Houston

The trip to the Chung Tai Zen Center of Houston this weekend was excellent. More than twenty five people from Buddha Mind went down to Houston. I carpooled down on Friday with three other guys. We arrived at Houston at rush hour and the traffic was as bad as expected. The Zen center is an oasis of calm located in a busy northeast Houston Asian business district. On Saturday morning several hundred attended the Dharma talk given by Venerable Master Jian Deng, abbot of Chung Tai Monastery in Taiwan. Before the Dharma talk, a representative from the office of one of the Texas Congressman  presented an American flag that had flown over the capital in Washington to Master Jian Deng. He was also presented with various proclamations from a Texas state representative, a Houston city council member, and a representative from the Taiwan government. The Dharma talk was given in Chinese. Radio headsets were available for a simultaneous English translation. The title of the talk was Zen and Pure Land. 

Saturday afternoon was the main event of the weekend; Transmission of the Three Refuges and Five Precepts by Master Jian Deng. Over two hundred people participated in the ceremony. One part of the Five Precepts ceremony that had many nervous was putting on the ceremonial brown robe. The putting on and taking off of the brown robe is a bit complicated. At that part of the ceremony there were several monks and nuns helping any participants that were having difficulty.

Receiving the Five Precepts is an important ceremony in Buddhism. I feel fortunate having the opportunity to participate in this ceremony and very moved by the experience.