Zen Buddhism

As mentioned in my previous post, cultural diversity is definitely increasing throughout the nursing profession. In order to help patients of unfamiliar cultures, we must become educated in their individual beliefs and preferences. In our Introduction to Health and Healing class, we prepared presentations on different cultural groups in order to acknowledge the distinct uniqueness surrounding us.

My group chose to present on the Buddhism culture. For the project we travelled to downtown Toronto to a small sanctuary called the Zen Buddhist Temple. We were fortunate enough to hear a lecture on Zen arts by Komala Patricia Campbell. I found the lecture to be very perceptive, as I had previously known very little about the Buddhist culture.

Through research, I discovered that the Buddhist beliefs are very inspiring, and have given me a different outlook on life. Buddhists believe in Cosmotheology, which is the belief of beauty in imperfection. Cosmotheology teaches an individual to pursue a greater overall acceptance. Karma is also a common principle of Buddhism. They believe that every sinful action will be balanced with resulting consequences. A popular generalized statement about Karma is, “what goes around, comes around”. According to Buddhist belief, by remaining conscience of my actions, I can avoid potential consequences due to Karma.

This is a chant similar to one used for meditation at the temple.