I've been reading some Master Jing Hui (a Chan master who helped revive Chan practice in China) and came across this. Just wondering what others thought of it? I've never meditated in a temple, so couldn't comment on that but do feel some sort of 'energy' when visiting some temples (definitely not all though). This could well be just a perception based on how I think temples are supposed to make me feel. If there is some kind of 'energy', I'm guessing this would be true of any space where people practice Buddhism as well not just temples? Can this also be found in a virtual space like our own Sangha?
Another lay Buddhist said that, when he practices sitting meditation, it is easier to make him peaceful in a temple, but difficult at home because of the change of environment. “Temple” in Chinese is also called “Bodhimandala”, a word somewhat coincidentally similar to the present scientific term, the field of Dharma. Nowadays, there is a term “the magnetic field”, isn’t there? That is, the field of magnetism. This temple, a place where people come with a compassionate Mind, a Mind that seeks for the ultimate truth, and a place where such consciousness is likely to be concentrated, is a field of Dharma. What is consciousness? It is called Avijnapti-rupa, the “non-revealing”. Consciousness is a kind of invisible energy in the sphere of Rupadharma (the phenomenal world). It is this same consciousness that animates our faith and resolution to keep the precepts. It is also a non-revealing energy. If one truly has such faith and resolution, he will then hold on to it, never departing from the precepts because he is always charged by a powerful will. The Temple, or Bodhimandala, we say, is the field of the Dharma where the Sangha and practitioners carry on self-training, become enlightened, and affirm the truth. Among temples, the Yufo (Jade Buddha) temple – built some one hundred and twenty years ago, is perhaps the most recent. But if a man were to live that length of time, it would be quite something. Suppose a temple was one thousand two hundred years old, the power of its field would be enormous. Suppose more and more practitioners came to practice at the Yufo temple, though not as old, the power of the field in the temple would definitely increase and strengthen. At the time of Shakyamuni, the Astanga Samanvagatopavasa (the eightfold precept observed by lay Buddhists) was made. On fixed days lay Buddhists should come to the temple. Why? On the one hand, staying in a temple for the period of one day and one night a person can experience what temple life is really like; on the other, he will find himself serene and peaceful, open and free, fearless and without anxiety. By practicing in a temple for one day, therefore, it is possible to get much more done than one would practicing at home for a whole year
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