Chan Meditation Center

As I walk through the doors. I feel the weight of my everyday life, lift of my shoulders. Everyone is extremely welcoming, there is a sense of serenity in this place. No outside footwear allowed inside the center. They offer comfy complementary sandals.
I come here on Sundays for the open Meditation 10−11am *Everyone Is Welcome*, be sure to dress warm it does get chilly. I have also participated in the chanting services, truly a wonderful experience every time. They offer a Vegetarian Lunch ($ 5 donation requested) 1 – 1:45pm on Sundays … The best Traditional Vegetarian dishes I have ever had the pleasure of eating. Everything is prepared in the center, by women & men that have been cooking traditional recipes for decades.
I feel a sense of enlightenment, everything just seen easier & clearer. This place holds a special place in my heart. My grandmother use to take me here, when I was a young boy.

My parents are two devoted Buddhists at Chan Meditation Center. You would often see them there on Sundays and Mondays. My husband and I only started going to Chan Mediation Center two years.
I enjoy going there on Sundays too, but I guess Monday Buddha Name Chanting is one of my favorites. At the end of chanting, you sit and meditate after a busy working Monday. It feels very tranquil…

I am a seasoned meditator, who can’t go to sangha night in my home sangha because I work. Our sangha is small and as yet has not reached it’s full potential. So there’s little programed on the weekends either. I’ve been looking around for another sangha that I can join in with to meditate with others. I’m also a little curious. I’m pretty committed to the Triratana Buddhist Community, but I’m also curious about other sanghas.
So on Unilocal there are 10 places listed in Queens. I chose to visit two today. I went to Lin Yan Shan Buddhist Temple of New York first. I talked with a monk coming out a door. He was talking to me until some Chinese people walked by and felt he had to open the door for them, and walked away abruptly from our conversation. He’d said that was a Pure Land outfit.
I like to chant and all, but this place felt too ethnic for me, and while it seemed like a lovely place, I didn’t see anyone who wasn’t Chinese. And while the monk was pleasant and nice, he was surprised I knew that he chanted to Amitabha, which I felt was a bit condescending. Yes, westerners can know something about Buddhism, it’s not just something of the east.
So it’s on to the next one. I ended up at the Ch’an Meditation Center in a very interesting neighborhood in Elmhurst. I was scared to walk in, but was warmly greeted by a Hispanic woman, who introduced me to an African American gentleman. I talked a little while with two women monks, with monk outfits and shaven heads, and the three dots on their heads where I speculate candles burnt down in a ritual, but that’s just speculation.
Then I talked to Dr. Rikki Asher, who seemed very down to earth and encouraging. I think I’m going to go back sometime – I will update if I do. I googled Rikki Asher and she’s a professor at Queens college, and does silk art. Reading reviews on Rate My Professor, seems like it’s a site for disgruntled students to vent negativity, though there were many that were positive. It’s weird I know these things about her now, because I was writing this review, and wanted to know more about her. Her silk screens are pretty cool. My experience of her was that she was warm and open.
They have a very active schedule with movie night, beginners night, Dharma classes, one day meditation retreats and Tai Ji Quan (gentle and relaxing Chinese therapeutic exercise). They are connected to a retreat center upstate in Pine Bush. They had free books, I took one on the Bodhisattva vow. Two thirds of the books are in Chinese and the place does have a distinctive Chinese flavor. They have a quarterly magazine. So I walked out of there with a lot of information and their website, and a desire to go back in.
A diverse and welcoming place which I hope to go back to.