A Visit to a Buddhist Temple in Massachusetts

Our group of 24 educators visited a Buddhist Temple in Raynham, Massachusetts yesterday as a part of our professional development before going to Thailand in 3 weeks.  Buddhist Wat Nawamintararachutisis Meditation Center the largest Buddhist temple outside of Thailand. This temple was built in honor of Thai king, born at Mt. Auburn Hospital in 12/5/1927. It ties both American and Thai traditions together. The congregation began in Brighton on 7/21/2002, and then the group moved to Watertown, and subsequently to Raynham in 2005. There are about 4,000 Thais in the area. The temple is a spiritual home, to learn meditation and Loving Kindness - (open minds and open hearts.) Buddhism = friendship.

There are 5 monks currently living there.  We met all 5 of them. As listened to the Monk speak to us in his calm and quiet way, while the Monks beside him seemed to be in meditation, I thought about what a contrast that is to the hustle and bustle, multi-tasking life that I lead each week.
What did I learn about Buddhism?  It is a religion of peace, reason and practice. The teachings of Buddha propose to develop humankind through morality, concentration, and wisdom. I couldn't help but think of the Elvis Costello song, "Peace, Love and Understanding". As Costello sang, "What's so funny about it?" What a great way to live.

I was unsettled to learn that a woman cannot touch a Monk, she cannot even hand a Monk a monetary contribution for the temple, or gift him with flowers from her hands to his.   Our trip leader, Mary Ann, could not hand the monk the envelope of cash that she had collected as a donation to the temple.  She had to hand it to one of the men in our group so that he could hand it to the Monk.   What does this teach the youth of this religion about equality between men and women?