My first impression at Dhammakaya Temple

Dhammakaya Temple has been around bad media for a very long time. But what I found odd is that when I went to see for myself as a kid with my family, it was nothing like they say in the news.

The media would say that you are forced to donate or tricked into doing it, I rarely donated money and I was treated no different than those who did. I enjoyed volunteering and learning many new life lessons that can help me in the future to come.

I especially loved that the monks and staff would help point me to do good things and encouraged me to continue doing what is right and to stay away from things that will cause harm to myself or others.

From all this positive reinforcement and good teachings to continue to do good kept me on a path to be a good role model to my friends. Being American born and raised, my friends would always invite me to go drinking, but they could never get me to do it and I have gained respect from my friends seeing that I am true to my word in keeping precepts and pursuing goodness.

I thank Dhammakaya Temple for helping me become the man I am today.