English Meditation Class – In depth study of Buddhism

The English meditation class took place on 24th October 2015 at the Pagoda. Fifteen English speaking students attended the class which was conducted by Venerable Miaoyu.

To start off the class, Venerable Miaoyu introduced the Breath Awareness Meditation Technique (BAMT) to enable the students’ bodies and the minds to reach a neutral and relaxed state. The BAMT encouraged students to focus solely on their breathing pattern in order to settle their minds and rid of any distracting thoughts. By achieving a neutral and relaxed state of mind, students were able to recognise the emergence of distracting thoughts and were able to eliminate those thoughts from the source. This enabled the students’ minds to be in meditative concentration. Afterwards, students were also introduced to a number of different meditation techniques, including: walking meditation, standing meditation; and in the sitting meditation.

Enhanced by the peaceful and neutral environment at the Pagoda, the class was followed by group discussions around “the source of happiness”. A number of key conclusions from the discussion include:

• Happiness is attained via understanding, and by having an un-fixated mind;
• Happiness is not dependent on external factors but from one’s inner self;
• Correct mind-set encourages positive thinking which creates positive energy and is the source of happiness;
• It is critical to “walk the walk” when seeking happiness and to enlighten others by spreading happiness around.

The second topic for group discussion was “methods to overcome stress”. The students agreed that by not picking up the burden in the first place, there is no burden to carry in life, nor is there one to get rid of. By having right understanding of and selecting a positive angle to view challenges in life, these challenges become opportunities for one to learn and mature.

The students wished to return to the temple more frequently in the future to be exposed to more of Buddha’s teaching, to convert pressure to drivers, and to ignite one’s inner Buddha light to illuminate and enrich others and to spread happiness brought upon by humanistic Buddhism through FGS’s teachings.