Welcome to Buddhist Meditation Temple
History and Objectives
State of Ohio , where many Buddhists dwell scatteredly, consists of five major cities, Cincinnati , Dayton , Columbus , Cleveland , and Toledo . None of the Buddhist Temple was established by Thai residents, however. Buddhists who have a desire to worship or to join Thai traditional ceremonies must take a 4 to 6 hours trip to near by cities, Chicago , Illinois or Warren , Michigan .
Although this long distance traveling is sustainable to all Buddhists, establishing a Buddhist Temple -- Wat Buddha Mongkol Bhavana ( Buddhist Meditation Temple ) was a success of corporation from Thai people who lived in State of Ohio and ArJan Samak Ngamsaeng to ensure following objectives:
- To establish a center of Buddhist activities for all who live in State of Ohio and other states.
- To announce Buddhism to all who live in State of Ohio and other states.
- To establish a center of Buddhism studies for all who live in State of Ohio and other states.
- To establish a center of teaching meditation to all who live in State of Ohio and other states.
- To establish a center to study and to preserve Thai traditions for all who live in State of Ohio and other states.
Buddhist Meditation Temple, the Buddhist Meditation Center, Ohio, was founded by the Buddhist community of Huber Heights , Ohio in 2004, as a Southeast Asian Theravada Buddhist Temple. The purposes of founding this Temple were to create a teaching and practicing center of Buddhism according to the Theravada tradition, as well as, a teaching center of Thai culture, tradition and Thai language.
The Temple is located at 4545 Fishburg Rd., Huber Heights, OH 45424-3636 USA. The Temple normally houses 3 - 5 Buddhist monks, ordained in Thailand according to the Thai Theravada tradition, who have been in the monkshood for at least 10 - 20 years. They depend on the lay community for the basic necessities of life, including food, clothing, shelter, and medication. In return, they give spiritual guidance to the lay community. The Thai Buddhist monks observe 227 precepts or moral codes, including practicing celibacy.
The Temple has successfully served the Thai community and the Laotian community of Miami Valley , as well as the general public, as a center for studying and practicing Buddhism. Buddhism teaches the 3 Fundamental principles, namely 1 . To avoid doing bad deeds, 2 . To do good deeds, and 3 . To purify one's mind, through Insight Meditation.
Insight or VIPASSANA Meditation is being taught to the public regularly, free of charge, 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. daily (chant and meditation), at the Temple . Those who want to practice more intensively may join the monks every Saturday evening from 4 : 00 p.m. - 6 : 00 p.m. All schedule changed will be posted in advance.
Insight meditation is very important as it is the key for one to clearly understand, through one’s own Buddha Nature, of all phenomena of life, and to live one's life in peace, freedom, happiness, and in perfect harmony with nature. Buddha Nature already exists and resides in everyone, regardless of any age, sex, race, dialect, literacy, occupation, wealth, or even religious belief, and can be realized by oneself through Insight Meditation with one’s own effort.
Buddhism values freedom from emotional conflict, affliction, dis-ease, unsatisfactoriness, and suffering as the ultimate goal in life. The Buddha declared over 2588 years ago that, “Just as the ocean has only one taste, the taste of salt; this teaching also has only one taste, the taste of freedom.” He exposed the secret of nature which he discovered through his enlightenment, that the ultimate freedom, which is synonymous with ultimate peace and true happiness, is based upon intellectual & emotional freedom, the highest form of freedom or human dignity that anyone could achieve, i.e., NIRVANA. With mindfulness and wisdom resulting from mind development through practicing insight meditation, one would see clearly the true nature of all existence in its reality without any bias or distortion, i.e., gaining Insight. One would realize the difference of conventional truth and ultimate truth, understanding the three universal characteristics of existence, namely ‘Impermanence,’ ‘Imperfection,’ and ‘Not-self.’ One would witness how everything arises and they are interrelated through dependent Origination, and one would see the mechanism of how one imprisons oneself in the self-created endless worlds of thoughts. As a result of this understanding and seeing one’s thought process as it arises, one would stop craving with greed, hatred, and delusion, sneaking in with such unintentional and biased thoughts, in order to please oneself with temporary worldly pleasure or happiness. One would become totally free emotionally and intellectually from one's own imprisonment in this small, narrow-minded and biased world of ‘self’, which is the root of dis-ease, unhappiness, and suffering. One would be opening oneself up to the unlimited, unconditioned universal experience, living in perfect harmony with nature, according to the flow of nature, in ultimate peace, freedom and true happiness.
Anyone who is interested in Buddhism, the awakened way of life, is welcome to our Temple , and may contact us at this address, e-mail, and call us.
Buddhist Meditation Temple
(Wat Buddha Mongkol Bhavana)
4545 Fishburg Rd.,
Huber Heights, OH 45424-3636 USA
Phone: (937)237-0378 Fax: (937)648-0226
Email : watohio@gmail.com