Tables, Chairs, and Praying Mats at
The Mahayana Buddhist Temple

               

Situated at 133 Canal Street in New York City is the oldest Mahayana Buddhist temple of Eastern US. Established in 1964, the temple has been a fixture in Chinatown, drawing both tourists and worshippers from all over the countries. More importantly, the temple, specifically the Main Hall, represents the Buddhism that East Asian immigrants have brought to the US in the late 19^th century.

            At the front and center is a large golden seated Amtabha Buddha, the central figure of Mahayana Buddhism. In front of him is a large altar, on which worshippers can place their offerings to the Buddha, often in the form of flowers or fruit, and they can also burn their incenses here. On the walls are picture detailing the life story of Sakyamuni Buddha, with both Chinese and English subtitle beneath. The hall is overwhelmingly red, as in China, it is the color of luck and happiness. However, the most important element of the hall is the chairs and tables, along with the praying mats on the floor.

            Yes, I know you can find these particular dark red tables, chairs, and praying mats everywhere from Walmart to Ebay. You can probably buy them in bulk a block away from the temple in Chinatown. What makes them religious artifacts is the setting they are placed in. In my opinion, they represent the most wonderful aspect of any religion in the world: community.  

            The sense of community is embedded in how the temple is founded. According to the website, Mrs. Annie Ying and her husband Mr. James Ying first built the place as a social hub for the men and women they always saw sitting drinking tea and coffee in the park across. They decided it would be a Buddhist Temple as there had not been one in the greater New York area. When you walk in the temple before the morning service, there are still free coffee and tea pots for everyone, and they will drink them at the table in the main hall. During the service, the chairs and tables will be replaced by the praying mats. The service is usually chanting meditation, in which all fellow Buddhists will join the head monk to mediate with him chanting the Sutras in Sanskrit. It is no wonder that the Chinese American community of NYC’s Chinatown is such a tight knit one, and everybody knows everybody, a rare occurrence of any community in a city of more than eight millions people. It is through this tradition, and through the tables and chairs and praying mats that the community is formed and sustained. The tables and chairs and praying mats are the embodiment of this sense of community.

The Meditation Tradition of Jack Kerouac’s Ray Smith, as detailed in “The Darhma Bums,’’ is missing out on a great feature. Ray wants to be Awaken, to be a Buddha. He mediates and travels and hitchhikes to find the truth of life. He seeks and seeks and realizes that life is empty. As the Buddha teaches, there is no-self. However, Ray forgets the other side of ‘’no-self’’ is ‘’interconnectedness.’’ There is ‘’no-self’’ because essentially we are just all made off endless connection between us and nature, between us and the community around us. Ray forgets that we are not alone, and we depend on the people around us to survive, and live. A ‘’Darhma’’ is someone who has been awaken. More importantly, a “Darhma’’ can help others awaken, and create a community themselves. No bed of grass, no dune of sand, no forest,… can replace these tables, chairs and praying mats.

One of the reasons for Dorothy Day’s conversion is the Catholic community. The community is what keeps every religion alive. The community is what keeps Buddhists in Shanghai and Buddhists in New York City connected. Every community of each religion is what transcends and unifies them. They gave their followers the sense of belonging that no identity can provide them. To some people, religion may seem out of fashion. But they should know that it is Buddhism and the Mahayana Buddhist temple, and the chairs and tables and praying mats that created and maintained the Chinese American community of NYC’s Chinatown.

Note: Because there is a sign specifically said not to take pictures inside the temple, I have to use a picture courtesy of macaulay.cuny.edu.