San Gabriel Valley : Festivities Open Buddhist Monastery
Sandlewood incense and meditative chanting infused the high-ceiling prayer room Wednesday of the newly opened Rosemead Buddhist Monastery, as practitioners and priests gathered for the final festivities in a four-day inaugural event.
Buddhists from as far away as Sri Lanka and Thailand have traveled to Rosemead for the opening of the temple, said Chao Chu, a Buddhist bhante, or master.
Chu decided to build the temple more than 10 years ago when he arrived in the United States from a Buddhist school in Hong Kong.
Concerned that Buddhism had become too caught up in sectarianism, Chu said he wanted to return to the basic teachings of the Buddha. At the time, Chu did not have the financial resources necessary “to do it right,” he said.
But after years of speaking engagements and collecting donations from worshipers, the $1.5-million, two-story yellow stucco temple was erected at 7833 Emerson Place near Garvey Park.
The temple will house a 3,000-book public library by February and offer meditation classes.
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