The Water Moon Monastery In Taiwan, Taiwan
The word Zen emphasizes the value of meditation. In order to experience something, you must understand it properly first. For meditation, having a peaceful and silent environment is necessary so one would have the tools to clear their mind of all irrelevant noise. The Water Moon Monastery in Taipei, Taiwan has the ideal location for Buddhist monks to reside in it, because of its environment surrounding it. At the entrance, there are two walls made up of concrete that are of different lengths and they help to divide the city from the sacred monastery. The entrance also has an eighty-meter pond that is placed to symbolize a mind that is clear and reflects the truth. The concrete walls are made up of the two major Zen Sutras which were
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The Water Moon Monastery is a very peaceful and secluded sacred area where the Buddhist monks reside. The Monastery faces east towards the Keelung River with the Datun Mountain behind it. Every structural aspect of the Moon Monastery was made in regards to the Zen Buddhist culture, let it be the location or the building itself. The cardinal direction East is sacred because it symbolizes the beginning and end as the sun rises from east and sets in the west. The Water Moon Monastery has a wooden wall that has one of the sutras carved in it taking up the whole wall, every morning when the sun rises it shines through the sutras lightening up the area. The sutra that is written on the wooden wall is called the ‘Heart Sutra’. The monks wake up every day to it and have made a tradition to read the whole sutra slowly once they wake up. When the light shines through the sutras and is reflected onto the walls it looks like the teachings of Buddha are revealing themselves to the monks. The Water Moon Monastery has an eighty-meter pond that is used to symbolize the mind. Water also symbolizes purity, calmness, and clarity which are important virtues for a monk’s mind. The second sutra is ‘Vajrayana Sutra’ and it has its own personal tradition regarding water. The Vajrayana tradition requires seven bowls of water to represent the seven limbs of prayer: paying of homage, giving of an offering, repentance of misgiving, rejoicing in goodness, requesting the Buddhas to remain, inviting them to teach, and dedicating of
The Water Moon Monastery is a very peaceful and secluded sacred area where the Buddhist monks reside. The Monastery faces east towards the Keelung River with the Datun Mountain behind it. Every structural aspect of the Moon Monastery was made in regards to the Zen Buddhist culture, let it be the location or the building itself. The cardinal direction East is sacred because it symbolizes the beginning and end as the sun rises from east and sets in the west. The Water Moon Monastery has a wooden wall that has one of the sutras carved in it taking up the whole wall, every morning when the sun rises it shines through the sutras lightening up the area. The sutra that is written on the wooden wall is called the ‘Heart Sutra’. The monks wake up every day to it and have made a tradition to read the whole sutra slowly once they wake up. When the light shines through the sutras and is reflected onto the walls it looks like the teachings of Buddha are revealing themselves to the monks. The Water Moon Monastery has an eighty-meter pond that is used to symbolize the mind. Water also symbolizes purity, calmness, and clarity which are important virtues for a monk’s mind. The second sutra is ‘Vajrayana Sutra’ and it has its own personal tradition regarding water. The Vajrayana tradition requires seven bowls of water to represent the seven limbs of prayer: paying of homage, giving of an offering, repentance of misgiving, rejoicing in goodness, requesting the Buddhas to remain, inviting them to teach, and dedicating of