle and incense.
The people were very friendly and welcoming. It was a small group of about 20. There were many different age groups, I felt like I was the youngest. A man and woman in long Black long robes, trimmed in gold came in and sat in a seat in the middle of the floor. He introduced as Sensei Sekiyo Sullivan. I later came to find out the woman dressed in the other black robe was his wife. She never said anything. He...