Zen Meditation Center

This was a super cool experience!!!! I liked that they gave us a lot of insight into what they believe, or what they don't. I think it is so interesting that they mainly focus on the mind, but they told us not to fight our mind. When they told us to let our thoughts come in, and let our thoughts go out. I didn't think that the point was to let your mind wander and then come back to the question, but it was to just focus on nothing, let your mind become blank. So that was very interesting to me.

The space was also interesting, and not exactly what I thought it would be. I liked how simple it was, and the very simple "alter" type thing. I also enjoyed that they sit on those comfy pillows. I enjoyed the chants, especially the bell chant, it was very pretty sounding! I also enjoyed the chant that we did with them. I think it is really inviting that they include everyone in their rituals, unlike a lot of other religions that have certain restrictions.

One thing that was extremely hard for me to do was sitting still for the whole 10 minutes. I was determined to be able to sit still but my body would just not allow it. It was also hard for me to focus on the question, my mind wanders A LOT!!!! but I tried to just breathe and think about it as much as I could, just like Ed said too. It made me feel better that he said that we could let thoughts come in and out cause I knew it would for me, and I wanted to get the whole experience.

I thought this was extremely fun!!! I liked the relaxed feel of the whole thing. I also enjoyed being around such relaxed people, who just made me feel relaxed. This was a very different experience, that was very different from all of our other experiences. In the other places we went we didnt get to participate as much, except at the hindu temple when some of the people from our class got to go through the ritual. I liked that they were very welcoming to everyone, and they explained it to us, that was very helpful. Overall, I thought it was a great experience, and I enjoyed it.