Southern California Buddhist Temple Analysis

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Recommended: Traditions and rituals of Buddhism

The Southern California Buddhist Church established in Los Angeles on Jackson Street with its first resident minister, the Rev. Koyu Uchida in 1905. In the year of 1917, the name of the church changed to Hongwanji Buddhist Church of Los Angeles, and its location changed to Yamato Hall. The new temple was constructed and built at central ave and 1st street in the year of 1925. When going to the temple, the first thing you see is a grand temple with a Japanese style architecture. It has a beautiful lawn area and a big bell. There is a lot of great work and dedication towards this construction that you can tell how important Buddhism means to the founders of this temple. The master artist created a statue of the founder of the Jodo Shinshu Buddhism which was very interesting. I did not see a Buddha statue outside of the temple but once I was inside the temple I got to see a lot of interesting art showcasing the life of the historical Buddha. The Altar itself sets apart from the rest because it is paved in gold. The decorators of this altar designed it just like the ones in Japan. As you can see the design of the temple was well planned out, and that the people who wanted this temple built must have been very proud of their Japanese heritage because everything felt like it was a total different atmosphere. However, there were pews inside the temple giving a Christian essence to the …show more content…

However, I did get to see the altar and its splendor. When I got the opportunity to talk to the head of the Buddhist temple, he said that they offer Sunday service as well. Consequently, since I was late I did not get the opportunity to experience a service. however , because I notified before time I was still able to tour around the Temple and got to see some of the most interesting things. When I ask the head of the Temple about the service he said that the service was about

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