April Activity: Buddha relics on display

This Saturday, you will have a rare opportunity to witness some genuine Buddha relics right here in Houston. Texas Buddhist Association will have a Buddha relics resting ceremony on Sunday at American Bodhi Center. But on Saturday, there will be a public relics display at Jade Buddha Temple. You all are invited to attend this precious event.

When the Buddha lived in India in approximately 2,500 years ago, the people of that time had the opportunity to actually see and hear him, to be blessed by him in his human form. When Buddha left the earth by passing into nirvana (the enlightened state) during the body's death, he compassionately left relics so that today we still have the opportunity to receive the blessings
of the Buddha, directly.

These genuine relics are offered by Venerable Hung I, the Abbot of Jade Buddha Temple, to permanently rest at American Boddhi Center. In 1971 Venerable Hung I was visiting a temple in Taiwan when he met a traveling monk from India. Impressed by Venerable Hung I's big vow to spread Buddhism in the west, the traveling monk gave Venerable Hung I some of his shares of
genuine Buddha relics as a gift. Years later, Venerable Hung I brought these relics, together with his big vow, and arrived in Houston. Thirty years later, we are celebrating the permanent resting of these precious relics in Houston. This event symbolizes the spreading of Buddhism to the west, to Houston, and also the resting of enduring Buddhism teaching in American.

Relics are said to carry positive energy. Interestingly, they are themselves living entities; they can grow bigger, split into more, or shrink in size or even disappear. Viewing holy relics inspires us to develop our own hearts and minds, to develop loving-kindness and compassion and to understand spiritual teachings. Don't miss this rare event!

Date: Saturday, April 5th

Time:

10:30 – 11:00 welcoming the relics

11:00 – 11:20 offering to the Buddha

11:20 – 11:40 group picture with the relics

11:40 - public display of relics

Location: 6969 Westbranch Dr. Houston, TX 77072 http://www.jadebuddha.org/english

Vegetarian lunch will be provided. Event is free but donations are welcome.

March Activity: Birthday Ceremony of Bodhissattva Avalokitesvara

You all are invited to attend this special ceremony, celebrating the birthday of Bodhissattva Avalokitesvara (Kwan Yin), at Jade Buddha Temple this Sunday. Please anticipate a large crowd so arrive early. Free vegetarian lunch will be provided. Hope to see you all there.

Jade Budda Temple
6969 Westbranch Drive
Houston, TX 77072
281-498-1616

March 23, 2008 - 10:00am - 12:00 noon

The birthday ceremony of Bodhissattva Avalokitesvara

The Texas Buddhist Association will hold a ceremony to celebrate the birthday of Bodhissattva Avalokitesvara (Kwan Yin) at the Jade Buddha Temple on March 23th (Sunday). The celebration of Bodhissattva Avalokitesvara's birthday offers an opportunity for all sentient beings to obtain the meirt of practicing loving kindness and compassion.

Venerable Jian Hai will deliver a speech on "Kwan-Yin -- embodiment of compassion and wisdom." He will also lead our general prayer for the health and well-being of all humanity, for the freedom from suffering, and for the cultivation of blessings and wisdom.

You and your family are cordially invited to attend the ceremony and receive the benefits of Dharma. English live translation will be provided for non-Chinese speaking audience.Program will include recitation of "chapter of universal gateway" and the sacred name of Kwan Yin.

Vegetarian lunch will be offered.

Class 3 (2/25): Outdoors Meditation

Today we will be meditating at Butler Plaza which is between the MD Anderson Library and PGH, where the Sculpture and water fountain/Pool are located. The meditation will still be held from 1 - 3 PM.

Movie Night (2/22)

Movie night next Friday (2/22/08) around 6:30 PM.

Date: Feb. 22, 2008
Location: 2515 Branch View Ln, Missouri City, TX, 77459
Time: 6:30 - 9 PM
Movie Title: TBA (suggestions welcome!)

FREE PIZZA

February volunteering opportunity

VOLUNTEERING: SPECIAL NEEDS BASKETBALL PRACTICE

Support families with special needs!

Date:

February 16th, 2008

Location:

Tzu Chi Foundation
6200 Corporate Dr, Houston, TX 77036
(713) 981-8966

Schedule:

09:45 – 12:00 Recycle

12:00 – 13:00 Special needs basketball practice

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch (Vegetarian)

R S V P : uhabs8@gmail.com | http://uhabs.blogspot.com

Spring '08 Meditation Class Begins!

We will have our first meditation class on February 11th, 2008.

American Bodhi Center Retreat

On December 7-8th, 8 of us went to the Bodhi Center and conducted our first retreat. During the car ride to the center we had fun getting to know each other. We played a few games, one of which involves filling in the blanks of a personal biography:

Hello, my name is ____. I am ____ years old and I am majoring in ____. My hometown is ____ and I really ____ it there because ____. I always dreamed that someday I would ____, and that dream has ____ true. I feel ____ about it now! Some things I like to do include ____. There are many things I am good at and one of them is ____. I did a really interesting once and that was ____. My family consists of ____. If I could change one thing about myself it would be ____. Still, I am really glad to be here right now because ____. I would really like to get together with anyone who would be interested in ____. The one thing I want to be remembered for is ____. As far as future plans are concerned, I hope to be ____ someday.

Upon our arrival at ABC, we were welcomed by Venerable Hung-I who was unfortunately unable to stay with us during the retreat. The first day was very lax as we played the game Truth, Truth, Lie in which we were supposed to disclose two truths about ourselves and one lie, while everyone else had to guess which one of the 3 was the real lie. Well, we came to the conclusion that most of us were terrible liars. :) That's good news for ABS meaning everyone is holding on to the fourth precept (abstaining from harmful speech or lies).

Dinner was absolutely amazing! And this is no lie. We had BBQ veggie kebabs. The sausages looked so real that I think I liked them more than actual meat and it's healthy too! Sitting around the campfire we told ghost stories and gazed at the fireflies in the sky (stars) and "pretended" to know where the constellations were.



After such a hardy meal, we went inside and played Cranium. We were such an advanced group that we didn't even need to follow the directions. We played it our own way, which was by far more entertaining! I laughed so hard my stomach hurts and I started rolling on the ground as if I had an epileptic seizure.



Even though the noble silence didn't start until the following day, some of us just couldn't wait so we began the noble silence at 10 PM. In fact we got so used to being silent that most of us really didn't feel like talking after the noble silence was broken. This is true for both introverts and extroverts.



Overall the retreat was very successful. However we do have some unfortunate news. At the end of the retreat Venerable Jian Dan resigned his position as our Dhamma Teacher. Currently we are trying to figure out who would be able to replace the Venerable. What do you all think? Should we invite monks from other temples to lead our meditation? If so, must we invite different monks every sitting or the same monk for the entire semester? Or would a facilitator suffice? Would we all benefit from a group discussion led by a facilitator or a lecture from a monk or Dhamma teacher? Your inputs are greatly appreciated. Remember we really can not function without your thoughts and opinions.