Last Thursday, our class visited the ISKCON Temple in Dallas. The temple used to be a basketball court, but before that, it was a church. ISKCON Temple is a Hindu temple, which believes in Krishna Consclousness. It was my first time to visit a Hindu temple.

Before we entered the temple, we had to take our shoes off. It is the religious tradition. Taking shoes off and dressing neatly show our respect for the temple. We were greeted by a monk, and he was going to introduced us to the history or temple and religions. After taking shoes off, we were heading to a big room. In the room, the Buddha statue status of Krishna is placed in the most eye-catching place. And there are several paintings about Krishna were hanging on the walls. During the introduction, many people came the temple and worship. In the room, lion is everywhere: on the handle of the throne, perch atop wooden columns. Lion is the symbol of power.

At the very beginning, monk explained Indian religious thought to us, like souls and reincarnation. Monk told us, our body is a temporary container, but the soul is eternal. This is like driving a car, we are not car, we are the drivers who are controlling the car. Furthermore, we are not the body, we are the souls which are controlling our bodies. When we die, our souls will go through the cycle of rebirth. I like the ideal of reincarnation. In Buddhism, another important idea is causality.  “Do not fail to commit an act of kindness just because it is small in scale. Do not commit an evil act just because it is small in scale.” Thus, the idea of reincarnation always mention admonish people to be virtuous.

In Indian religions, there is also an analysis of people’s needs, which is like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Monk told us, monk told us, people’s needs can be divided into three levels. The bottom of level is material needs, like wealth and power. The second level is spirit needs, like religion. The top level is “want nothing”. In this level, people are the closest to god.

Monk then told us some stories about the painting. There is a story which is about Krishna as a young boy. In the painting, Krishna was having lunch with several other boys. Krishna was a popular boy; other boy’s parents all like him. The god that in the top left had corner was Brahma, Krishna was tricked by Brahmam, Krishna’s friend became calves.

At the end of our trip, monk taught us a song to sing in celebration. This song has only a few words. Based on the pronunciation of these words, we can easily guess that they mean Hallelujah. It is an interesting and powerful song. In the celebration, people always dance and sing for hours.

Unlike previous trip, I had learned a lot about India before this trip. Thus, what I saw and heard in the temple is easier to understand. It is an educational trip.