Courtesy: Bliss Rose
Name: Bliss Rose
Hometown: Palm City, FL
Year: Junior
Major: International Affairs & Pre-Physician Assistant
Here we have Bliss Rose, the President of the Student Buddhist Association tell us more about her involvement at Florida State and how it coincides with her beliefs and values as a young college student.
Her Campus (HC): Okay Bliss, tell me about your involvement at Florida State.
Bliss Rose (BR): I am the President of the Student Buddhist Association and have been the president since I was a second-semester freshman. I inherited the club, and I have used it to grow a meditation community that focuses on secular meditation and spiritual growth among people in the mental health aspect. My first two years, I was heavily involved in the Advocates for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (AIRR) and I was really into Farm Worker Rights advocacy. These people are literally growing all of our food and feeding America and they are very underprivileged in so many ways, especially those who are undocumented. I was working with AIRR and helped raise awareness for mainly undocumented immigrant rights and farm worker rights. I was the Farm Worker Rights committee chair and I was also the event coordinator. I am also in the United Nations Association where I support ethical and medical volunteering and donations. This makes sure that if we are involved with a medical donation in Haiti, we make sure these things are ethical. I am also a Global Scholars Ambassador so I work with global scholars at FSU that want to go abroad to volunteer. I facilitate them learning about what really is volunteering abroad and how they can ethically volunteer abroad by not getting involved in things that could potentially harm the community.
Courtesy: Student Buddhist Association
HC: What sparked your interest in Buddhism and meditation?
BR: I was raised in a very open church called Unity and this is where I started meditating. A lot of the kids at this church were questioning Christianity, which was allowed, and they would guide meditation groups. From there I learned that you can really question yourself about who you are and what religions you follow. When I got to college, I started to look for a meditation club on campus and I found the Student Buddhist Association, which wasn’t very developed yet. It was really awesome to find that Buddhism highlighted a lot of ways I already lived in my life and I dove in and got involved in the Tallahassee Buddhist community as well. I enjoy meeting people that are really Buddhist and others that are not really Buddhist and understanding that in America, not a lot of people are going to monasteries and becoming devout Buddhists.They are assimilating the religion into their own lives and incorporating it into their daily activities.
Courtesy: Student Buddhist Association
HC: What do you love about meditation?
BR: Meditation is a time to open your eyes within and see things that can’t really be seen, which seems really meta. We are so caught up in moving forward and fixing the past, so meditation is a time where we can explore ourselves in the moment and take time for relaxation. Sometimes we do come across something that has been bothering us all day or things that are deeply seeded from our past that we have never really dealt with. Meditation brings our sufferings to life so we can combat them and move forward. Exploring our minds and shutting off our imagination for an hour is so important.
HC: How did you learn how to conduct guided meditation?
BR: The previous president taught me how to start body scan guided meditation. I am a poet and I think I’ve always been good at using words so I try to say things that people can connect to.
HC: Do you know what you want to do after you graduate?
BR: I think I am going to be a nursing assistant and find a way to keep guiding meditation somewhere, maybe at a yoga studio. I would maybe want to work in a hospice program. I could help people in the dying process. I want to go into the medical field because I like dedicating my life to helping other people.