I'm a slacker Buddhist. You know those Christians that are called CEOs? Show up for "Christmas and Easter Only"? Yeah, I'm the Asian that only shows up for Lunar New Year Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. I've previously taken my parents and my husband to this temple where we sit and pray and do light meditation and chanting activities as well as fun singing activities in Mandarin Chinese. This temple is very different from the many that I frequented in Houston as a child. Everyone here has both English and Mandarin spoken and the services are conducted in both. Further more, one thing that I think is awesome is the Lunch and food provided here is donation based where as the temples in Houston I grew up with were payment only. I'm really excited to be 2 lights down from them, it's a 6 minute drive from the Arboretum area to this place and they have a parking lot as well as side 360 parking when it gets packed. I went last night to the Mid-Autumn Festival where they had many fun family friendly activities, everything vegetarian based food and many vegetarian asian type desserts which my parents taught me all about. So fun to see the non-asian folk also around here as the Buddhist temples I went to were predominately 90% Asian visiting. Here in Austin, I would say it's 60% Asian, with 40% everyone else. They have very cool meditation, yoga, etc events on Saturday and Sunday mornings, donation based as well as a kitchen that serves Vegetarian based meals. Also, what I love is they are not the type to "shame on you if you don't donate money to a religious cause". They truly are a friendly family type vibe and you donate because you truly believe in doing good and you want to. Totally low pressure. Also, they gave me a mooncake for the Mid-Autumn Festival that was handmade by all their volunteers and in the Lunar New Year, they give you red envelopes in Chocolate coin money, but still money none-the-less. (Houston temples actually give you $1 in a beautiful red envelope!) Celebrating Asian traditions here in Austin are very apparent here and it's beautifully decorated and I will do my best to be back more frequently. read more

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If you've driven up 360 you will inevitably notice a big gold shiny buddha sitting happily in front of a temple and perhaps wondered what it was all about. Well I sure did and I decided to check it out. I'm not Buddhist but do enjoy meditation and yoga. I looked them up online and saw that they offered meditation classes on Saturdays (in English). Before committing, I wanted to scope this place out. I arrived at around 4:30, thirty minutes before they close. Aside from a few construction workers (apparently they are doing some major renovations), I was the only one there. I snooped into the tea room and felt like I was transported to another time. Beautiful wooden tables, one of which topped with a delicate tea set and a small vase with flowers. I saw that they offered (assumingly) vegetarian Chinese foods and noted to myself that I must try this! I walked deeper into the dining area into another room and found flyers for classes on the Introduction to Buddhism in English, as well as Chinese language classes for adults. I left the tea room and walked across the pavilion into the beautifully ornate main room to find two monks chanting in sync. I couldn't understand what they were saying but I enjoyed how serene and focused they were. At first I thought perhaps I was intruding but then I saw a welcome note on a table, sign in sheet, some information on Buddhism, and some sweets which I happily helped myself to. I will absolutely be returning to check out the meditation session sometime as well as try the food. And I will report back. :) read more

International Buddhist Progress Society - Buddhist Temples Near Me - Austin, Texas

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I'd driven past this building on 360 for YEARS, and each time I said to myself "I really must go there sometime". My husband and I had a lovely experience. Neither of us are Buddhist, but our curiosity and appreciation for other cultures drove us to stop by the temple. There was a lady at the door of the temple, charged with greeting visitors. She didn't speak any English, but through hand gestures and pointing we were able to communicate that we wanted to make a donation and look around the temple. She was so sweet, she gave us each a stick of incense, and walked us up to the "altar"(?) where you traditionally put the incense as an offering, and pray. So we did just that. Then we walked around the inside of the temple, looking at the carved walls and ceilings, a million different little representations of buddha dressed in different colors, and making different poses with his hands. When we were leaving,she called me over to her desk and motioned for me to put my hand out, and she put a red beaded bracelet with inscription on it around my wrist. I'm sure that's part of the experience for everyone perhaps, but we were so touched to have been warmly welcomed because we really didn't know what to expect. read more

The golden temple is marvelous! My honey and I ventured over to check it out a couple weekends ago and it exceeded our experience tattoos. We learned some more about Buddhism from a fellow practitioner visiting the temple on his way home from work and ate a meal served by 5he ladies who work there. Everyone was lovely and welcoming, and the food was way better than expected, especially since it was all vegetarian! Cost was a donation of about $7 per bowl (suggested). Go, expand your mind, your heart, and you will surely get something meaningful to take with you! read more

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I have recently been trying to get back into Buddhist Philosophy. Years ago when I was a big Oprah watcher, I discovered the Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh. There is a quote of his that at times has become my mantra, "Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy." It has allowed me to keep a forced smile on my face the past week after being suddenly and unexpectedly dumped via text late Saturday night. After the breakup, I took to Facebook as one does and began posting inspirational quotes/memes about heartbreak and loss. I knew the likes from my friends on my posts would help me feel a little better. LOL. As I sat waiting for likes, I remembered that being a Buddhist comes in handy when you get dumped. I also was reminded of my favorite Buddhist monk Thich. I googled some of his top quotes, deciding on this one to post, "People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar". Truer words about my current situation could not have been posted on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest or Instagram. I read and reread these words and was blown a way. The suffering I was feeling in that moment was all too familiar. It has happened time and time again since my divorce and rentry to the dating world. I meet a man via a dating site, dating app. sometimes even through a random friend request on social media. He falls head over heels in love with me before meeting in person. He is anxious to meet me. I'm ready to meet him too. We have so much in common, it's time to get busy spending all our time together. We meet in person and he falls a little less in love with me but is still open to the possibility of boning me. Which hey look I don't want to sound like I'm on some moral high ground here- there ain't no crime in a little in the moment boning and/or finger banging. LOL. The breakup and familiar suffering which follows usually occur around day 10 when the man realizes Verna is more than a hot body with a slightly sun damaged face. I have my highs and lows and for sure after 10 days he's going to see a bunch of those. LOL. The thing is no matter what I always pull myself back up to level ground. But once a man realizes how much woman Big V is, he usually ends up running for the hills. Lol. Sunday morning I laid in bed waiting on likes and comments on my posts, I realized they were only temporary band aids to my heartache. I decided it was my turn to run for the hills. Well more like drive my F150 out to the Buddhist temple along the hills of Capital of Texas Highway. It was time for me to put my phone away (in the console of my truck), drive to the temple, clear my mind, and heal my heart. I have to take care of myself. LOL. The last text I got from my ex of almost 8.5 days, read "Please stop texting me". Thich says, "To be loved means to be recognized as existing." Let me tell you seeing that text then replaying it in my head again and again did not make me feel very recognized or loved. Honestly, it made me feel hurt and a little angry. Walking around the temple and it's grounds, I made myself step back and look deeper at the hurt and anger caused by this man's words and actions. It became so clear that he was also suffering himself. This realization allowed me to let go of my pain and feel compassion for him. This poor guy hasn't had one good thing happen in almost 8 months. First his wife of 23 years leaves him for some guy she met at work. But due to a financial situation they are all still living together. He's now in the dining room on a futon while his wife and her new boyfriend are in the master suite. They have a $150K federal tax lien b/c they forgot to file or pay taxes for a few years. The lien is complicating the sale of their marital home and divorce proceedings in general. His career also appears to have taken a nose dive. His boss cut his hours back to part time and Lyft won't even hire him. Also he implied on several occasions that he suffers from ED, which is not uncommon in men his age and truthfully not even a problem for me as I prefer fingering. Bottom line though I understood that he deserved my compassion which freed me from my anger. The setting at the temple is quite peaceful. It was just what I needed. I meditated for quite a while. Then sat and read over and over again another one of Thich's quotes ( I'd written on sticky before I left my place) "Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today" So with a forced smile on my face I left this lovely temple, hopped into my Ford F150 and headed to Rudy's to get some BBQ. I can honestly say I felt full of hope about tomorrow being better than today. And I'm feeling that same hope right now as I write this review. LOL. read more

Came here with my family on a Sunday afternoon. Pleasantly surprised that there was an all-you-can-eat vegetarian buffet for a suggested donation of $5 (gave a few extra dollars for my 2 teenaged boys!). Food was absolutely marvelous...I was in food heaven as a strict vegetarian, but my husband and sons, who are avid meat eaters, thoroughly enjoyed themselves, as well! Just a bit of information: Buddhist service ends at 12:30, then lunch starts immediately afterwards...if you don't arrive within the first 15-20 min after the start of lunch, there may be nothing left. We saw several people come in around 1:25pm, and they left because there was not much to offer...the key is to arrive on Sunday at 12:30pm...period. I'll definitely be back for more! read more