On December 30, 2021, during the holiday season and just before the New Year, a massive fire thought to be started on a property owned by fundamentalist Christian church Twelve Tribes quickly spread in the Boulder and Denver suburbs of Louisville and Superior, Colorado. The “Marshall fire”, as it came to be known, was unfortunately devastating with over 900 hundred homes destroyed. This fire was unusual not just in the scope but also in the sense that it wasn’t a typical wildfire lasting days to weeks in the rural forests/mountains, but a fast one over in hours in the urban suburbs of Denver where places like Target, Costco, a Tesla dealership, and even a hospital were hurriedly evacuated (or burned!) amongst the neighborhoods where almost no one expects wildfires.
The Chung Tai Zen Center of Boulder – in Chinese known as Pu Fa Great Dharma Chan Monastery – is a brand new construction Buddhist temple that was initially scheduled to open in 2021, but delayed due to the pandemic with current plans for grand opening and inaugural ceremony in 2022. The environmentally-friendly wooden facility consists of a main building with Zen meditation hall, classroom / multipurpose room, and dining hall and kitchen, as well as a smaller residence for the monastics, tentatively planned to be several monks.
The Marshall fire quickly spread, whipped by 100 mile per hour winds, and as you can see from the map below, threatened the temple, which was in the evacuation zone. Luckily though, through mindful prayer, the power of Dharma protectors and Guan Yin Bodhisattva and the myriad of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas helped ensure the safety of the temple, and from what news reports are saying, also miraculously, no one in the area died or was seriously injured in the fire. This joins the list of temples and monasteries that have seen wildfires literally go right up to their boundaries — including the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in northern California, a Thai Buddhist temple in Australia, a Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Vacaville CA, etc…
Another temple and fire story… maybe just a coincidence or sheer luck or good fire prevention maintenance practices, but who knows I guess… At the end of the day though, thousands of people are still facing hardships, and we hope that all may be able to recover as soon as possible and be well, happy, and peaceful.
new meditation center: Chung Tai Zen Center planned at 6417 S Boulder Rd, Boulder, CO 80303
Attention architecture geeks, Buddhist fans, and whoever else happens to be reading this: Here are some of the coolest Chinese Buddhist monasteries and temples being built around America!
Of course, the true practice of Buddhism does not require any fancy shrines or altars – the Buddha himself became Enlightened under a tree in the forest, not in a temple! Many of the historical spiritual masters also awakened in very modest or difficult circumstances. But, practically speaking, for us “regular folks”, having appropriate physical facilities to support a Sangha and community of practitioners can really be beneficial. (There’s a thoughtful answer to the question, Why do you need to spend money to build a temple, here.) Some of the largest Buddhist temples and statues in the United States are not listed here as they have already been completed with major construction, such as Chuang Yen Monastery in New York, Hsi Lai Temple near Los Angeles, or main phase completed, such as the 512-acre American Bodhi Center Texas Buddhist Association near Houston. Below, find our picks for best Buddhist temples under construction!
You can also use the links provided to donate to each project, contributing merit and good karma! Of course, to be safe, only go through the official websites to avoid scams.
Editor’s note: I really dislike using “top 10”, “best”, “most interesting”, and other comparative terms, but hey, that’s what Google likes! In reality, Buddhist practitioners should not have such discriminatory mindsets. If there are any errors or offenses, I apologize in advance and please let me know. I also use the term “temple”, “monastery”, and “meditation center” rather interchangeably, though strictly speaking terms like “community cultural center”, “ashram”, “vihara”, “pagoda”, “stupa”, or “Chan hall” may be more appropriate.
and other projects including the City of Dharma Realm in Sacramento
The International Institute of Philosophy and Ethics 妙覺佛教學院 is the expansion project at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas to support perhaps the largest Mahayana monastic community in the country. Official planning began way back in 1988, though permitting process through Mendocino County government took several years, and was finally approved in 2011 after many revisions. Actual physical construction started in 2018 and the plan is for completion in 2026.
The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas campus, also home to Dharma Realm Buddhist University (DRBU) and Instilling Goodness and Developing Virtue Schools (IGDVS), was purchased in 1974, about 700 acres large. It was originally a California state mental hospital constructed in the 1930s, pre-World War II, including many facilities such as gyms and pools, and could hold tens of thousands of people. However, by the 1970s, the state hospital had closed, in part due to a drought and water use complaints by the agricultural neighbors. Inconceivably, a Buddhist group without much resources eventually wound up buying the property and the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas was born. Its residents are very frugal, with most buildings never turning on the heat even in the bitter cold of winter, and oftentimes mattresses and furniture from the WWII era still in use! The main Buddha hall was actually formerly a gymnasium for basketball, and the small swimming pool outside has become a lotus pond.
The buildings are very sturdy structurally, but aging and hence, the need for a new campus. Some existing buildings, such as those used by DRBU, have already been gutted and entirely renovated in an environmentally friendly manner. The design blends Western and Asian architecture, California style with traditional classical Chinese features. The planned campus will accommodate both monastic monks and nuns and laypeople, with Buddha hall, Chan hall (meditation center), Precepts hall, dining hall, dormitories / residences, library, bell towers, handicap accessible courtyards, restrooms, and peaceful gardens, all mindfully planned (and with a large 600 foot fire buffer due to the threat of California wildfires with climate change!)
Other DRBA temples have traditionally also been very environmentally friendly, with almost all branch monasteries being converted existing buildings – recycling buildings reduces waste! For example, Avatamsaka Vihara is the temple near Washington DC and it is in a former Bethesda US Post Office station; Gold Sage Monastery in San Jose was formerly a school for special needs children; Gold Buddha Monastery in Vancouver was a former Salvation Army Chinatown center; Long Beach Monastery was a former Catholic convent on the beach; and most others like Berkeley Buddhist Monastery and Gold Wheel Monastery in LA were formerly churches.
The City of Dharma Realm in Sacramento is another DRBA branch – it was formerly a resort motel, with rooms that open to the central parking area. Plans have been underway for a complete renovation and new center construction on the 14 acre property, resulting in interesting architectural designs:
Finally, Avatamsaka Monastery in Calgary is another DRBA branch – the expansion was inaugurated in 2017 after several years of construction, including as you can see, building the main hall around the Buddha statues! There are YouTube videos on how each of the 10,000 gilded golden Buddha statues was hand-crafted right there in Canada, and each one stuffed with hand-copied sutra transcriptions as well!
Above: Construction and Inauguration of new Jeweled Buddha Hall at Avatamsaka Monastery in Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Chung Tai Chan Monastery
Founded by the late Grand Master Wei Chueh in Taiwan, Chung Tai Chan Monastery has around a hundred branch temples, though mostly in Taiwan. Those in the United States are fairly unique in having activities both in English and in Chinese – the structured Zen meditation classes draw diverse crowds! Architecturally, the massive headquarters, Chung Tai Chan Monastery in Puli, Taiwan is an extremely unique complex full of rich Buddhist symbolism – details at their website (English here). In the US, the monastic-led branch temples (there will be 9 total – Sunnyvale CA, Lafayette CA, Pomona CA, Houston TX, Shepherd TX, Oklahoma City OK, Atlanta GA, Seattle WA, and coming soon in Boulder CO) all have similar interior design – walking into any of the branches, you will instantly recognize the decor – wooden paneled walls, meditation benches, and even the golden statues – the clean and elegant design functions to calm the mind and instill a sense of serenity and tranquility.
Here, we will highlight the all-new construction of the Chung Tai temple near Denver, as well as the renovation of Buddha Jewel Monastery (formerly a Lutheran church) in Seattle. In addition, the urban in-town Chung Tai Zen Center of Houston is planned for an expansion, as is the rural Chung Tai Retreat Center – Texas Chan Pagoda about an hour from Houston. Buddha Mind Monastery in Oklahoma completed their brand new ground-up construction temple, while Dharma Jewel Monastery in Atlanta just completed a new building expansion in 2017, and Chung Tai Zen Center of Sunnyvale in the San Jose Silicon Valley and Buddha Gate Monastery in East Bay / San Francisco Area are also undergoing major renovations — basically all of the American branch temples have recently completed renovation/construction or are in the midst of it!
Chung Tai Zen Center of Boulder
This all new build construction is designed to blend into the Colorado scenery with rustic yet modern wood log designs elegantly creating a meditation hall and dining hall. Construction commenced in 2020 with workers careful to preserve the wetlands nearby. The final result will be quite exciting and a masterpiece in blending Chinese and American Buddhist design.
Above: Chung Tai Zen Center of Boulder construction and artist renderings
The original 1950s church is being transformed during 2021 — visit their website for a 3D rendering video walk through and updates!
As you can see, several Chung Tai branches feature the same facade design: below are Middle Land Chan Monastery in Pomona (Southern California), Buddha Mind Monastery in Oklahoma City, and Buddha Gate Monastery in East Bay (San Francisco area).
Dharma Jewel Monastery – the meditation hall and “five contemplations” dining hall interiors are similar to the other American Chung Tai branch temples
Dharma Drum Mountain is one of the foremost Chinese Buddhist organizations in the world, founded in Taiwan by the late Venerable Master Sheng Yen. Venerable Sheng Yen started the Chan meditation and Buddhist group in New York City, which left the Temple of Enlightenment in Bronx to purchase its own small building, the Chan Meditation Center, in Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens in 1979. It was far too small for both Buddhist services and retreats and monastic quarters, and a location across the street was inaugurated by 1988. However, this too was very small, originally a five a dime story, narrow four story urban city building surrounded by shops. In 1997, the group purchased a rural retreat center in upstate New York, now called the Dharma Drum Retreat Center, but this was too far from NYC for weekly classes and regular city activities. After Ven. Sheng Yen passed in 2009, the group bought the aging buildings adjacent to the center and complete gut job renovation started in late 2017, and is ongoing as of 2021 still, with expected completion of 2022 – 2023.
Other Dharma Drum sites in the USA have mostly been old churches, including DDMBA Los Angeles, or other nondescript basic facilities, such as DDMBA Seattle, DDMBA Boston, and DDMBA Chicago. The Dharma Drum affiliate in Tallahassee has a relatively new building, and the DDMBA Atlanta branch, while without monastics, is converting a commercial building into a retreat center.
Rendering of the new Chan Meditation Center including library, meditation hall, monastic quarters, retreat rooms, classroom, and kitchen.How the DDMBA New York chapter looked in 2018 as the gut job began!Construction in progress, 2020 photo
Sravasti Abbey is the premiere American nunnery in the Tibetan tradition, founded by the esteemed Venerable Thubten Chodron. It is a very rare treasure in the sense that it is one of the very few places with a predominantly non-Asian monastic community. It is in rural Washington state, and since the founding, the main “temple” has been a small converted garage building. They have long outgrown this, and have been planning for years on a proper monastery building. Construction is scheduled to break ground in 2021 – scratch that, likely 2022 – and below is the description from their website:
Designed to fit beautifully within the Abbey’s forested landscape, it will be a two-story, 17,000-square-foot temple and library.
The main hall features a 10-foot statue of Shakyamuni Buddha, flanked by smaller statues of Venerable Ananda, the Buddha’s faithful attendant, and Venerable Mahaprajapati Gotami, the first Buddhist nun, who was also the Buddha’s stepmother. Equipped for superb sound and live streaming, the main hall will seat up to 100 people.
Two side halls will each seat 50 people. The Tara Room will be a more intimate meditation space, and the Posadha Room will be dedicated for monastic rituals. Both will also be equipped for broadcast. In addition, a Dedication Room will memorialize the people for whom prayers have been requested.
The Buddha Hall also includes a learning center with library, media room, and classrooms.
Because we are in a rural area, building also includes bringing in the necessary infrastructure: power, water, septic, and road improvement are all included in the constructions plans.
US Zen Institute in Maryland – Meditation Retreat Center
The main temple in this nonsectarian Buddhist association in the suburbs of Washington DC / Gaithersburg was originally a church built in 1903 – the temple burned down and was completely rebuilt in 2001. Despite 10,300 square feet and adjacent abbot’s residence, there remained no facilities for residential meditation retreats. So, a more rural 11 acre property not far away was purchased, and a completely new ground-up construction began in 2019. With a little Covid pandemic delay, completion is hopefully in 2022.
International Buddhist Friendship Association – Chicago Chinatown Temple
Wedged in between a new dim sum place and an old Dr. Sun Yat Sen Museum / Nationalist meeting spot for the Kuomingtang (KMT) party of the Republic of China, this temple and Buddhist gift shop in Chicago’s South Chinatown / Wentworth district was in an aging building and completely demolished in 2020, with original plans for a four story replacement. When completed in 2022, each floor will be under 3,000 square feet. Another temple building, a former Greek church, a few miles away is currently being used instead. The group is affiliated with the larger Mid-America Buddhist Association (MABA) in Missouri (less than an hour from St Louis), which has more active residential retreats given its much more spacious facilities.
Namgyal Monastery – Dalai Lama Library and Museum (Tibetan)
Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies was established in 1992 as the North American seat of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama’s monastery in Dharamsala, India. Between 1992 and 2014 the monastery was housed in an old Victorian era house in downtown Ithaca, NY. Today, Namgyal-Ithaca is part of a larger complex, Du Khor Choe Ling (Land of Kalachakra Study and Practice), situated on 28 acres of forest land three miles south of the City of Ithaca.
In 2018, this location in upstate New York was chosen to be the official site of the future Dalai Lama Library and Museum – a vision to preserve the teachings and works of His Holiness and become a learning center for people around the world. The estimated construction cost (you can see a cartoon rendering walk through video on their site) is around US $13 million dollars, which is a large sum for Buddhists, and so right now the project is largely still in the fundraising phase.
Many other largely Asian-American centers are not listed here, such as Tzu Chi Foundation in San Dimas, the Mieto Pure Land Retreat Center Amitabha Buddhist Society in Pennsylvania, Mahayana Temple in New York, University of the West near LA, Tzu Chi private schools in Southern California and Texas, etc… there are many interesting buildings forming the physical foundations of a diverse Buddhist diaspora community as Buddhism roots itself in America!
It’s been a while since I’ve posted on this blog, as I’ve been re-evaluating what is truly important – there is a good blog post here ( http://blog.drbu.edu/index.html%3Fp=1310.html )that notes that the actual temple buildings and physical decorations are far less important than the people’s cultivations. This I acknowledge, but it’s difficult to describe daily practices and human interactions, so this blog will still focus on photos of the “superficial” support structures, that is, the temples and statues and meditation halls, even while understanding that these “Dharma-candies” are just that, to help nourish the real progress and practice from reflecting in one’s heart/mind.
Anyway, this post will focus on St Louis! A summer 2021 trip to STL included a tour of nearly every Asian Buddhist monastery and temple in the greater St Louis area in Missouri. However, due to the pandemic, most of the Chinese ones were closed, including the largest in the Midwest region, the Mid America Buddhist Association (MABA), as well as the Fo Guang Shan St Louis temple and the Dharma Drum chapter Pure Mind Center. Enjoy the tour!
St. Louis has a loose association of the various Buddhist groups, the Buddhist Council of Greater St Louis, which can be found here:
The Korean “temple” (aka house) that was Buddhanara Temple St Louis is no longer, as the nun has permanently moved to the Buddhanara Temple in Atlanta and no new monks or nuns have come to replace her. (For Atlanta, visit www.atlantabuddhism.org)
Mid-American Buddhist Association (MABA) 299 Heger Lane, Augusta MO 63332
The Mid-American Buddhist Association is perhaps the largest Buddhist center in the region, practicing in the Chinese Mahayana tradition, with residential monks and nuns and a rural meditation retreat center, in the Midwest, and located less than hour away from St Louis in Augusta Missouri.
Fo Guang Shan St Louis Temple 3109 Smiley Rd, Bridgeton, MO 63044 www.fgsstlbc.org
A branch of Fo Guang Shan (Buddha’s Light Monastery in Taiwan), this beautiful center home to nuns is located in an old church.
Centers I visited, in no particular order:
First, we explore the largest cluster of temples on the South side of town, just west of the Mississippi and south of downtown, and then head on over to the northwest side closer to the airport where there’s a few temples as well, and finish in the Chinatown strip mall area on Olive Boulevard.
Cherokee Buddhist Temple (Wat Buddhamanee Rattanaram) 2830-32 Cherokee Street, Saint Louis MO 63118
This is a Thai and Lao temple in an older brick building on a cute little block of a few small businesses. Fairly standard Theravada place.
Tu Vien Quang Phap (The Universal Buddhist Congregation Quang Phap Religious Monastic Institute) 4609 S Grand Blvd, St louis MO 63111
This is a very interesting building – around 66,000 square foot multi-level on a huge 3 acre lot with an oversized parking lot, this “temple” building started life around 1911 or 1918 as the Scruggs Elementary School. St Louis county closed the public school by 2010 and decided to sell the property, as well as several other surplus schools, to raise money. Originally listed for $1.25 million at auction, it finally sold in 2012 for $700,000 to this Vietnamese Buddhist group. I’m not sure what happened between 2012 and 2021, but as of 2021, the building appears to be partially abandoned and boarded up, and a Vietnamese nun from another temple noted she thinks that group didn’t have the manpower or financial resources to run a monastery in such a large location hence why it is mostly unused now.
Blue Lotus Dharma Center 3463 Itaska St, #1f, St Louis Mo 63111
This place, the ground floor of an apartment/condo building, was closed, but probably would have been closed to random visits even without a pandemic as from the website, as a nonresidential center, it’s likely only open during meeting hours. It appears to be an American group following loosely in some Tibetan tradition. But here’s a photo of the outside anyway!
Chua Van Thu (Van Thu Buddhist Temple) 3627 Bates St, St Louis MO 63116
This Vietnamese temple was closed to the public due to the pandemic.
Chua Phat Tu (Compassionate Buddha Temple) 911 Lemay Ferry Rd, St Louis MO 63125
(Formerly at 3560 Bamberger)
Home to a Vietnamese nun, this group is loosely affiliated with the Ten Thousand Buddhas Summit Monastery in Indiana (Tu Vien Van Phat Danh, or Buddha Blessed Temple).
Dao Trang Vo Luong Quang Buddhist Temple 4760 Heege Rd, St Louis MO 63123
This is probably the largest Vietnamese temple, with a very beautiful and serene gardens full of various Buddha statues (the usual ones including Guan Yin Bodhisattva (Quan Am), Shakyamuni Buddha, the baby Buddha’s birth and seven steps, the first turning of the Dharma with the Enlightened Buddha teaching 5 disciples at Deer Park, the passing of Buddha into nirvana (laying on his side), and so forth.
Click/swipe through the slideshow!
Wat Buddha Samagkeedham (Lao Buddhist Temple) 3625 S. Kingshighway Blvd, St Louis MO 63109
Wedged in a brick building between a Dollar Tree and an auto parts store, this temple serves the Laotian community (a few Hmong people and others show up here too, the friendly Lao monk noted.)
Missouri Buddhist Meditation Center (Sri Lankan Temple) 7102 N Hanley Rd, Hazelwood, MO 63042
This small house is home to some Sri Lankan monks who are eager to teach meditation in English to all as well as conduct services in Sinhalese to the local Sri Lankan community.
Wat Prasriratanaram (Thai Buddhist Temple and Meditation Center) 890 Lindsay Lane, Florissant MO 63031
This Thai temple was founded in the 1980s by a Thai doctor and home to traditional Thai Buddhist monks from the main lineage in Thailand. The main building is a former church, as can be seen in the pews – a rarity among Buddhist temples! They also have monthly Thai food fairs for authentic cuisine.
Linh Son Buddhist Association of Missouri 10949 N Warson Rd, St Louis MO 63114
A small house with a Vietnamese monk.
Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation St Louis Chapter 8515 Olive Boulevard, St. Louis, MO
With an address not to be confused with Olive St, this small center serves as the St Louis chapter of Tzu Chi, perhaps the world’s largest Buddhist charity with multiple branches across the US and dozens of countries. It is next to the St Louis Chinese Journal newspaper.
Pure Mind Center (Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association St Louis Chapter) 7825 Olive Blvd, University City, MO 63130
Down the street from Tzu Chi, and along the Asian area of St Louis’s “Chinatown”, this branch of Dharma Drum (DDMBA), a Chan/Zen Buddhist school headquartered in Taiwan, regularly hosts meditation classes and retreats in English as well as in Chinese, including online.
Hope you enjoyed this tour of St Louis’s Asian-American temples and monasteries, religious organizations and Buddhist churches!
“True brightness is the life in which one is self-mastery and unaffected by delusion; true blessing is the mind without delusions and defilements.”
The Abbot of Chung Tai Chan Monastery (headquarters in Taiwan), Venerable Master Jian Deng, will compassionately visit the Chung Tai Chan Monastery branches in the United States this month. All are welcome to attend these events, in Chinese / Mandarin and English (translation or bilingual), please register in advance if you wish to take the Three Refuges and/or the Five Precepts. These vows will definitely help you on your Buddhist path! (Chan is the Chinese word for Zen, which is the Japanese version.)
SF (California) – Seattle (Washington) – OKC (Oklahoma) – Atlanta (Georgia) – Houston (TX) – LA (Cali)
October 22 (Sunday 10/22) in San Francisco Bay Area / South Sunnyvale – San Jose
Hosted by Chung Tai Zen Center of Sunnyvale
9:30am : Dharma Talk, 1pm: Three Refuges & Five Precepts Ceremony
Can’t believe it’s back to school time – and that means the next series of Zen Meditation and Buddhism classes across the country! The 2017 fall semester meditation course schedule in English for beginners meditation is below. These classes are once a week for 12 consecutive weeks, and include guided mindfulness and calm-abiding meditation as well as fundamentals of Buddhist principles. All are welcome, from newbies to experienced practitioners. (There are also separate meditation classes for advanced cultivators, for sutra study, for children, and in Chinese. Please visit individual temple website for details)
San Francisco Area – South Bay & Silicon Valley Zen Meditation: Chung Tai Zen Center of Sunnyvale: Mondays at 7:30pm, starts September 4! http://ctzen.org/sunnyvale
SF/Oakland/Berkeley Area – North Bay: Buddha Gate Monastery, Tuesdays at 7pm, starts September 5! http://www.BuddhaGate.org
Los Angeles – Pomona Area: Middle Land Chan Monastery, Thursdays at 7pm starts September 7! http://middleland.org/
Houston: Chung Tai Zen Center of Houston: Wednesdays 7:30pm starts Sept 6, or Saturdays 10am starts Sep 2! http://www.CTHouston.org
Also live online and lecture series for free public viewing from Dharma Realm Buddhist University at Youtube: Dharma Realm Live
Guan Yin Retreat (English Beginner’s Track available) at City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, Nov 4 – 12, 2017, all welcome to apply, register at www.drbux.org
Can’t believe it’s that time again… Zen Meditation Classes are starting soon across the country! They are free, offered once a week, and include both practical guided meditation as well as lecture and discussion components. Find a list here:
Can’t believe it’s almost the new year – and that means the next series of Zen Meditation and Buddhism classes across the country! The 2017 first semester meditation course schedule in English for beginners meditation is below. These classes are once a week for 12 consecutive weeks, and include guided mindfulness and shamatha meditation as well as fundamentals of Buddhist principles. Great for newcomers and people who are exploring, as well as experienced practitioners. (There are also separate meditation classes for advanced cultivators, for sutra study, for children, and in Chinese.)
San Francisco Area – South Bay & Silicon Valley Zen Meditation: Chung Tai Zen Center of Sunnyvale: Mondays at 7:30pm, starts January 9! http://ctzen.org/sunnyvale
SF/Oakland/Berkeley Area – North Bay: Buddha Gate Monastery, Schedule To Be Announced Soon! http://www.BuddhaGate.org
Los Angeles – Pomona Area: Middle Land Chan Monastery, Thursdays at 7pm starts January 19! http://middleland.org/
Houston: Chung Tai Zen Center of Houston: Wednesdays 7:30pm starts January 11, or Saturdays 10am starts January 14! http://www.CTHouston.org
The Rabbit's Horn 