{"id":7767,"date":"2004-01-11T17:39:05","date_gmt":"2004-01-11T21:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wtb.org\/?p=7767"},"modified":"2019-01-10T10:34:11","modified_gmt":"2019-01-10T14:34:11","slug":"sacred-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/?p=7767","title":{"rendered":"Sacred Space"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hinduism\u2014Smita Rane <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smita talked about sacred spaces in her native India. She\nsaid that one finds temples, mosques, synagogues, Christian churches, and Sikh gurudwaras\nall over India. There is a special set of four temples in northern India\n(Yamunotri, Gangotri, Badrinath, and Kedarnath) to which every Hindu dreams of\nmaking a char dam, or pilgrimage. <\/em>The\nlargest mosque in India, Jama Majid in New Delhi, holds 25,000 people. One of\nthe oldest synagogues is in Kochi in the southern part of India. The Golden\nTemple, in Amritsar, is the most beautiful gurudwara, and lovely churches and\nBuddhist temples are all over the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most Hindu temples are open for prayer for all people, not\njust Hindus. When people go to the temple, they take flowers, coconuts and\nsweets as offerings. Weddings are performed in temples. A baby, when ready for\nits first solid food, is taken to the temple; a special ceremony is held, and\nthe baby is fed there. Generally, a person\u2019s 60th birthday is celebrated in the\ntemple. Shoes are removed before entering a temple, and modest dress is worn.\nWomen who are menstruating do not enter a temple, nor do they go near the\nshrines in their own homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each family has its own shrine at home where prayers are offered\ndaily. The shrine contains a picture or small statue of Lord Ganesha, a statue\nof the family\u2019s deity (which is passed on by one\u2019s ancestors), and statues of other\ndeities. In Smita\u2019s home, a lamp is lit and the family says prayers in a short\nceremony. Other families may have more elaborate rituals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smita showed pictures that she had taken of temples in India and\nduring her visits to other countries. She told us of a Hindu temple in\nBaldwinsville and another in Rochester. Smita has also visited and photographed\nSikh gurudwaras, Buddhist temples, Muslim mosques, Jewish synagogues, and Christian\nchurches. She says that whatever place of worship she visits, she feels that\n\u201cThis is God\u2019s place.\u201d Although the names are different, the feeling is the\nsame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christianity (Roman Catholic)\u2014Melissa Clark<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melissa was very specific about naming her sacred space. It\nis St. Andrew\u2019s Roman Catholic Church in Syracuse. Melissa travels there from\nher home in Auburn because it has welcomed her and others like her who have a\ndifferent sexual orientation. Melissa said that although she transitioned\ngender-wise, she did not transition faith-wise. She needed to find a parish\nwhere she could be accepted, not just tolerated. Gay and lesbian masses are\nheld twice a month at St. Andrew\u2019s, but all people are welcomed there for the\nregular masses. She likened the space created by the small group within the\nlarger group as akin to the early church. It is not so much the building, but\nthe people who come together, that create the sacred space. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without this space, Melissa said, she would be lost. She has\nhad to deal with so many negatives and so many hurts that having a place where\nshe can connect with others, with herself, and with God is very important in\nher life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melissa says that there is a bit of a Gnostic belief within\nher that God resides in each and every one of us. Getting in touch with that\nspecial place within herself is as important as attending Mass. She is very\ngrateful that St. Andrew\u2019s has given her that opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddhism\u2014Bonnie Shoultz<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bonnie, who is now a Buddhist nun, said that on her first\nvisit to a Buddhist center, she had the feeling that she was in a sacred space,\na space where she wanted to be. As she studied Buddhist teachings, she came to\nrealize that all space is sacred; yet each of us has spaces that manifest, for\nus, this sense of the sacredness of all. For the purposes of this presentation,\nshe focused on Buddhist altars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although there are seven altars at the Zen Center, Bonnie chose\nto focus on the one in the place of meditation, the Zendo. She held up a large photograph\nof the Zendo; it is orderly and has symmetry. Buddhist altars tend to have\ncertain common elements: a candle or a light, a bowl of water, a flower or a\nvase containing something living, and an incense burner. Those four things\nrepresent air, water, earth and fire. Also on the altar are figures of the\nBuddha. Figures of two Bodhisattvas\u2014Kanzeon, the Bodhisattva of compassion, and\nJizo, the Bodhisattva of protection\u2014are on their own particular altars; they\nrepresent our Buddha nature, Bonnie said, our compassionate nature and our need\nto protect ourselves and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone is welcome to come and meditate at the Zen Center.\nIn fact, Bonnie says, people from other faiths who come to the center seem to\nfeel that there is no contradiction there. Rather, they seem to feel that their\nown spirituality is enhanced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the presentations, there was an opportunity for members\nof the audience to share their stories, questions and thoughts about spaces\nsacred to them. One member told of creating a sacred space in a room that\nbecame available when her children left home. Several women mentioned finding\nsacred space in nature. Others mentioned special churches. A Muslim sister said\nthat everywhere God\u2019s name is mentioned is sacred space, but she also told of\nbeing overwhelmed in both her body and her heart while being part of 3 million\npeople on the hajj. She felt that God was closer than her own heartbeat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We learned that in India temples and places of worship are considered sacred spaces for all people. A Christian considers her church to be her sacred space, and a Buddhist described the altar in the meditation room of the Zen Center as her sacred space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[21,15,22,41],"class_list":["post-7767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-programs","tag-buddhism","tag-christianity","tag-hinduism","tag-spiritual-practices",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7767"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8515,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7767\/revisions\/8515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}