The Dhammapada Houstoniana: VERSE 51

The Dhammapada Houstoniana is an image macro project in which excerpts from the classic Buddhist scripture are contemplated within the context of life on the upper Texas coast. Individual verses will be published from time to time in blog entries, and if you would like a complete PDF copy of the project, please email me. For a more complete explanation of The Dhammapada, please see this introductory post. Click on each verse JPG below to enlarge and improve image resolution.

H.E. Ayang Rinpoche teaching in Houston

H.E. Ayang Rinpoche (homepage here), a Tibetan master of the practice of Phowa who teaches world-wide, is scheduled to deliver a program in Houston during the period December 17 through 21, 2012.

Photo screengrabbed from this site.

The program is titled "Ten Levels Buddha Amitabha Meditation Teachings" and will reportedly be presented in both English and Vietnamese. 

Screengrab of the program as it was published at this site. 

The Dharma Institute website indicates that the Viet Civic Center (Nha Viet) will be the venue for this event. 

The Viet Civic Center is located at 11360 Bellaire Blvd. Houston TX  77072, between BW-8 west and South Kirkwood. 

According to Ayang Rinpoche's website, further information about this program can be obtained by contacting anjopham@sbcglobal.net. 

New data on Buddhism's local prevalence

HuffPost has published this synthesis with a slideshow that details the prevalence of Buddhist adherents across a variety of major American cities, including Houston, Austin, and San Antonio.

According to the way "Buddhist adherents" were measured, greater Houston ranks about mid-way down the list, with 343 Buddhist adherents per 100,000 population. 
Screengrabbed from this source. 

HuffPost's digest, in turn, is based on this statistical compilation, which was reportedly done nation-wide based on data gathered during the 2010 American national census.

Low resolution screengrab from that source, which advertises their extensive full statistical work as being available for a fee. 

Measurements are presented on a county-by-county basis, with greater Houston being presented thusly:


Same source, again, low resolution presentation with sensitivity toward Fair Use copyright issues. 

Screengrab of much the same County array as depicted in the low-resolution excerpt above, in which the following Buddhist percentages can be extracted. 
Greater Houston:
Harris County: 0.1-0.49%
Galveston County: 0.1-0.49%
Fort Bend County: 0.5-0.99%
Montgomery County: less than 0.1%
Waller County: 1.0-4.99%
San Jacinto County:  1.0-4.99%

Eastex:
Jefferson County: 0.1-0.49%
Newton County:  1.0-4.99%

County base map supplied by the Governor's office.

These new data can be used to augment this blog's July post titled "How many Buddhists in greater Houston?" in which it was roughly estimated that the number was perhaps around 70,000.  But if we take at face value this new study's measurement of 0.343%  for the area and factor that into the general population estimate of 6 million, we instead end up with 20,580, which is significantly lower. 

The differences may be arising in part because of the way that "adherent" is defined and measured in this study with its emphasis on "congregational participation", which is perhaps a more relevant metric for mainstream American faith groups (e.g., Christian lineages) than it is for Buddhism.  There are a great many individuals who may deem themselves to be either Buddhist or Unlabeled without declaring a specific institutional affiliation.  Other measurement sources have clearly indicated that Houston's Vietnamese contribution alone should well surpass this relatively low estimate of overall Buddhism prevalence. 

At any rate, it's good to have more reference data points, and this study also raises some new questions.  In particular, why are higher participation rates measured outside of the greater Houston urbanized core?  Specifically, in Waller, San Jacinto, and (of all places) Newton County, which is located in culturally-distinct deep East Texas.  These are intriguing questions, perhaps for future blog posts.

Tibetan Lama coming to Houston

Tibetan Lama Garchen Rinpoche (affiliated institute) is scheduled to present teachings at three Houston-area Temples during the period December 4 through 9, 2012. 

Click to enlarge.  Please excuse the low resolution.  Downsampling was necessary in order to post this flyer as an image. 

Here is a clearer screengrab of just the schedule portion of the announcement. 

This program is being sponsored by the Viet Nalanda Foundation, which is an institution that facilitates cooperation between Vietnamese Vajrayana and Tibetan practitioners, but with a non-sectarian focus. 

A prominent teacher, Garchen Rinpoche was the subject of a recent documentary film titled "For the Benefit of All Beings".   Here is a trailer for that film.