officially prepared member
conduct worship services.
LITURGY
of the congregation may
Buddhist community may conduct weddings, funerals,
and other religious functions.
The holy men of the Buddhist religion are referred
to as monks. You can identify a Buddhist monk by the
The place of worship is the temple, pagoda, or
robe, bonze, and the shaven head. In Buddhism, yellow
dagobas. The statue of Buddha is the key symbol of
is the favored robe color for worship services, religious
Buddhism and the central figure in most temples and
events, or civic ceremonies.
Buddhist monks use
pagodas. You must show reverence in and around this area
lustral, or holy water, in their rituals. Lustral is water
as a sign of respect for Buddhists and their religious beliefs.
that has been poured over a statue of Buddha to obtain
Buddhas goodness. For example, Buddhist monks will
The sacred book of Buddlism is the Triptika,
use lustral to pour over the hands of a corpse at a funeral,
sometimes known as the Three Baskets. The Triptika
to pour over the hands of a bridal couple at a wedding,
consists of the following three sections:
or to sprinkle the area around a new house.
l The Vinaya Pitaka - Basket of Discipline
The Buddhist calendar uses lunar dates. Dates may
. The Sutta Pitaka -
. The Abhidhamma
physics
In Buddhism, there
Basket of Discourses
vary each year and often vary widely from country to
country in which Buddhism is practiced. Although most
Pitaka - Basket of Meta-
Buddhist groups will observe certain festivals, the
religious festivals may differ according to the different
branches of Buddhism. The Buddhist community in the
are a variety of worship
United States embraces the Mahayana school. The
services. Incense, an aid to meditation, may be burned
centers for Buddhism in the United States are listed in
before an image of Buddha. During worship, Buddhist
figure 1-4. The address for the headquarters of the
scripture may be recited. Senior members of the
Buddhist Churches of America is shown at the top.
BUDDHIST CHURCHES OF AMERICA
1710 Octavia Street
San Francisco, CA 94190
(415) 776-5600
Aikido Ai Dojo, Whittier, CA
Buddhist Peace Fellowship
Albuquerque Zen Center, Albuquerque, NM
National Office, Berkeley, CA
Western Massachusetts
American Institute of Mindfulness, Cambridge,
Cambridge/Boston, MA
MA
New York
Austin Buddhist Study Group, Austin, TX
Aya Khema/Isha Mayim, Oakland, CA
Washington, DC
Tucson, AZ
Berkeley Buddhist Priory, Albany, CA
Berkeley, CA
Berkeley Zen Center, Berkeley, CA
Sonoma County, CA
Blacksburg Zen Group, Christiansburg, VA
Marin County, CA
Oahu, HI
Bodhi Mandala Zen Center, Jemez Springs, NM
Borimsa Zen Buddhist Temple, Marina, CA
Rochester, NY
Boulder/Denver, CO
Boston Jodo Mission, Boston, MA
Nevada City, CA
Boulder Zen Center, Boulder, CO
Los Angeles, CA
Brahmacari Ratnasagara, Arlington, VA
Buddha-Dharma Meditation Center, Hinsdale, IL
Seattle, WA
Buddhist Council of North California, Berkeley,
California Buddhist University, Los Angeles, CA
CA
California Institute of Integral Studies, San
Buddhist Institute San Francisco, Los Gates,
Francisco, CA
CA
Figure 14.Buddhist centers in the United States.
1-9