Although I went to a Catholic high school and was a regular visitor of the church for three years, I wont consider myself too much a religious person. I never got baptized or experience the magic moment of encountering the God. Also, though I was born in China, I didn’t know much about Buddhism. Honestly, I saw the figure of Jesus more than I saw the Buddha. However, after meeting my fiancé, I realized him is a devoted follower of Buddhism and it was the start of getting to know this ancient oriental religion.
He had figures of Buddha in his house and he would always light a scent stick and bow in front of it before he leaves the house. Respect his religion, I did not ask him what it is and why he does it. Sooner, I discovered that he doesn’t eat beef, certain fish, and some other things due to religious reasons too. That’s when I started to get curious about his belief, since beef is the second best thing to ice cream. Later, we actually spend few dates going to temples in Hong Kong. Despite the religious purposes, those places were beautiful anyways. Given the little land and the population, it is hard to find some open land with lots greens and few people and is not for business purposes. The temples had beautiful structures and layout—trees, ponds, fish, and individual temples serving different peaceful, majestic looking Buddha. Yes, there are actually many Buddha (gods) in one religion. He explained to me the main and biggest Buddha. His three disciples who are the second level ones but also are Buddha. The main Buddha represents every wisdom and the three disciples Buddha each represent some good qualities learned from the main Buddha. They take care of the intellects, health, human world and the hell. It is the follower’s freedom to choose to follow and learn from the one Buddha that “speaks” to him. The good people or the excellent followers may rise into the heaven and become a Buddha too. Also, there are many other Buddha to pray to for different purposes. It is common for local Hong Kong people to pray to YueLao for marriage or love; or pray to GuanYu for good business and income, etc. Students can pray to the wisdom Buddha and ask for intellects and good grades. Also, the 12 animals are also Buddha to pray too. For example, I was born on the year of Dog and this year is the year of Sheep. I was told to pray to both the Dog and the Sheep because they don’t really get along and I may have troubles with my stomach and problems in study this year. And just like there are different practices of Christianity—Lutheran, Catholic and etc, there are different genres of Buddhism. The one my fiancé is practicing comes from Nepal and focuses on Big Love, which means love for every thing and creator in the world. Versus the Buddhism in Thailand focuses on the Small Love—personal wants and desires. So in Thailand people wear certain pendants for certain wishes like money, love, fame, power or health.
I have been to several temples now and saw some figures of the most followed Buddha in Hong Kong. My fiancé also took me to the Buddha organization he is currently joining. It is more like a sanctuary than a church. Also, he took me to two Buddha celebrations. It is either a festival in the traditional Buddhism or a tour of one Buddha. It is too early to say I will one day share the same religious belief, but I don’t reject the opportunity of having a glimpse into this mysterious far-east religion.
Very interesting post–thanks for sharing what you learned about Buddhism!