Thai Buddhist temple

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Thai Buddhist temple – Buddhapadipa My name, _____, is a Christian name which comes from a woman who cut her breast as sacrifice and my mother choose this name for me because she is Christian and Catholic and I had been educated in the same religion and as my religion is one of the most important, I decide to learn something about another important religion. I decided to visit the Thai-Buddhist temple Buddhapadipa not only because of its religious meaning, but also due to its historical importance. Buddhapadipa was the first Buddhist temple built in Europe and, therefore, in United Kingdom in 1979 (Buddhapadipa Temple). It was established by the London Buddhist Temple Foundation with the objective of creating a centre for the diffusion of theoretical and practical Buddhist teachings in the European continent (24 hours Museum). First of all, I would like to introduce briefly Buddhism. Buddhism is a religion and philosophy with between 230 to 500 million adherents worldwide, the vast majority in Asia. It consists of two major schools: Mahayana and Theravada. Mahayana is divided into East Asian (including Pure Land, Chan/Zen, Nichiren, Shingon and others) and Tibetan. Buddhism is based on the teachings of the Gautama Buddha, who lived in parts of what is now Nepal and northeast India circa the fifth century BCE. I must describe my first experiences with Buddhism as remarkable. I also should admit I was a little frightened at first because everything was new for me and especially because I didn’t know how to behave around them, but soon I got over my fears thanks to the hospitality of the people in Buddhapadipa. I arrived around 4 pm and entered in the reception house (I had to take off my shoes as a sign of respect) and I waited till I was received by the Grand Abbot, a 90-years-old man in the typical monk robes (See fig. 1) and main responsible of the

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