Tea time with a Buddhist nun

in the Sunset District of San Francisco

Join us at Dharma Treasury Temple for a unique experience!

Meditate, Drink Tea, and Chat with a local Buddhist sunim (monastic). Connect with your inner self through meditation, enjoy a calming cup of tea, and engage in insightful conversations with a contemporary Buddhist monastic. This event offers a rare opportunity to learn from a spiritual teacher in a relaxed setting. Don't miss out on this chance to deepen your understanding of Buddhist practices! Take this chance to casually chat with a Korean American Buddhist sunim at our beautiful monastery located in the Sunset District of San Francisco.

Venerable XianAn, a self-made successful business woman, became a Buddhist nun at Wei Mountain Temple located in Los Angeles and spent several years practicing meditation and Mahayana Buddhism in South Korea. Over a cup of oolong or pu-er tea, you can ask her any questions that you’d like, such as questions regarding personal concerns, fundamentals of meditation and Buddhist teachings. Venerable XianAn can also show you around the temple so you can be exposed to different activities.

After this tea talk, you could learn the basics of sitting Chan Meditation or join Master YongHua’s Dharma talk in the Buddha Hall and listen to the words of wisdom from a great Chan Meditation Master. Chan Meditation will help you find your inner sanctuary away from the hectic life. It will eventually open your heart and build better skills to find solutions to your life problems. Furthermore, you will develop inner strength and wisdom to deal with all sorts of problems in life.

A former Lutheran church on the corner of Ulloa street and 33rd Ave in the Sunset District is now adorned with ten-foot sandalwood statues of the Buddha and two sages. The soft sunlight comes through the original church’s stained glass windows and the original church pews are still there to greet the temple visitors. “Our Temple welcomes all, regardless of ethnicity or religion and does not seek to replace other religions,” explains Master XianZhi, abbot of the Temple. “In our approach to people, we respect their background.”

SCHEDULE (Saturday)

9-10am Tea talk with Venerable XianAn Or silent meditation in the Buddha Hall

10-11am Learn basics of meditation Or Dharma talk by Master YongHua (Buddha Hall)

12:30pm Lecture on Vimalakirti Sutra

6pm Evening ceremony (Buddhist chanting)

8pm Mantra session

AGE REQUIREMENT: All ages or kids with an accompanying adult

MEETING PLACE: 3201 Ulloa St, San Francisco, CA 94116

REGISTER: Text “Your name, SatTeaTalk” to ‪(562) 396-4805‬

PARKING: Street parking available

PRICES: Free of Charge

The event host Venerable XianAn

Venerable XianAn is a Korean American Buddhist nun and a longtime disciple of Master YongHua. In 2012, she started learning Chan from Master Yonghua at Lu Mountain Temple located in the U.S.A. At that time, she was a young entrepreneur with a start-up business. Chan quickly supplied her with the core strength necessary to make her business very successful. With further improvement, she realized that Chan had become such a wonderful and fundamental skill, not only for her career, but also for all other aspects of her life.

In 2019, she became a Buddhist nun under Master YongHua and returned to her motherland, Korea. Since then, she’s become very well known teaching American Chan in Korea. Using her talents as both a published author and Buddhist radio host, HyunAn Sunim (or XA) has worked tirelessly to share her Master’s teachings with the people in her homeland. This effort includes countless meditation sessions she's taught in many of Korea’s renowned temples. Some of her meditation students were so inspired that they decided to enter monastic life under her Master and join the sangha community in Korea.

HyunAn Sunim started teaching Chan meditation in the U.S. about ten years ago as a lay person working under Master Yonghua's supervision. Since then, she has been inspired to help others because she is aware of how Chan transforms people’s lives. She has grown in experience and knowledge after teaching students from all over the world. Because of her unique background in both Korean and American Buddhism, she has acquired skills to more effectively guide both Westerners and Asians in their spiritual practices. In 2024, she was assigned to lead and teach Chan sessions and organize three-day intensive retreats in Europe. Following the trip, many Europeans started to follow her online classes and study Mahayana Buddhism.