Fo Guang Shan London Temple
“I’m leaving in half an hour” I whisper to my friend, Jacob, sat next to me in the Temple’s library as we receive an introduction to the institution.
“What!?” he whispers back with incredulity “But you love this sort of thing”.
This was my honest response to my visit at the Fo Guang Shan Temple in Margaret Street (literally just behind Oxford Street!). I did not want to be here – not because I didn’t enjoy temple visits, Buddhism, or learning about other spiritual teachings but, I had just 4 hours sleep the night before. Since I was younger I’ve always had difficulty falling asleep. The worst stage was during my mid-teen years where it would take me over 2 hours to fall asleep every night for months on end. The night’s sleep I’d just had was just like that.
I have since created a personalised sleeping preparation routine which has helped immensely, but there were still some rough nights. My lack of sleep the previous night translated into a general grumpiness that detracted on my usual zest for life. Here we were, on a class trip for my Buddhism module I’m taking a King’s, with the Temple all to ourselves – what a special and exciting opportunity!
Established in 1992, London Fo Guang Shan Temple is an active centre of Buddhsit worship and teaching in the Mahayan tradition (meaning Great Vehicle – i.e. spreading the message of Buddha in hope for people to achieve englightenment). It is one of 200 worldwide branches of Fo Guang Shan Monastery founded in Taiwan by Venerable Master Hsing Yun in 1967. An aspect that I really liked about this particular Buddhist tradition is the Humanist aspect. This tradition aims to create Pure Land (equivalent to heaven-like state) here on earth, in our human life, since they believe that the Buddha taught to humans about this life they are living right now. The idea of focusing on this life instead of an afterlife resonates deep within me, because I always felt it a bit of a waste of life preparing for another life, that may not turn out to be expected. Implementing teachings in this life also connects with the personal development aspect I am continually employing within my own life.
I feel so grateful for the following experience I am about to share. I genuinely feel so blessed and fortunate that these events turned out like so:
Our class was divided into two groups, my group was the first to go meditate with an actual Taiwanese nun, and take part in the tea ceremony after! I was really looking forward to meditating as I had been practicing meditation for some time, but my meditations were not deep at all. As we filed in to the meditation room I sat down at the very front as I would in any usual class, waiting for the nun to join us. Whilst waiting in silence several classmates around me were fidgeting, so I got up in a huff and moved to the back of the meditation room and loudly plonked myself down on a stool – not very zen-like I know.
We were taught physical exercises to prepare our body for meditation, and then seated ourselves ready to meditate! I’m not the most flexible, even with my regular yoga practice, so the lotus position is not the most comfortable of positions for me – but I persevered. I had read a lot about meditation, and my favourite book that explain an autobiographical account of meditation from a complete beginnger is The Surrender Experiment by Michael. A. Singer. In this, he speaks about feeling great discomfort, then numbness, when seated in the lotus position, but he pushed through and achieved a much deeper meditiation experience. As my mind was stilling and the level of vibration was increasing, I found my legs throbbing with numbness from the position, but I focused my attention on the ‘third eye’ in the middle of my forehead. It’s difficult for my to verbalise my overall experience, it is simply ineffable, but it was the deepest meditation experience I’ve ever had, and the most peaceful I’ve ever felt in my whole life.
Upon the sound of the gong, I felt I had a new lease of life – I knew meditation was something I would practice daily for the rest of my life. I felt so energised, my tiredness had evaporated, but a stillness remained with me. We remained in silence as we emptied out of the meditation chamber and made our way to the tea room, where we mindfully observed the tea practice. The stillness my class and I shared was indescribable, the difference before and after our meditation session palpable – even the youth leader at the Temple pointed out the difference!
After our 3 hour Temple experience was over – my family still cannot believe I was silent for so long – and we started to speak again, Jacob told me that the optimal amount of sleeps for monks was 4 hours. I could see why they needed so little if they meditated like I just had throughout the day! Since this experience, I have been meditating daily – I know its only been 5 days, but still – and have found it much easier to fall asleep, usually doing so within a couple of minutes, compared to a couple of hours!
I have now started a 30 day meditation challenge, to meditate for at least 15 minutes every day for 30 days, whereupon I will write a post on my progress! Have you ever heard that saying – you already have what you need – meditation epitomises this phrase. You have your body, you have your mind, you just need to practice and focus your energy.
Happy Meditations 😊