Avatamsaka Monastery - Calgary

4.7/5 based on 8 reviews
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Who We Are:

We are part of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association (DRBA). Our founder and teacher is Venerable Master Hsuan Hua.

The Founder - The Venerable Master Hsuan Hua :

Old Avatamsaka MonasteryOld Temple
The Avatamsaka Monastery is a branch of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association in Alberta, Canada. The founder, the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua worked tirelessly to overcome adversity. He pushed for Sutra translations, built numerous monasteries, founded schools, and developed talented Sangha members. He taught living beings in the Dharma Ending Age about the Proper Dharma so that they would cultivate honestly. He never paused to transform and guide living beings. 

History:
In 1985 members of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association first came to Calgary. Avatamsaka Monastery was then located in southeast Calgary near the zoo in a district called Ramsey. The all brick building was small 3,000 ft2 in a difficult to find location. In just three or four years, members began looking for a larger facility .

NowFinally, in 1996 the Avatamsaka Monastery moved to the new building located on the edge of the downtown district. The building sits adjacent to the Bow River, contains about 21,000 ft2 of floor space, and is constructed of reinforced concrete capable of supporting more than three additional stories.



Presently:
1st floor - Reception Area, Offices, display areas and lecture area.
2nd Floor - kitchen, dining hall and washrooms.
3rd Floor - Library and Chan Hall.
4th Floor - Buddha Hall
We have Sunday School accepting children from four years old up to eighteen years old.
Venerable Master Hsuan Hua is the inspiration and spiritual leader of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association that exists to promote Buddhist ideals. To promote these ideals, the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association emphasizes on four major activities:
The first is to support a strong and dynamic Sangha (Sangha is defines as a gathering of at least three ordained monks or nuns).
The second is to translate the Buddhist scriptures into all languages of the world.
The third is to establish a comprehensive system of Buddhist education with schools for students of all ages.
The fourth is to promote rigorous personal cultivation by maintaining a strict schedule of retreats including meditation sessions, Pure Land practice sessions, repentances, and sutra recitations.

How we practice:
We follow the "Five Schools" of the Mahayana style that include:

  • Precepts, moral rules, called the Vinaya School
  • Meditation, called the Chan School
  • Studying Dharma-teachings, called the Scholastic School
  • Mantras, called the Esoteric, or " Secret School"
  • Chanting the Buddha's name, called the Pure Land School

We celebrate Buddhist holidays year round and have retreat sessions once in a while. Some of our other activities include meditation classes, sutra lectures and talks on the Dharma, Honouring our Elders, Liberating Life and day trips to Castle Mountain. These activities are all open to the public, for free.

Our normal day:
Monks and Nuns live in the monastery begin their day at 4:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. For laypeople (regular people who practice Buddhism), their day depends on themselves.

Contact Avatamsaka Monastery

Address :

1009 4 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2P 0K8, Canada

Phone : 📞 +
Postal code : 2
Website : http://www.avatamsaka.ca/
Categories :
City : P

1009 4 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2P 0K8, Canada
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Orange Tree on Google

Participated 30th anniversary dharma assembly of Avatamsaka Monastery for about one month We are very happy and feel auspicious It should be leveled as Six star place to stay, learn and cultivate In the mid-1980s, a Buddhist group, mostly a Vietnamese, bought a second floor as a Buddhist temple in the southeast of Calgary City. Because there is no leader, in order to find the best master of buddhism ; finally devoted it to venerable master Xuanhua. Then Master Xuanhua accept the new Buddha Temple. Soon its capacity is not large enough to accept a vast amount of people to cultivate , therefore moved to the city center in 1986 (a total of 30,000 square feet). In order to inherit the great vision of the Master, it will be expanded to 70,000 square feet to serve as a school, a boudoir, a meditation hall, a Buddhist temple, and a vegetarian restaurant, museums, clinics and so on. 八○年代中期有個多數是越南人的佛教團體,於卡加力城東南,買一棟二層樓作為佛堂。因無僧眾領導,就祈望能找到最好的導師;最後決定請上人接受這新佛寺。不久不敷使用,於一九九六年遷移到市中心(共三萬平方尺),為了繼承上人的遠見,將擴建到七萬平方尺,以作為學校、寮房、禪堂、佛殿、素食館及診所等用途。
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Jason Mehmel on Google

Beautiful #monastery with informative people to show you around!
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virginia Baker on Google

Me and my husband attended the event today. People are very nice there. and food was very delicious. Both of us felt very happy and light after the event.
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Edward Huynh on Google

I just attended the inauguration ceremony and the Precepts for the Deceased recently and it is such a wonderful experience. The new Buddhahall is the most impressive. The Buddha statues and images are just beyond description. They are extremely adorned, majestic and manificent. I am simply overjoyed.
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Bons Phuong on Google

If you think about Volunteering at this temple, think twice about who you will be dealing with. One of the admins at the temple advised me 3 weeks ago that there would be a Seniors Banquet and always in need of volunteers so he asked me if I would be interesred. I told him that my friend Shannon and I actually volunteered for seniors day few year ago at this temple before it was going through renovations and told him I would be there. He gave me a volunteer form to fill out and another form for my friend to fill. He told us to be there before 9:30am and so today ('Temple's senior day") we got to temple at 9am and all the people who worked at the time were really nice and positive that there would be a position for us even though they weren't sure we were not on the list of "volunteers for seniors day". They told us to go see Lily the volunteer coordinator and she was condescending and mean. She was not pleasant to deal with when she saw us from the start. She said we weren't on the list to volunteer so she can't have us be here. The admin guy that i talked to felt bad for us and asked Lily if she could just find something for us to do and she said " absolutely not". She was mean and very cocky about it. She treated as if we came from the streets and was just dropping by when indeed we actually had this plan to volunteer whole heartedly but Lily the so-called volunteer coordinator turned us down. She treated us horribly and this isn't the way to treat people especially if you're representing the temple.
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Grayson Fortinski on Google

The Avatamsaka Sagely Monastery is a truly phenomenal place to visit. Their Wednesday night meditation offers a bit of repose in a busy world, and the monastery's sangha is very friendly and welcoming! I highly advise that any follower of the Buddha should visit here for a small pilgrimage!
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Kevin Lee (凱文) on Google

I went to this monastery to see if I can learn more about Buddhism and what it looks like inside. The main hall was huge with 10000 Buddha's statues. Most floors were quite empty though. Other than the great Hall, there was not much to see.
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Julie Moreno on Google

Very cool place to go for a visit. The building on the inside is not at all what I expected. Its huge, I think around 4 or 5 floors, and the top floor will leave you breathless! Theres 10 thousand gold buddhas everywhere on top of the big ones in the center of the room! A cool place for doors open yyc event

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