My personal experience after discovering Buddha Jewel and Buddhism

For many years, I had a Buddha statue and read many books on Buddhism. Until I stepped into The Buddha Jewel Monastery those were just nice words I’ve read. I experienced what it was like to practice Buddhism directly from the masters.

 From the outside some may say this has been the worst year of my life, lost my business, home, many jobs. Many family members got gravely ill, and many other hardships. I was luckily given the tools to deal with everything from a Buddhist perspective. There is no bad. For me I believe this was the best year of my life, I went on a pilgrimage to Taiwan, participated in a seven day retreat, and studied many profound teachings of the Buddha. As a result, I look forward to simple living, everything is a lesson in attachment and impermanence.

 I have been volunteering at the monastery for awhile and I am surprised that there aren’t many more people signing up to do this. I have one on one time with the masters; therefore I learn a lot about the Dharma and the practice, this is very helpful in addition to a weekly class. I am very grateful for discovering the monastery so close to my home and have introduced many of my friends to the classes and events.

 I often wonder why the restaurants and the bars are crowded and the Dharma classes have only a few people. I understand why it is called a jewel now; precious and rare to encounter. I think with all of the work put into the Buddha Jewel and its events and classes more and more people from the nearby neighborhoods will examine their life and turn to the monastery for guidance.