MEDITATION COURSE & PRACTICE - Samatha and Vipassana

Meditation Course and Practice (ZOOM)

10 SATURDAYS - 10:00 A.M. to Noon

August 1 to October 3, 2026

This is a course and each week has a different lesson, which builds on previous classes)

YOU WILL NEED A NOTEPAD FOR "HOMEWORK" QUESTIONS & NOTES.  

IMPORTANT:  NOT A DEVICE!

Whether you are a long-time meditator or just beginning, it is always good to strengthen and deepen concentration, awareness, and mindfulness. Please consider refreshing and revitalizing your own practice, or recommending these options to family and friends.

Everyone can benefit from this practice. It helps free us from illusion so that we can look at ourselves with greater clarity and make appropriate changes in our lives. We become aware of the depth of selfishness and the actual intent that can motivate actions that are thought to be altruistic.

Taught by Thich nu Tinh Quang, the original techniques are for increasing your awareness and freeing yourself of painful mental habits. 

You can learn the basics of meditation from books, websites and videos. However, if you're serious about pursuing a regular meditation practice, it is important to have a teacher and to sit meditation with others at least once a week; most people find it deepens the practice. 

Like many aspects of Buddhism, most of us must practice meditation for a while to appreciate it. At first you might think of it primarily as mind training, and of course, it is. If you stay with the practice, however, your understanding of why you sit will change. This will be your own personal and intimate journey, and it may not resemble anyone else's experience. 

Dana is gratefully accepted.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED BY JULY 29 TO (sistertinhquang(@)yahoo.ca  THE ZOOM LINK WILL BE SENT UPON REGISTRATION.

There is no cost for this course, but DANA is appreciated.

FLOWER SUTRA

Toward the end of his life, the Buddha took his disciples to a quiet pond for instruction. As they had done so many times before, the Buddha’s followers sat in a small circle around him, and waited for the teaching.
But this time the Buddha had no words. He reached into the muck and pulled up a lotus flower. And he held it silently before them, its roots dripping mud and water.


The disciples were greatly confused. Buddha quietly displayed the lotus to each of them. In turn, the disciples did their best to expound upon the meaning of the flower: what it symbollized, and how it fit into the body of Buddha’s teaching.


When at last the Buddha came to his follower Mahakasyapa, the disciple suddenly understood. He smiled and began to laugh. Buddha handed the lotus to Mahakasyapa and began to speak.


“What can be said I have said to you,” smiled the Buddha, “and what cannot be said, I have given to Mahakashyapa.”
Mahakashyapa became Buddha’s successor from that day forward.


The Flower Sutra is a sutra in the Zen (or Chan) tradition of Mahayana Buddhism. It's earliest versions date from the 11th century. Zen Buddhism stresses wordless insight more than most other types of Buddhism. This sutra exemplifies that very well.
In many versions of this sutra the Buddha doesn't walk around, he merely holds up the Lotus, roots and all, to a group of disciples. Most disciples are confused.


Mahakashyapa smiles.


To Zen Buddhists this sutra shows the origins of the wordless teachings of Zen - its history started with the Buddha himself.