Kelsang Chokyan, draped in yellow and red robes, closed his eyes and guided his four-person class through a journey of healing through meditation.
A wave of relaxation fell over Chokyan’s students Wednesday night as he softly described peaceful sceneries and feeling weightless.
Chokyan, 32, is a Buddhist monk traveling around Florida teaching Buddhism and the art of meditation to his students. He arrived in Gainesville about two years ago to share his lifestyle.
Growing up in a poor family outside Dallas, Texas, Chokyan said he was motivated to become a Buddhist monk after watching a movie about them in his ninth-grade geography class.
“I was really impressed with the fact that they didn’t kill anything,” he said.
After graduating from college, Chokyan became a high school physics teacher and continued learning about Buddhism by taking classes at the Kadampa Meditation Center Texas in Arlington, Texas.
For the next two years, Chokyan spent his time living at the center and working at Starbucks.
In 2004, Chokyan was formally inducted as a Buddhist monk. He then went to teach classes at the Parbawatiya Kadampa Buddhist Center in Tampa. For the last eight years, Chokyan has taught classes in several Florida cities.
Chokyan’s class in Tampa has about 30 students, while his Gainesville class, which has been running twice a month since September, has about six students.
Chokyan said the students who attend his class range from prison inmates to working mothers.
Anna Davila, a 60-year-old Gainesville resident, said the class is a way for her to relax and apply her Buddhist beliefs.
“You forget about you and try to help other people,” she said.
