One of the main duties of our monastery is to teach meditation to the people.  Nowadays the American people are more interested in meditation than ever because the daily life is full of stress, problems, and sufferings.    In Buddhism, the Buddha taught the way how to relieve sufferings (Dukkha) by cultivating one's  minds.   The Buddha's proverb is "Jittam dantam sukha vaham"  the trained mind brings happiness.  The people who practice mindfulness or Samadhi will find less suffering and stress related problems in their  daily life.

So we open the Meditation Training at the Wat(Monastery) every Sunday Evening from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Tuesday from 7:00 pm. to 9:00 pm.   Once you have entered the property of the temple, please head left to the meditation house.   We practice meditation in there.  You can park your car besides the house.  Our group is small.  There will be about 4-8 people at a time.  You don't have to bring anything for a meditation.  There are some cushion provided.    You can wear clothes normally but they should look appropriate.   Your cell phone should be off.  It's free of charge but if you would like to donate to the temple it's greatly appreciated.  

The regular procedure should begin by having a small talk and followed by chanting and meditation.  Or it depends on the monk who teach.   He will change it a little bit for some convenience.

If you are interested and would like to get more information, please contact the temple at 703-406-8290 or email to webmaster@watyarn.com
 

Schedule
 

Sunday	06:00 pm. - 08:00 pm.
Tuesday	07:00 pm. - 09:00 pm.

He is showing how to practice a sitting meditation.   This posture is called sitting meditation.  Actually, there are four postures of meditating.  Those are 1.Sitting Meditation  2.Standing Meditation 3.Walking Meditation and Reclining Meditation.  There are 2 kinds of main meditation in Buddhism.  The first one is called Samatha or Tranquility Meditation while the second one is called Vipassa or Insight Meditation.

How to practice Tranquility Meditation ?
Samatha Meditation is the way that we try to calm down our minds.  Normally our minds are traveling, wondering for all the time.  It's very hard to stop our minds from thinking but it's possible.  Can we stop our minds from traveling ?  Yes, of course.  How can we stop it ?  And what are we going to get if we can stop our minds from thinking ?   First of all, go and find your spot. Sit down in a crossed leg position.  Place your left palm on your lap, right palm on your left.  Straiten your back.  Gently close your eyes.  Take three deep breaths and then breathe normally.  Focus your mind at the tip of your nose.  When breathing in, recite the word "Bud", (pronounce bood) while breathing out recite the word "Dho".  Keep reciting this for at least 45 minute.  Your mind will calm down and will get to the stillness.  At that time, you will feel more relaxed, light and contented.  Your will find that your mind is very hard to control at the beginning but if you keep trying, you will see that you mind will calm down little by little.  When you get used to, it'll be easy.  The more you practice, the more stable your mind is.  When it become stable, it's good for the Vipassana Meditation or to use for some other purposes like reading, writing, driving etc. 

How to practice Vipassana Meditation ?
Vipasana or Insight Meditation is the second step that you should practice after you have experienced the first one.   The purpose of Insight meditation is to gain wisdom.   When you gain wisdom, you can use it in the way that you want to but the
wisdom that you need here is to see the things as they really are, particularly to see all the things as impermanent, suffering, and non self.  Just like our bodies, we have to see them as they are, namely, to see them as impermanent.  Our bodies are the subject that has to change all the time.  It changes from being a child to young, from young to old and from old to death.  It's suffering.  Our bodies cannot stay like that forever.  They need to change.  For example, you cannot sit or stand for all the time.  You need to change your posture.  It's non self.  Because our bodies are just the component which are composed of organs like arms, hands, head, ears, eyes and so on.  And they stay just for a period of time.  When you die,  your bodies will go away to the four fundamental elements.   While we are living, the minds will control you as they want to.  For example, when you see a pretty girl, you will have a craving desire because you cling to her body(which you shouldn't cling to).   When some body scold at you, you will get mad because you don't like that person.   So, to practice Insight Meditation is to gain more wisdom.  If you have more wisdom, you can use your wisdom to get rid all the defilement.  If you can get rid all the defilement, you can become a noble person just like the Buddha's disciples. 

For more details on meditation, please go and ask monks or teachers who know it.  Good luck....