11/17 Dharma Talk by Jian Sheng Shifu, Abbess of Buddha Gate Monastery

Thanksgiving Gathering

Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - High-Tea @ location TBA

Meeting time: 2:30 - 2:45 pm departing from Sweeney Hall | 7th Street Garage

Content: High - Tea + Movie

Time frame: 3:00 - 6:00 pm

Pastries & Tea will be provided, just bring yourself. Please RSVP via email to sjsuzenclub@gmail.com

Important: Event is strictly for Zen Club members only!

Green Festival

Field Trip to the San Francisco Green Festival

Date: Sunday, November 7, 2010

Time: 11am – 6pm

SF Concourse Exhibition Center
635 8th St (at Brannan St)
San Francisco, CA 94103

For more info about the festival please refer to the following website: http://www.greenfestivals.org/sf/updates/

If you are interested in attending, please RSVP via email to sjsuzenclub@gmail.com

Sunday, September 26, 2010 - Field Trip to Chung Tai Zen Center of Sunnyvale

The SJSU Zen Buddhism Club will be hosting a field trip to the Chung Tai Zen Center of Sunnyvale on Sunday, September 26, 2010. The event will be roughly from 10:30am to 3:30pm. Please see the estimated schedule for the event below:

09:30 - Meet on campus - By the 7th Street Garage in front of Sweeney Hall (near the event center fountain).

10:00 - Depart SJSU

10:30 - Arrive at Chung Tai Zen Center of Sunnyvale

10:30 - Start tour of the Zen Center

11:30 - Watch Chung Tai video

12:00 - Meditation Session in the Zen Hall (Chan/Meditation Hall)

12:40 - Vegetarian Lunch

13:30 - Q&A Session with the Dharma Masters

15:00 - Candle offering & Ringing of the Auspicious Bell

15:30 - Conclusion of the field trip - depart from Zen Center

Please RSVP via email to sjsuzenclub@gmail.com

If you need a carpool or can provide a carpool from campus, please let us know and meet us in front of Sweeney Hall at 9:30am.

If you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to send us an email.

A Thousand Rivers, A Thousand Moons

Thank you Jian Hu Shifu for the inspiring Dharma Talk and thank you to all those that attended. We hope that you all enjoyed it. If you have any questions regarding the talk, you may leave us a comment here, or send us an email to sjsuzenclub@gmail.com

If you would like to see the pictures from the talk, you may click on the image below.

Our next session will be a regular session. Our sessions have moved to 3:30 to 5:00pm.

Dharma Talk on Wednesday, September 15, 2010 3:30-5:30pm @Almaden Room, Student Union

First Official Session of Fall 2010

Today's first session was a success! Thank you to all those that attended. Hopefully you all had a wonderful experience. We hope to see more of you throughout the semester. Please click on the picture below to see the entire album.

Those who attend at least 3-5 sessions will get a chance to win the club t-shirt (as pictured below) in the form of a raffle drawing on the days of the Dharma Talks. Our first Dharma Talk is next Wednesday at 3:30 in the Almaden Room, Student Union. Please stay tuned for the flyer.

For those of you that missed today's first session. Here is a brief introduction of our instructing Dharma Master (Shifu), Jian Ying Shifu. He will be guiding our sessions for this Fall 2010 semester.

Jian Ying Shifu's Introduction:

Jian Ying Shifu was officially ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1998. Before he became a monk, Jian Ying Shifu obtained a doctorate degree in Electrical Engineering from Ohio State University. He worked in developing medical instruments using signal processing technology for 2 years, and under the inspiration of the Grand Master Wei Chueh and his early life affinities with Chan/Zen teachings, Jian Ying Shifu turned his life onto the Buddhist path. After joining the order of Chung Tai Chan Monastery in Taiwan, he studied at the graduate division of Chung Tai Buddhist Institute for Monks from 1998 to 2001 and obtained a Master's degree in Buddhism. Afterwards, Jian Ying Shifu served as the Director of Dharma Activities of Chung Tai Chan Monastery for a short period. Then, responding to Grand Master Wei Chueh's vision to establishing a research center in Chung Tai, Jian Ying Shifu came back to the US to study again. From 2002 to 2003, he studied Sanskrit at the University of California at Berkeley while preparing his application materials for PhD programs in religious studies. In 2003, he chose Rice University to conduct his doctorate research and obtained a PhD degree with a concentration on Buddhism from the Department of Religious Studies at Rice in May, 2010. Before assuming his current position, Vice Abbot of Chung Tai Zen Center of Sunnyvale, he briefly served as the vice abbot of Chung Tai Zen Center of Houston.