Welcome!

Welcome to South Houston Sangha News!  As the left sidebar description indicates, this is a blog where news, information, and announcements pertaining to meditation-related and Buddhist-related events and groups will be published (note that it is not necessary to be a Buddhist in order to be a meditator; more about that later). 

The focus of this blog primarily (but not exclusively) will be on accessible events and developments on the south side of greater Houston, simply because travel times to "Inner Loop" and other locations may be prohibitive for all but the largest special functions (e.g., weekend events). 

I, your Moderator, was inspired to commence this effort for the following reasons:

1. I live in Clear Lake and, over the past year or so, I've had a heck of a difficult time researching and personally investigating different meditation and Buddhist resources.  I did not find a coherent "starting point", resource compilation, or summary reference that would have assisted me in making systematic inquiries as to what groups exist in our area, what those groups practice, or whether they would be suitable for me. 
2. Having thus far participated repeatedly in three different local sitting groups, I've heard the same frustration expressed by other searchers, who are specifically looking for resources on the south side of Houston because they have concluded that it's not practical for them to travel routinely to any of the established centers that have existed within urban Houston for some time now.
3. I was struck by a sentiment expressed by author Richard Hughes Seager in his book "Buddhism in America", as follows:  "I was surprised to discover that people in the Kagyu community in Woodstock, New York were generally uninformed about developments among Gelugpas in Ithaca, a few hours' drive away.  My incorrect assumption was that the two groups would make communication between them a high priority because they were both in the Tibetan tradition.  Instead, they were primarily preoccupied with far-flung developments related to their own communities." (p. 233 in the 1999 paperback edition).  Seager's implication here is that there would be an obvious benefit to cross-communication between different local Buddhist and mediation groups.  This idea is consistent with my own view, particularly in the case of nascent convert groups which are usually small and characterized by leadership that is often restricted to contributions by senior lay members.  We practitioners may apply a variety of different labels to ourselves, but if we are engaged with Buddhism and/or meditation in any of their myriad forms, then we have much in common, much to offer, and it simply makes sense for us to know something of each other! 

So tune in regularly for updates and information, and if you have news to share from your own group or organization, please email it to me at SouthHoustonSangha - at - gmail.com so that I can post it here. 

Thanks for viewing, and may we all be a benefit to one another.