Houston Secular Buddhists / Secular Buddhist Association (SBA)

This is one in a series of "Profile" posts in which different local Buddhist groups and Temples will be described so that seekers will understand fully in advance what to expect should they decide to visit.

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Secular Buddhism is an emerging form of Buddhism that discards the religious, cultural, and temporal overprints that largely define many Asian Buddhism lineages.  Secular forms of Buddhism are predicated largely on humanist and agnostic values.  As further described in Wikipedia,

• "Secular Buddhism proposes that we leave behind the metaphysical beliefs and soteriology endemic to ancient Indian religious culture. This culture saw human life as an irredeemable realm of suffering, from which one should seek transcendence in an enduring beyond-human condition – a stance that virtually all Buddhist schools, as well as Hinduism and Jainism, perpetuate. Secular Buddhism, on the other hand, seeks to deploy the Buddha’s teaching as a guide to full human flourishing in this life and this world. In adopting this post-metaphysical position, it parts company with existing religious forms of Buddhist orthodoxy, which have evolved since the Buddha’s death. Instead, it aligns itself with today’s post-metaphysical philosophy, not least phenomenology, so finding itself on a convergent path with similar movements in Christian thought, as exemplified by the work of thinkers such as Don Cupitt and Gianni Vattimo."

The Secular Buddhist Association (SBA) has created an umbrella website that provides content consistent with the secular movement, as well as networking opportunities for practitioners and seeding resources for new groups.

The Secular Buddhist Association banner as of the date of this post.  The logo graphic symbolizes the practical, minimalist focus of the group by superimposing a photograph of the Earth on a stylized Dharma wheel.   The terminal ends of the wheel spokes are reminiscent of jigsaw puzzle joinery, suggesting that its organizational model has the potential to snap neatly into the lives of practitioners.   

A recent article hosted on the site and titled "What is a Secular Buddhist, and What Do They Believe?" provides a particularly concise summary of the boundaries of the belief structure.

Wikipedia currently links to ten different SBA entities (nine local groups plus the parent website):

However, the SBA site iself lists "like-minded" practice centers as well as those groups that have initiated under the SBA umbrella.

One of those listed is the Houston group.

At the present time, Houston Secular Buddhists networks its approximately three dozen members using its open-access Facebook page. 

The Houston Secular Buddhists page banner.
Users should note that there is also an older group page that has been migrated to that which currently has this header.

Houston Secular Buddhists arranges group meetings for its members, usually at an inner-loop location, although not yet with an established frequency due to the relative newness of the group and the lack of a well-established local meeting venue.

Moderator's Viewpoints.  Every organizational variant on the Buddhism or meditation group model is characterized by features that individual seekers may regard as positive or negative depending on their own personal circumstances and group involvement goals.

Houston Secular Buddhists and its de facto parent organization have the obvious drawback of being largely virtual (i.e., confined to the internet) out of necessity at this early point in their evolution.  That being said, the paradox represented by social media such as Facebook is such that, even though there may be less "human contact", there's actually more potential for awareness connectivity with a group like this than there is with most in-person groups where members may only get to see each other for relatively short periods once or twice a week.  Frequent member updates and posting of articles of interest on the internet help to keep groups like this in touch and can supply enjoyable and informative content within contexts that may not be attainable via individual effort alone (i.e., a crowdsourcing style effect). 

(And that daily posted content often includes cartoons!  Pardon my rampant attachment, but I love the Buddhism-themed cartoons!  Keep 'em coming!!)
:-)

Secular Buddhism also provides what some practitioners will see as freedom from those features of traditional Asian Buddhism that entail cultural ornamentation, multi-language comprehensional barriers, dogma, and proscriptions of undemonstrated merit.   Many western convert Buddhists as well as non-denominational meditators and mindfulness learners are explicitly seeking routes to involvement that do not resemble the hierarchical models presented by institutional religion-of-faith formats (e.g., Christianity; Islam).  As such, a secular approach will be perceived by some as a welcome relief from the undesirable impositions presented by other forms of Buddhism.

The Secular Buddhist Association website also furnishes a valuable resource for those who wish to form their own groups: a set-up and administration template that includes instructions on using the Meetup platform.   This is one of the only cohesive, centralized lay group seeding resources available in the western Buddhism / meditation landscape today. 

Calling all Temples...

...if you are a Buddhist or meditation Temple or lay group, please feel free to contact me so that I can do the best possible job of representing your organization here on South Houston Sangha News. 

The internet is often the primary means by which many people connect with the information resources that they need.  South Houston Sangha News is like most other websites on the internet: it tracks its visitor paths and records those statistics so that I can know what people are searching for, and thereby tailor my publications to become more responsive to those searchers.  This blog's recent statistics on Temple searches tell an interesting story:

This is a partial screengrab from the statistical compilation.  You can see that this user input into Google the search string Empty Field Zen Houston, and Google ranked this South Houston Sangha post as the number one most relevant hit for that - in other words, ranked the blog post higher than it ranked the website that is maintained by the group itself!  And that blog post was less than a month old at the time of the Google user's search.

If you are a Temple that does not yet have its own website or perhaps does not have an English website (both are true of a significant number of local Asian groups and Temples), this is even more important.  People will search for you online regardless of what you have or don't have, and South Houston Sangha News may end up being their only source of online information about you right now.  For this reason, we'd like to be able to provide as much accurate detail about you as we possibly can. 

Once again, this post returned as the number one hit for the entered search string.  This particular user was looking for information about events at the Vietnamese Buddhist Pagoda located in the City of South Houston...

...and here's an example for Linh Son.  Both of these Temples have no known web presence of their own at the current time.  South Houston Sangha News is usually within the top five ranked Google results provided to online seekers of both.

Additionally, if you maintain an email "blast list" for Temple or group events, please ensure that my email is on it.  Thank you, and I hope to hear from you via southhoustonsangha -at- gmail. 

Rothko Chapel

Sometimes Google Alerts gang up on me:  they conspire to implore me to post about a resource that I wouldn't otherwise rank as an immediate priority given this blog's primary focus, which is helping people to connect with the local nuts-n-bolts of the Buddhist and non-Buddhist meditation resources that they are seeking, mainly local Temples and lay groups. 

Such was the conspiring case this week with respect to the Rothko Chapel.  First, it was featured on June 22 by Houston Chronicle in a blog post titled "Things to do in Houston before you die".

Screengrab courtesy of Houston Chronicle.
http://blog.chron.com/newswatch/2012/06/things-to-do-in-houston-before-you-die/

Screengrab courtesy of Houston Chronicle.
As recommendations go, it seems an unlikely bedfellow to be joined thematically with visiting the Beer Can House and indulging in restaurant tours and sporting events, but there you have it.

And second, it was featured this morning in this HuffPost article titled "At the Rothko Chapel:  Art, Meditation, and Reverence".  This frontispiece quote resonated with me:

Courtesy of the Huff Post Arts online edition.
Screengrabbed from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-seed/art-meditation_b_1627635.html

Well said.  This is precisely why I have spent much of my life practicing photography as a hobby, and why I chose to produce Dhammapada Houstoniana (full blog publication to follow).  Contemplating art is a gateway to more comprehensive perception, whether that art be in the form of the masterful abstract renderings in Rothko, or in the form of the ordinary photography in which I engage.  It's easier to make headway in this business of perception when the scene has been conveniently frozen for the viewer - it's a baby step, in other words.  From practising raw perception in a still-frame mode, one then graduates to the more challenging task of being similarly effective in the dynamic stream of constantly-flowing moments. 

That said, let me summarize some of Rothko's logistical parameters for those of you who may wish to visit for meditative purposes.

Screengrab courtesy of Rothko Chapel Image Gallery. 
What strikes me about this image is the sense that the surrounding art is so much bigger than the meditator, yet at the same time, it's not belittling of the meditator, and not overpowering of the meditator.  I see this as reflecting how we should view our own egos: not reality's main event by any means, but something to be perceived and acknowledged as an integral part of that reality.

Rothko Chapel is located in Houston's Museum District. 

3900 Yaupon Street, Houston TX  77006...

...but sometimes presented instead with a Sul Ross address.

As of June 2012, Chapel hours were listed as 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, except during special events.  Check the Visitor Information tab on their website to confirm, and you can also check their calendar.

The Chapel has scheduled monthly noon-time public group meditations throughout 2012.

Screengrabbed from this page.

Individual meditation can be conducted at any time, however, and the Chapel maintains a diverse list of reference texts on hand for those who wish to study the wisdom directly during their visit.  The listed titles include (but are not limited to) the following, which will be familiar to many Buddhist practitioners:

• Keeping the Peace - Thich Nhat Hanh
• Love in Action - Thich Nhat Hanh
• The Opening of the Wisdom Eye - The XIVth Dalai Lama of Tibet
• What the Buddha Taught - Walpola Rahula

The HuffPost author described Rothko as "one especially fine place in the United States where silent meditation in the presence of great modern paintings is encouraged".  We sure are lucky to have it in this place we call home. 

Screengrabbed from the homepage at
http://www.rothkochapel.org/

 

Empty Field Zendo (League City)

This is one in a series of "Profile" posts in which different local Buddhist groups and Temples will be described so that seekers will understand fully in advance what to expect should they decide to visit.

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The Empty Field Zendo of League City Texas (not to be confused with the Oregon group of the same name) meets at the Unity Church of the Bay Area which is located near the intersection of League City Parkway and State Highway 3.

1911 Hwy.3 South, League City, Texas 77573
Screengrab from Googlemaps

Close up of the location which, interestingly, is only about fifteen hundred feet from the Diamond Way Clear Lake Buddhism building to the northwest on Dakota Street. 

Meditation meetings are currently held every Sunday evening from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm at this location (check their website to confirm that this has not changed). 

As of this blog post, Empty Field Zendo had developed a highly organized and useful set of web pages to describe its structure and activities.

Partial screengrab of the homepage at http://www.emptyfield.org/.
Minimalist, in authentic Zen style.
The homepage entry is dated January 2011, but I did check with the group and verified that the site information is still up-to-date as of June 2012.

The pages explain succinctly the organization and protocols for meditation meetings.  For this particular group, it is especially important to familiarize yourself in advance of what to expect, because meditation sessions are conducted in silence.  Thus, if a visitor does not have foreknowledge of the practices, there will be little obvious guidance upon arrival at a typical sitting.  To address this issue, a pre-registration procedure is articulated on the website:

See http://www.emptyfield.org/the-first-visit/

A wealth of additional information is available on the Empty Field website, including Dharma talks and suggested readings.

Zen minimalism or not, the reading references page includes this uber-cool Amazon widget that I wish I had known about the other day when I published a list of potential "Buddhism 101" references. 

Note that they recommend a few volumes by Steve Hagen, whose "Buddhism Plain and Simple" was also one of my recommendations. 

The Empty Field Zendo is currently led by Sensei Ray Cicetti of Morristown New Jersey. 

Sensei Ray Cicetti.
Photo screengrabbed from Sweeping Zen (URL below)

Sensei Ray Cicetti doesn't have a separate Wiki page but is named as one of eleven Dharma successors on Jesuit Priest Robert Kennedy's page.  Cicetti is also profiled on Sweeping Zen, which is a Zen meta-website.  The Empty Bowl Zendo website can also be accessed for additional information on this teacher.

When I contacted this group to confirm the up-to-datedness of their website information, the representative noted that a retreat is scheduled in July 2012:

Screengrabbed from
http://www.emptyfield.org/meditation-retreats/june-2010-4-day-sesshin/ 

Moderator's Viewpoints.  As with all Temple and group profiles, an attempt is made to include mention of any relevant external accounts of the group and/or its leadership, although a thorough evaluation is beyond the scope of this blog post and beyond the expertise of this blogger.

As of the date of this blog post, the first several pages of Google search returns revealed that Ray Cicetti is affiliated with the Zen Peacemakers organization, and is also a psychotherapist in private practice in New Jersey.  He is also listed as a founding member of the Clear Mountain Zen Center in New Jersey. 

Additionally, as Moderator, I sometimes draw repeated emphasis to facets of particular groups that may be of particular importance for beginners to understand, and to that end, I offer the following observation. 

As suggested by the descriptions above, Empty Field Zendo's meditation sessions demand a greater degree of protocol precision and discipline than do those of some of the other local area sitting groups that have been profiled on this blog.  This degree of intensity is reflected in the schedule that they have developed for each session:

Screengrabbed from:
http://www.emptyfield.org/about/

Beginners are advised to evaluate their own personal circumstances in order to determine whether they would be physically and psychologically ready to participate in three 25-minute sitting meditations in a single meeting (beginners often commence by engaging in about 20 minutes of practice per day, which is much less time). 

As always, if you have additional relevant information on this group, please comment below or email me at southhoustonsangha - at - gmail.  Thanks!
:-)

Zen Island Fellowship, Galveston

This is one in a series of "Profile" posts in which different local Buddhist groups and Temples will be described so that seekers will understand fully in advance what to expect should they decide to visit.

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The Zen Island Fellowship (ZIF) meets in the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Galveston County building which is located within the City of Galveston.

502 Church Street, Galveston Texas
Map screengrabbed from GoogleMaps.

Close-up of the UU building location.  South of UTMB.

As of this blog post, ZIF sported a beautifully-designed and complete set of informational web pages.

Screengrab from the homepage at:
http://www.galvestonzen.org/index.html 

The pages explain succinctly the organization and protocols for meditation meetings, with information useful to visitors:

Details for newcomers.
Screengrabbed from http://www.galvestonzen.org/index.html

ZIF is currently listed by Wikipedia as being one of eight groups (all but one located in America) currently under the guidance of Zen Master Dae Gak. 

Zen Master Dae Gak, image screengrabbed from Wikipedia.

ZIF is correspondingly affiliated with Dae Gak's Furnace Mountain Retreat Center, which is located in Kentucky.

Moderator's Viewpoints.  As with all Temple profiles, an attempt is made to include mention of any relevant external accounts of the profiled group and/or its leadership, although a thorough evaluation is beyond the scope of this blog post and beyond the expertise of this blogger. 

As of the date of this blog post, the first ten pages of Google search returns revealed little third-party informational resources for Dae Gak or his affiliated groups.  Wikipedia makes biographical mention of a licensure disciplinary action (as well as being a Zen practitioner, he is (or was) a practicing psychologist in the state of Kentucky), an event which was echoed on a few Buddhist discussion boards such as this one.  Amazon carries a few of his published works, including one published in April 2012 and an older volume that received mixed reader reviews. 

Additional relevant information was not found during internet searches.  As always, please contact me via southhoustonsangha - at - gmail if you have anything to add. 

Diamond Way Buddhist Centers - Clear Lake and Houston

This is one in a series of "Profile" posts in which different local Buddhist groups and Temples will be described so that seekers will understand fully in advance what to expect should they decide to visit.
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UPDATED April 4, 2013 to reflect new center location.

The Diamond Way Buddhism - Clear Lake Center is located in the Clear Lake area at 417 E. NASA Parkway.

Grab from Googlemaps.

The Clear Lake group has also recently started both a Facebook page and a Meetup page. 

Its sister facility, Diamond Way Buddhism - Houston Center, is located near the Heights.

Location of Diamond Way Houston
3502 Oak Forest Dr. Houston, TX  77018

As of the date of this blog post, there was also a complete page pertaining to a third local group reportedly affiliated with the University of Houston, but corresponding references to that group do not appear on Diamond Way root pages, and so this group's current activity status is uncertain.

Screengrabbed from:
http://www.diamondway.org/texas/uofh.html

Diamond Way is a lay organization within the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.  It is currently led by Danish man named Ole Nydahl, and by Trinley Thaye Dorje, one of the two claimants to the title of the 17th Karmapa.  There are approximately 600 Diamond Way Centers world wide.

A screengrabbed image of the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, predecessor to the 17th Karmapa.

The Clear Lake center currently engages in several practices, as follows:

• Group meditations are held each Tuesday and Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m.  These typically commence with a ten-minute talk followed by a guided (as opposed to silent) meditation on the 16th Karmapa (the current version of this does not appear to be available online, but a recent previous version can be found at this Wayback site, which includes Ole Nydahl reciting the meditation).  The guided meditation is followed by the singing of a Tibetan language hymn referred to as "Invocation Black Coat", which does not appear to be available online.  The group atmosphere before and after the meditation is relaxed and social, moreso than what is encountered in many more formal Temple settings.
• On Sundays starting at 9:00 a.m., the group engages in Ngondro practice (further general information on this topic here).
• Additionally, the Clear Lake Center coordinates with other centers for special events including those conducted by "Traveling Teachers" (trained lay support personnel sometimes referred to as "circuit riders" by other religious groups).  Further information can be found in the Calendar section of the Center's website (bottom of their homepage). 

Moderator's Viewpoints.  Seekers who choose to review available Diamond Way information on the internet will undoubtedly encounter a variety of different viewpoints regarding this group.  An evaluation of the relative merits of these viewpoints and of Diamond Way itself are outside the scope of this blog post and beyond the expertise of this blogger.  However, a few general points and references are potentially worth noting:

(1)  New seekers may wish to become generally familiar with Tantric Buddhism prior to participating in the activities of any Vajrayana group, whether Diamond Way or other lineage of similar derivation.  The use of intense visualizations and sounds and the intent of lowering interpersonal barriers to identification have little parallel in mainstream American culture, and are not stylistically comparable to the type of silent meditation engaged in by other Buddhist schools (e.g., Zen or Theravada).  Some people are not comfortable with these practices, whereas others gravitate toward the increased meditation structure furnished by the guiding process.   Listening to the Karmapa meditation on the Wayback site introduces these ideas, and can help you to determine whether this approach to Buddhism might be right for you. 

(2)  It is clear from the accusations of cult-like associations (e.g., here and here), allegations of disclosure improprieties (e.g., Wikileaks), as well as his pivotal role in events surrounding the Karmapa controversy that Ole Nydahl is a strongly polarizing public figure.


When performing a search of his name, these were the top four auto-complete responses supplied by Google.  Allegedly, Google attempts to infill search strings based on the relative frequency with which other users have recently input the same search parameters.

However, being controversial does not necessarily mean being dishonest or unethical.  One fact apparently disputed by no credible source is that the Nydahls did receive authentic endorsement from the 16th Karmapa to bring the Diamond Way teachings to the West.

This research paper explores the group further, but unfortunately, it seems to raise more questions than it answers. 

The paraphrased words of the Buddha are as relevant to each individual seeker's examination of Nydahl's Diamond Way Buddhism as they are for every other aspect of life:

Don't take anyone else's word for anything.  See for yourself. 

Courtesy of http://www.sapphyr.net/buddhist/buddhist-quotes.htm 

Vietnamese Buddhist Pagoda (Chua Phat-Quang)

This is one in a series of "Profile" posts in which different local Buddhist groups and Temples will be described so that seekers will understand fully in advance what to expect should they decide to visit.  LAST UPDATE:  July 6, 2013; still no web presence found for this temple. 

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Vietnamese Buddhist Pagoda (Phat-Quang) is located within the City of South Houston, roughly sandwiched between Houston and Pasadena (or between IH-610 and Clear Lake, depending on how you look at it).

701 Arizona Street, South Houston, TX  77587
Screengrab from Googlemaps.
Notice that "South Houston" is given in caps in the address above.  South Houston is an incorporated city of about 16,000 people, and it has a name that triggers the need for a lot of local context-parsing: when the title of a news article or other published content says "South Houston", do they mean "south Houston" or do they really mean "South Houston"?   The city is so small that many Houstonians (including south Houstonians) aren't even aware that it is a separate incorporated entity.  The "South" in "South Houston Sangha News" is a general geographic descriptor, not a reference to this city. 

Googlemaps suggests that the Pagoda is an extensively-developed site:

Most of what you see in the center of this Googlemaps image grab, from red-roofed building to red-roofed building, appears to be within the Temple complex.  The entrance appears to be on State Street rather than Arizona Avenue.

Ground grab showing the "frontispiece" on Arizona Ave.

Most internet references to this Temple use the English name preferentially, for reasons that are not apparent.  If the Vietnamese name is used, the references tend to drop the "Chua".

Including this one above from this University of Houston website which appears geared toward international students and faculty.

Despite the prevalence of the English name for the facility in "yellow page" type directories, in the first ten pages of Google entries, I was unable to find a website for this Temple in either English or Vietnamese.  The Temple does have a Facebook page, but no content has been incorporated into it and no external website is referenced. 

Facebook grab May 27, 2012.

This is the extent of the information I have found on this facility as of today.  Thus far, I have found nothing to suggest that any English Sangha is associated with it.  If you have additional information about this Temple, please contact me via southhoustonsangha - at - gmail.com. It would be useful if I could post details about the programs this facility offers.

Texas Guandi Temple

This is one in a series of "Profile" posts in which different local Buddhist groups and Temples will be described so that seekers will understand fully in advance what to expect should they decide to visit.

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Texas Guandi Temple is located in EaDo near IH-45, in an area referred to as "Old Chinatown" (which is not to be confused with "Chinatown"). 

Screengrab from Googlemaps.  The address of the facility is alternatively given as a Milby address (above) or as a Gulf Freeway address (see homepage screengrab below). 

Guandi is listed and briefly described in this directory of spiritual centers in EaDo.

Street view screengrabbed from Wikimedia Commons.  It appears to be intended to some degree as multi-cultural, as its sign identifies it in three languages. 

Guandi Temple's current website does not provide any English context or information regarding this facility.

Screengrab of the homepage at www.guanditemple.org in May of 2012.

Segment of the homepage above after running internet translation.

I have been largely unsuccessful in locating third-party descriptions of this Temple and what it potentially offers to English practitioners.  There's this Houston Chronicle article from 2003 which provides a general description of the Temple's development, intent, and a New Year celebration.  There are also scattered photographs of the facility available on Flickr and other sharing sites.

Screengrabbed from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/p3t3rt/2209684422/in/faves-telwink/

I also found reference Guandi on a commercial tour website:

Screengrab from the Houston Historical Tours commercial website.  No further information was available, but the fact that the Temple is open to commercial tours suggests that it is fairly accessible and informal.

I contacted a Chinese friend to get a "feel" for this facility, and she described it as "more like a worshipping place" than a Temple.  She noted that the figure for whom the Temple is named is a military figure from Chinese folklore.  Wikipedia reveals that Guan Yu (also called Guan Di) "is a figure in Chinese folk religion, popular Confucianism, Taoism, and Chinese Buddhism, and small shrines to Guan are almost ubiquitous in traditional Chinese shops and restaurants".   In Chinese Buddhism, Guandi is worshipped as Sangharama Bodhisattva.   A bodhisattva is defined as an enlightened person who wishes for all sentient beings to attain Buddhahood.

As always, if you have additional information about this Temple, please contact me via southhoustonsangha - at - gmail.com.  It would be useful if I could post details about what (if any) programs this facility offers in English. 

Dharma Spring meditation group (Chua Phap Nguyen)

This is one in a series of "Profile" posts in which different local Buddhist groups and Temples will be described so that seekers will understand fully in advance what to expect should they decide to visit.

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The Dharma Spring English meditation group is part of the Chua Phap Nguyen Temple in the northeast corner of Pearland, Texas (closer to Friendswood and Clear Lake proper than to the core of Pearland). 

Attempts to Googlemap either the search string "Chua Phap Nguyen, Pearland, TX" or "Dharma Spring, Pearland, TX" will not spot the location.  As of May 2012, it was necessary to enter the actual address of 1838 County Road 129, Pearland TX 77581 in order to pull a map. 

The English services are mentioned on the Temple's website, but without description or elaboration.  However, the English Sangha has produced several outreach resources in order to inform the public of its activities within the Temple.  Those resources include (but are not limited to) the following:

• An active presence has been developed on the Meetup social networking platform. 

Appearance of the Meetup mainpage as of May 2012.

Example photograph from the Meetup group photo section.

• A "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQ) document was developed and approved for distribution by the Temple's Abbot Thich Tri Hoang.  The FAQ is intended to provide newcomers with a complete basis of information for understanding both the logistical procedures followed during the English meditation sessions, as well as providing introductory denominational and philosophical "position statements" that characterize both the English group and the Temple itself.  A text-based copy of the FAQ is available on the Meetup site, and for ease of printing, images of this document are also provided below (click images to increase size but note that blog hosting here might result in unintentionally-degraded print quality).

This Temple is affiliated with Chuang Yen Monastery in Carmel, New York, and the Abbot has been instrumental in developing a three-year Dharma Training Program which will be offered in English for the first time in Houston starting in September 2012. 

The Dharma Training Program may be accessed via the "Links" title on the Chua Phap Nguyen website or by following the URLs given here. 

Moderator's viewpoint.  This Temple offers several distinct advantages for English-speaking meditators, as follows:

1. The presence of an accomplished monastically-trained, English-speaking but native Asian teacher-in-residence is rare in our area and offers the potential for learning opportunities that arguably exceed those typically found within leaderless lay groups.
2. The Temple is explicitly and intentionally inclusive, stating on its website "Phap Nguyen Buddhist Congregation is a non-denominational community that follows various Buddhist traditions and is open to people from all walks of life and faith. We find inspiration in any sutra or scripture and hold none above any other since truth can only be experienced in our hearts and not in the letter."   In recent Dharma talks, the Abbot has stressed that the meditation sessions are offered equally to all persons without regard to their existing religious affiliations, and that there is no intention to "replace" any person's existing faith with Buddhism.  Therefore the group is suitable for local Christians and persons of other denominations who may wish to explore meditation as an adjunct to their own faith practices.
3. The Abbot has studied under a variety of teachers including Thich Nhat Hanh who, in terms of "recognizeability" as a global Buddhist leader, is arguably second only to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.  This previous association tends to resonate with English seekers who are already familiar with Nhat Hanh's remarkable collection of published writings.    
4. The English Sangha is particularly welcoming, as evidenced by the outreach efforts described above.

As with any institution, this Temple also has characteristics that could be viewed by some seekers as being limitations, some of which are as follows:

1. Because this Temple formed only recently (2009), both the staff and the English Sangha itself are still small, and there are presently no participation programs for English-speaking minor children. 
2. Thus far, Sunday services are presented in the Vietnamese language only. 
3. A Master Plan for the property has been developed and both a small Sanctuary and dining hall are present, but the main Temple has not yet been constructed, which results in some space limitations. 

Future South Houston Sangha News posts will provide additional information regarding both this English meditation group and its outreach efforts, as well as the Dharma Training Program to be offered by this Temple.