Learning Diversity

in Vihara Mendut

On Saturday, May 7, 2016, two dozens of students held a study tour or an exposure to a Buddhist Monastery at Mendut. The activity is a series of Multiculturalism and Inter-religious Dialogue Program organized by Stube-HEMAT Yogyakarta. Mendut Monastery is one of the Buddhist building located in Mendut village, Magelang, Central Java. The situation of Monastery complex was very beautiful and well-maintained. It is surrounded by trees and parks with various ornaments of Buddha statues. The participants were fascinated and felt a contemplative situation when they entered the monastery.

Yohanes was the moderator of the discussion during exposure and Bhikkhu Atthapiyo, a Budhist Bhikkhu who warmly welcomed the group and facilitated the exposure. He was very enthusiastic and he appreciated the presence of  the students as the future’s generations to learn further the diversity in Indonesia.

Trustha Rembaka, S. Th., the coordinator of Stube- HEMAT Yogyakarta expressed thankfulness to Bhikkhu Atthapiyo and Mendut monastery, for the chance given to Stube and students to have dialogue and learn Buddhist and the relation among multicultural society.

Bhikkhu Atthapiyo introduced himself and said that he was the first Bhikkhu from Flores, Eastern Indonesia. Buddhists were living under the Sangha Theravada Indonesia (STI) association. Mendut monastery was built in 1970 by Bhikkhu Pannavaro. Although Buddhist people do not live around the monastery, the monastery gives many advantages for people living around it as they work in monastery and trade around the monastery.

The activities in Mendut monastery were not only for the Buddhist, but also public. One of them is meditation activity annually held at the end of year. This activity is organized for 10 days and is followed by public society and also tourists. The essence of meditation is to see their own selves using inner eyes. In this phase, one learns how to have self-reconciliation then how to reconcile with others. If they cannot have self-reconciliation, they cannot reconcile with others either.

Bhikkhu Atthapiyo explained the history of Buddhism since the beginning and its existence in Indonesian up to now. After that, he shared about the life of a monk and his/her simplicity in life, to scrape the greed, to extinguish hate, to fight stupidity of soul, and then establish life based on four languages of love covering love, mercy, happy feeling when other feels happy, and soul balance.

The participants were so curious and honestly expressed through the question and answer session. The questions made the dialogue more interesting and Bhikkhu Atthapiyo friendly responded all the questions, such as, about the doctrines of Buddhism and its holy day, the life of a monk, the ornaments around the monastery and also meditation.

After the dialogue, Bhikkhu Atthapiyo guided all of them to walk around the monastery. The students learned the philosophy of water pool and lotus. Even though lotus grows in muddy water, they are still able to grow and give beautiful flower. The beauty and uniqueness of Buddha statues decorated the yard of the monastery. They were curved based on their origin, such as India, Thailand and Myanmar. Bodhi’s tree (ficus religiosa L), Sala’s tree (shorea robusta) which is also called Cannon Ball Tree, some stupas, a monument of Ashoka, and a very huge bell can be found in the front of meditation’s room.

“It’s my new experience to join an exposure to Vihara, especially with a topic about self-reconciliation before having reconciliation with others, and also interact with other people,” said Grace, one of the participants.

Let’s reflect this new experience about meditation and find out new awareness on diversity in Indonesia. (TRU).