Sangha Voices: Juliet Bost

Sangha Voices is a collection of profiles and perspectives featuring our temple members. In this installment, Juliet Bost (San Mateo Buddhist Women’s Association Corresponding Secretary and Young Buddhist Editorial member) speaks about their experience growing up participating in temple activities and connection to the Dharma.

Juliet Bost

My name is Juliet Bost and I use they/them/theirs pronouns. My family moved to San Mateo from New Jersey in 2013 and first attended Palo Alto Buddhist Temple before transitioning to the San Mateo Buddhist Temple in 2015. Going to temple was a “return” to Jodo Shinshu for my family, a tradition from my grandfather’s family that we wanted to uphold.

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Sangha Voices: David Chin

Sangha Voices is a collection of profiles and perspectives featuring our temple members. For our very first profile, David Chin, the current temple president, shares how he came to be involved with San Mateo Buddhist Temple.

David Chin

My name is David Chin and I have been going to the San Mateo Buddhist Temple since 1991. I have been here through the more traditional route of attending Dharma School as a young kid. My parents and I had just moved over from New York to start elementary school here in San Mateo. My Mom and her grandparents are from here and my grandma was still teaching Dharma School at the time. Everything about the temple was still new too me and I did not really understand even reciting Namu Amida Bustu. Being so young and shy, I barely spoke out loud when saying the nembutsu. I basically whispered it under my breath during class and when ever I had to go up for oshoko.

Of course, eventually I got more comfortable around the temple and now think of it as my second home. It is hard to say what impact a place or community has on you when it has essentially always been there in your life. Being part of a larger community is something I only realized the value of later during high school and college by really becoming friends with people that did not have the same in their own lives. Being Buddhist and being part of this temple is an integral part of my identity and likely how I approach life. I imagine I would be a quite different person if we had stayed back in New York and I never became part of a Sangha.

Sangha Voices: tell us your SMBT story!

SMBT is looking to feature you—voices of the Sangha—and your unique story on our website and Facebook page. Everyone has a story to tell, and we’d love to hear about your connection to the temple.

We hope to build a collection of SMBT member profiles to showcase the wonderful members of our community.  If you have a family member or friend who has an SMBT story to share, please encourage them to participate as well.

Interested?

Send us a photo of you/the storyteller with text (<500 characters) or video (<60 seconds please) answering the questions below:

  • Your name (first name only is okay)
  • How long you’ve been with SMBT
  • How you first became affiliated with SMBT
  • Choose one of these questions:
    • Favorite aspect of the temple
    • How you connect with the temple/Dharma
    • What kind of impact SMBT has had on you
    • Favorite memory of the temple
    • Or anything else of your choosing!

What happens next?

Please send your content to smbt.sanghavoices@gmail.com or call (650) 342-2541. Once we receive your material, we’ll get back to you on when we’ll publish your story. We’ll share Sangha voices on a rolling basis, with an aim to post 1-2 stories per month.


Disclaimer: Please note that the content you submit to us will be posted publicly on our digital channels (Facebook page, SMBT website). By submitting content, you agree to grant permission to SMBT to share your recordings (audio, video, digital, and/or images) and quotes/profile online.