Trip #5

The Zen center was interesting. The space inside the center was really small. We were warned that it was very plain, but I was actually expecting it to be plainer than it was. The meditation room was an average sized room that had a small altar on the left wall. The altar had a Buddha figure on it, with some candles and incense. It also had some little jars on it. There were some pictures on the walls that had Buddhist significance. When we sat down for meditation, we sat on a thick pillow on top of a cushion. I thought they were going to have us at least try to sit in the lotus position and also meditate for twenty five-minutes. I was not looking forward to meditating for twenty-five minutes. We only meditated for ten minutes, but it only seemed like five. The time surprisingly went by really fast.
The teacher told us not to close our eyes; however I found that it was easier with my eyes closed. I can now understand how the characters in the book we read fell asleep a lot. I also thought the chanting was interesting because I did not know that they would have us chant as well. I also thought it was interesting how most of the chants were in a different language. I figured they would be in English since we are in America, and in a different language depending on where you are in the world. Overall, I thought the experience was positive.