In the back of the first floor of the Bunting-Meyerhoff Interfaith Center is a small door that leads to the Hopkins Buddhist Chapel - a comfortable room with polished wood floors, flickering candles and students sitting cross-legged on the floor, working to clear their minds and meditating upon the path to enlightenment.
These are the members of the JHU Buddhist Society, who meet once a week to discuss questions of faith and ethics and to meditate upon the teachings of Buddha.
On periodic Saturday mornings, the members take off their shoes outside the chapel, bow upon entering and take their places on the floor to begin their meditation session. With their knees touching the floor and their spines standing perfectly straight, they get started clearing their minds of the distractions and the thoughts of their everyday lives.
"It's when the mind is truly quiet and empty that we are able to hear the divine," said the Interfaith Center's Buddhist Minister, Hoji Scot.
Buddhism has grown from the sixth-century teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who is often known as Gautama Buddha.
A relatively small number of Hopkins students identify themselves as Buddhist - about 1.6 percent of the student body, according to a 2007 poll conducted by the Interfaith Center.
"The Buddhist idea of non-attachment has taught me to let go of the little things," said senior public health major Victoria Chen. "Buddhism stresses the importance of living in the moment and focusing your attention upon the present and future. After a test that perhaps hasn't gone well or a really stressful week, I remind myself that it's OK to make mistakes - that the important thing is to fully engage in the present moment."
The Four Noble Truths are some of the main teachings of Buddhism.
These truths deal with the reality of suffering in the world and the necessity of ending the cycle of suffering by following the Noble Eightfold Path, which deals with everything from right speech to right actions, concentration and livelihood.
Globally, there exist dozens of different Buddhist sects; the diversity of the religion is represented at Hopkins as well with many members of the JHU Buddhist Society following different traditions and teachings.
Scot is a Jodo-Shinshu Buddhist, although she initially came to the religion through the teachings of Zen Buddhism. Chen practices Tibetan Buddhism, while Sean Carver, a post-doctoral student in the Psychological and Brain Sciences Department, describes himself as a "Western Buddhist" - he came to the religion through reading the works of mainly Western authors.
Chen discovered her interest in Buddhism in a similar manner - she attended a lecture being given by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, a Bhutanese lama, or religious teacher.
Her interest sparked, Chen began to read books on Tibetan Buddhism and talk with religion teachers.
"It was through these encounters with religion that I discovered just how well Buddhism answered my questions regarding existence, the existing process, and death," Chen said.
While members of other world religions tend to inherit their faith through familial ties, many of the members of the JHU Buddhist Society became Buddhists later in life after realizing that Buddhism advocated values and teachings that they wished to incorporate into their lives, including their other religious identities.
Many people are attracted to Buddhism because its teachings fit well with the practice of other religions.
Carver is a Unitarian as well as a Buddhist, while Chen's background was primarily Catholic before she discovered Buddhism.
"The great thing about Buddhism is that rather than replacing anyone's previous religious identity, Buddhism helps you to really appreciate the values and teachings that every religion offers," Chen said.
She emphasized that Buddhism encourages people to constantly challenge their beliefs, and never stop asking questions about the nature of faith and belief.
In their weekly meetings, the members of the JHU Buddhist Society do exactly this.
They discuss current politics and what sort of answers Buddhism can offer for ethical and moral questions regarding the war in Iraq, or state sponsored torture.
They discuss what constitutes right speech if by speaking truth, one person is helped but another harmed. They talk about books they've read that deal with Buddhism, such as Rodger Kamenetz's "The Jew in the Lotus."
Kamenetz recently spoke at Hopkins, at an event co-sponsored by the JHU Buddhist Society and the Jewish Students Association.
Members of the group talk often about how they reconcile the realities of stressful student life with the teachings of Buddhism.
Many members of the Society, Chen included, admit that the weekly conversation and questioning help answering their questions better than meditation, which can leave some people frustrated at their inability to achieve inner quiet.
"For some of our members, conversation can be more anchoring for the mind than meditation. Meditation tends to help those who are a little further on in life, those who are able to slow down and take the time to begin the long process of clearing the mind," Scott said.
Carver also noted the benefits of examining the teachings of Buddhism as a group.
"One of the best parts of these weekly conversations is the challenge we present to one another of putting what we talk about into daily life and daily practice," he said.
