Reaching enlightenment at Homewood
Religion at Hopkins
In the back of the first floor of the Bunting-Meyerhoff Interfaith Center is a small door that leads to the Hopkins Buddhist Chapel - a comfortable room with polished wood floors, flickering candles and students sitting cross-legged on the floor, working to clear their minds and meditating upon the path to enlightenment.
These are the members of the JHU Buddhist Society, who meet once a week to discuss questions of faith and ethics and to meditate upon the teachings of Buddha.
On periodic Saturday mornings, the members take off their shoes outside the chapel, bow upon entering and take their places on the floor to begin their meditation session. With their knees touching the floor and their spines standing perfectly straight, they get started clearing their minds of the distractions and the thoughts of their everyday lives.
"It's when the mind is truly quiet and empty that we are able to hear the divine," said the Interfaith Center's Buddhist Minister, Hoji Scot.
Buddhism has grown from the sixth-century teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who is often known as Gautama Buddha.
A relatively small number of Hopkins students identify themselves as Buddhist - about 1.6 percent of the student body, according to a 2007 poll conducted by the Interfaith Center.
"The Buddhist idea of non-attachment has taught me to let go of the little things," said senior public health major Victoria Chen. "Buddhism stresses the importance of living in the moment and focusing your attention upon the present and future. After a test that perhaps hasn't gone well or a really stressful week, I remind myself that it's OK to make mistakes - that the important thing is to fully engage in the present moment."
The Four Noble Truths are some of the main teachings of Buddhism.
These truths deal with the reality of suffering in the world and the necessity of ending the cycle of suffering by following the Noble Eightfold Path, which deals with everything from right speech to right actions, concentration and livelihood.
These are the members of the JHU Buddhist Society, who meet once a week to discuss questions of faith and ethics and to meditate upon the teachings of Buddha.
On periodic Saturday mornings, the members take off their shoes outside the chapel, bow upon entering and take their places on the floor to begin their meditation session. With their knees touching the floor and their spines standing perfectly straight, they get started clearing their minds of the distractions and the thoughts of their everyday lives.
"It's when the mind is truly quiet and empty that we are able to hear the divine," said the Interfaith Center's Buddhist Minister, Hoji Scot.
Buddhism has grown from the sixth-century teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who is often known as Gautama Buddha.
A relatively small number of Hopkins students identify themselves as Buddhist - about 1.6 percent of the student body, according to a 2007 poll conducted by the Interfaith Center.
"The Buddhist idea of non-attachment has taught me to let go of the little things," said senior public health major Victoria Chen. "Buddhism stresses the importance of living in the moment and focusing your attention upon the present and future. After a test that perhaps hasn't gone well or a really stressful week, I remind myself that it's OK to make mistakes - that the important thing is to fully engage in the present moment."
The Four Noble Truths are some of the main teachings of Buddhism.
These truths deal with the reality of suffering in the world and the necessity of ending the cycle of suffering by following the Noble Eightfold Path, which deals with everything from right speech to right actions, concentration and livelihood.
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