Buddhist temple dedicated in Dormont
The religion’s newest house of worship draws heavily on Vietnamese liturgy and iconography
The Sunday morning service began quietly, with greetings and a talk by the Most Ven. Sakya TriTru, a saffron-robed Buddhist priest, in his native Vietnamese.
But within an hour, the new Buddhist temple of Thien Vien Van Hanh on Potomac Avenue in Dormont was resonating with pulsing, sonorous chants led by Ven. Tri-Tru. Assistants rang bells in rhythm to the chants, and worshippers prayed along as they knelt or sat on floor cushions.
At one point, Ven. Tri-Tru walked about the temple, spraying holy water on the worshippers and as well as on statues of the Buddha and associated deities and sacred figures.
And with the ceremony, the temple had its long-awaited official blessing and inauguration.
“We finally have a place to call home,” said KimQuoc Ngo, a lead organizer for the temple, which was renovated over the past three
years. “We have a place to maintain in the future for our children.”
The temple is located in a completely renovated building that was formerly the home of the Dormont United Methodist Church, which closed three years ago.
The exterior of the sanctuary has been painted a bold yellow, with Buddhist statues out front.
Inside, the interior has similarly been transformed. Saffron and maroon colors dominate, with a large statue of the Lord Buddha front and center, seated upright in the sacred, cross-legged lotus position.
A large statue of the goddess of mercy was also blessed in the ceremony, as well as depictions of the Buddha in various forms, from a small child to a rotund, laughing Buddha, to whom devotees often pray for blessings.
Still, there are reminders of the building’s origins, such as the large, gothicarched stained-glass windows, with largely abstract panes in olive-green and beige.
Devotees removed their shoes before coming in, as is the custom. Most sat on cushions on the open floor, where once pews had been. Some people sat in a couple of remaining old pews in the back. Numerous children attended, and while a few fidgeted, they mainly sat quietly throughout the ceremony.
Several of the women wore colorful, sleek dresses in traditional Vietnamese style, while several men who helped in the worship wore long gray robes.
Ms. Ngo came to the United States as a child about 30 years ago from Vietnam and is grateful to the Americans who helped her family settle in a new land. Now she and her family wanted to give something in return by providing a sacred space.
“This is our American dream,” she said.
More than 100 people, most of them VietnameseAmericans from throughout the Pittsburgh region, attended.
Ms. Ngo said plans for the temple — whose name Thien Vien Van Hanh translates to Million Blessings Meditation Monastery — are for a priest and monks to be in regular residence. The Ven. Tri-Tue is president of the Vietnamese Buddhist Association in the USA and has been based at a Virginia monastery.
Services are planned for Sundays, and she hopes the temple can soon offer meditation classes in English.
The temple joins several other Buddhist centers in the Pittsburgh region that draw on various doctrinal and ethnic traditions.
Buddhism originated about 2,500 years ago with the teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha in India and spread through much of eastern Asia. He taught that the root of suffering is desire, which can be overcome through a path of right thought, conduct and spiritual practice.
Over the centuries, each Buddhist nation developed distinct expressions of the faith. The new Dormont temple draws heavily on Vietnamese liturgy and iconography.
Surveys estimate roughly a million Buddhist adults in the United States, including devotees of Asian origin as well as American converts.
Ms. Ngo said the temple is a spiritual haven for those of any faith
“Our door is always open,” she said. It’s a “welcome place for worship and prayer.”
And it has become that for Vinh Ly, who said the inaugural service was an important milestone.
“It’s a place of peace,” he said.