Jake Harpaz – Year 11

Buddhist Temple experience

Many students have asked me about what happens on the Year 11 two-day Studies of Religion excursion to the Nan Tien Buddhist Temple located near Wollongong.

We arrived at school as usual and boarded the bus to go to the Temple. After a 60-minute bus trip, we arrived at the largest Buddhist temple in Australia. We began our learning with a guided tour, which gave us an insight into the history of the Nan Tien Temple.

After the tour guide gave us a bit of a background story/historic lesson, we entered a room known as the Harmony room to take part in the making of origami, which is a form of meditation. After our break was finished, we attended a Buddhist tea ceremony.

After the tea ceremony was over, we went to the Meditation hall accompanied by one of the reverends. I was a bit confused as to why she wanted us to line our shoes up a certain way before we entered into the hall. As boys and girls were separated either side of the hall in a very orderly fashion, we were then told to walk in slow steps around the room clockwise behind one another. Many of the group including myself found this exercise to be more stressful than meditative, as it was quite painful to keep our heels in the slow walking process.

After this, we went to the dinner hall and were told to be seated. We then recited a prayer in Chinese which we said altogether before we ate our meal. After we finished our vegan dinner, we went to a different room where we watched a documentary on the story of the Buddha and how the religion started. After the documentary, we were sent to our rooms to go to sleep and wake up for the early morning start.

My alarm went off at 5.40 am, I got out of bed, had some water, put on my shoes and went to wait in the hotel lobby. Once all the group had gathered in the lobby, we walked to the Buddhist morning drum and roll ceremony, then entered the main prayer room, where we chanted a few prayers in Chinese and were blessed by the reverends, wishing us good luck for our exams. After the morning chanting was over, we were called to tai chi at the bottom of the Temple steps which was led by one of the reverends. The sun was rising over the hills, the air was crisp and cold and we all enjoyed doing this exercise together. After the great tai chi service, we went to eat another vegan breakfast at the dining hall. After breakfast, we went to the Harmony room where one of the reverends gave us a backstory of where she came from, what she was like before becoming a reverend and what monastic life was like, which was very interesting. She linked her experiences to many Buddhist precepts and theories and explained what it was like for her parents when she left her fast-paced life in Shanghai for life as a reverend.

We all felt rejuvenated by this experience and appreciated being able to live a more authentic Buddhist life at the Temple. What an experience. This is my last excursion at Emanuel School before moving to Byron Bay in a few weeks. It was an excellent way to end my years at the School, and reminded me of the many interesting moments I experienced while studying at Emanuel. It also gave me a wonderful opportunity to learn about Buddhism more deeply and to understand why this religion has become so popular.