TBA IMG
Insight Meditation Group of Houston

14 Day Insight Meditation (內觀智慧禪十四) Stilling the restless mind (住於清明與正念之中)   Teacher (主持法師): Ven. Seelananda Activity: Insight Meditation  (活動：內觀智慧禪 ) Date: 12/1/2012 ~ 12/14/2012  (日期：十二月一日至十二月十四日 ) Location: American Bodhi Center (地點：美洲菩提中心) Registration: Jade Buddha Temple (281-498-1616) American Bodhi Center(979-921-6969) (報名：玉佛寺辦公室 (281-498-1616) 菩提中心辦公室(979-921-6969) December 1st to December 14th 2012 Ven. Seelananda will conducted a 14-day Insight Meditation Retreat .  He was here last year leading the 15-day retreat . Bhikkhu T. Seelananda is a meditation teacher living in US for about 10 years. Currently, he is the Vice Abbot and Vice President of Bhavana Society Forest Monastery in West Virginia.   Bhikkhu Seelananda is fluent in English, Pali and Sanskrit, which together with his excellent monastic roots is recognized as a dedicated monk skilled in the teaching of Buddhism and meditation to a wide variety of audiences rangin...

WALKING MEDITATION "Walking meditation develops balance and accuracy of awareness as well as durability of concentration." stated by Sayādaw U Pandita in Chapter 1 of his book "In This Very Life". I felt a good bit of us when we meditate we "sit" seldom do we pay much value to "walking" meditation. In actuality the Buddha taught four forms o meditation: sitting, walking, standing and lay down. Each has its function and benefit. Sayādaw highlighted four benefits in his book( read more online - http://homepage.ntlworld.com/pesala/Pandita/html/morality.html#Walking). They are 1. stamina/physical strength- was important in the Buddha’s time since they do not have cars and it is pertenant to us today since we rely too much on cars and sit in the office all day. 2. to strengthen the capacity for that strong, consistent mental effort all yogis know is crucial to vipassanā practice 3. health- balance between sitting and walking contributes to go...

On the last day when we were about to share our retreat experiences, Ray stood up and said "Hey look. A deer outside our window." That kind of summarized the wonderful environment, the American Bodhi Center, where we spent three days of our insight meditation retreat. The retreat was guided by Ven K (3rd on front row) and Ven. Nanda delivered 2 excellent Dharma talk for two nights (2nd on front row). Picture : Taken on the last day of the retreat. This time were about equal number of male and female meditators. Ven. Nanda expounded wonderful teachings with is fluent Pali recitation and explanation in English. We came to learn that Ven. Nanda was born in Sri Lanka and ordained as a monk in his early age (on his own insistent). Graduated in a University and studied overseas like Taiwan where he learnt Chinese. He currently established several Buddhists centers and on a busy travel schedule. On the fist evening, he explained the importance of sadha- faith, trust and c...

In May, we will have a 3 day retreat during Memorial Holidays. Check-in is on 5/25/2012 from 7:00pm to7:30pm and orientation at 8:00pm. If you cannot make it to the orientation, go to the administration office to check in and volunteers will assist you. For any special requests or questions, please contact the center (Tel:979-921-6969). Registration form and flyer . Retreat Schedule: Morning          5:00    Mornign Wake Up       5:30  - 6:00    Exercise       6:00  -  7:15    Sitting Meditation,Morning Service       7:30  -  8:00    Breakfast       8:00  -   8:30    Mindful Cleaning       8:45  -  11:45    Walking/Sitting Meditation Lunch     12:00 - 12:30    Lunch ...

In the fourth sessions of the TBA IMG meditation, VenK read and discussed the paragraphs on walking meditation as was taught by Sayādaw U Pandita in his book- " In This Very Life: The Liberation Teachings of The Buddha ". Most of us feel that meditation is "just sitting" and does not pay heed to the practice of walking meditation. It was quite reviewing with the discussion that the group had in our last lecture. For those who miss this lecture and discussion you can get some of the jest of our lively discussions and explanation from VenK. Hope that you can get as much out of it as we did. As usual, per VenK's request the videos are for limited distribution. If you are interested, please let us know ( contact us ). The following are some teachings of the about walking meditation from Sayādaw U Pandita's book: "... One can observe very profound aspects of the Dhamma while walking,and even get enlightened!" "In fact a yogi who does not...

We had a wonderful surprise party for Ven. K and our first video recording of the lecture- "In This very Life" (see link below). This is first installment of 4 videos, more to follow. Waiting to get your feedbacks and comments and suggestion in order to complete the other 3 videos. Ven. K also request that we post this video for private viewing. For those who is in hte TAB IMG email list you would have access and gotten an email today. For ohers if you are interested, please feel free to contact us . 1. TBA IMG 032412 Happy Birthday To VenKatapunno. 2. Lecture Video (1 of 4).  3. Lecture Video (2 of 4) 4. Lecture Video (3 of 4) 5. Lecture Video (4 of 4) (note: If you are interested to view the video, please contact us .) Some of you have asked for the link to the beautify Metta Sutta Song by Imee Ooi (黃慧音). 1. Pali w English subtitle 2. Chinese 1 3. Chinese 2 4. Maha Mangala

According to the Buddhist cosmology Realms of Existance , the Human realm is most suitable to reach enlightenment. There is a detailed description of how to o enter the Path ( stream-entry ) which is irreversible. Wish you will aspire to practice with diligence to reach this "in this very life". Ven. Katapunno (Ven. K) has completed the the discussion on Right View (sammā-diṭṭhi), and we will start to study the book " This Very Life : The Liberation Teachings of the Buddha " by Sayadaw U. Pandita in March 24th, 2012. Notes: 1. Meeting Date changed to Fourth Saturday of each month (next one is 3/24) Hopefully this will be the last date change. Partly is to try and accommodate more people that have schedule conflicts. 2. Video/Audio recoring We are planning to recording Ven. K's lecture and if you have ideas and can also help let me know or leave a comment.