The English Dharma Group offers Dharma talks every Sunday from 10:30am to 11:30am. Our speakers are Jade Buddha Temple’s nuns and monks and visiting Buddhist monastics from the US and overseas. In addition to our Venerables, we invite seasoned practitioners and outside speakers to share the Dharma with us. Below, please find a selection of short bio’s from TBA’s (Texas Buddhist Association) monastics and frequently visiting monks.
Venerable Hung I (President TBA)
Venerable Hung I was introduced to monastic practice in Burma when he was seven years old. In 1969, he traveled to Taiwan to study the Buddhadharma at Fo Kung Shan Buddhist College. Finally, he came to America in 1978 to propagate Buddhism and serve the Buddhist community in the west. Today, he is the vice-president of the Texas Buddhist Association (TBA), and the Abbot of the American Bodhi Center (ABC).
Ven. Hung I excels in introducing and teaching Buddhism in both Chinese and English. He presents to the English Dharma Group at Jade Buddha Temple, and makes presentations to other associations, and community events.
Here is a valuable message from Ven. Hung I:
“Try to listen and understand other people’s viewpoints and needs, and avoid being self-centered or closed-minded.”
Venerable Shiou Huey (TBA)
Venerable Shiou Huey is from Taipei, Taiwan. After graduating from Taiwan National University’s Nursing Department, she worked at Taiwan National Hospital, where she was in charge of setting up the Intensive Care Unit. She later earned a Master’s degree from UCLA and continued to work at critical care units for years to come
Her career in the hospital reminded her of the impermanence of life and the serious consequences of karma. Thus, she started studying Buddhism and visited Boonkanjanaram Meditation Center in Thailand to learn Vipassana meditation. She took her monastic vows in September 1997.
Bhante Cintita (Sitagu Vihara Austin & Chisago City, Minnesota)
Before entering monastic life, Bhikkhu Cintita, who earned a PhD in linguistics and a MS in computer science, was a professor of computer science at Southern Illinois University and worked in the corporate world doing research and development in artificial intelligence, which brought him to Austin, Texas.
In 2001, Bhikkhu Cintita retired from his career to devote himself to practice and later teaching, which he has done ever since. He spent 1 1/2 years at Tassajara Zen monastery in California, then ordained as Zen priest in 2003 at the Austin Zen Center, which he had helped found a few years before. He lived, trained, and taught at the Austin Zen Center for six years.
In 2009 he traveled to Myanmar, where he ordained as a Theravada monk. Since returning the following year, he has been affiliated with the Burmese Sitagu monasteries in Austin and in Minnesota, where has been engaged in scholarship, teaching and practice based on the earliest stratum of Buddhist texts. He currently resides in Minnesota.
He posts writings on-line at http://bhikkhucintita.wordpress.com
Venerable Tong Hong (American Bodhi Center)
In 2005, Ven. Tong Hong entered the monastic life at the Fayuan Temple in Beijing. In 2013, he earned a master’s degree from the International Buddhist College in Thailand. Ven. Tong Hong was the abbot at the Xisheng Temple in Fujian, and he spent years teaching Dharma at the Pingxing Temple in Shenzhen, Kaiyuan Temple in Fujian and the Putuo Temple in Zhuhai before he moved to the U.S. One of Ven. Tong Hong’s mottos is that “Through love and right thought, our personal metamorphosis becomes possible.”
Venerable Samiddha (Currently in Seattle, Washington)
Venerable Samiddha (a.k.a. Ven. Fa Long) was born in Medan, Indonesia. In 2014, he studied Buddhism at the Fuyan Buddhist Institute in Taiwan. In 2015, he joined the monastic under the guidance of Venerable Ekayana in Malaysia. In 2018, he graduated from Fuyan Buddhist Institute as the best graduate of his class. After graduating, he actively preached and taught Buddhism in Indonesia and Malaysia. From 2019 to 2023, he came to Houston to pursue his academic studies in philosophy and religion. At the same time, he assists the Texas Buddhist Association in conducting various religious services and delivering Dharma talks. Now, he is attending graduate school at the University of Washington in Seattle, conducting study and research in Buddhist Studies. His expertise includes early Buddhist manuscripts, the history of Indian Buddhism, meditation, philology, and philosophy. One of his mottos is to live your life wholly and entirely, with all the bitterness and sweetness, for the next life is so mysterious.