Sacred Mountain Monastery in Warren, Michigan

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A  few years ago, I was as shocked as anybody when a Vietnamese sangha bought an old Salvation Army building and turned it into a Buddhist Monastery in extremely blue-collar Warren, Michigan. Warren is a factory town, known mostly for automotive plants and high-tech manufacturing and engineering. It’s a very, well… “white” town. The area where this monastery went up is in south Warren, which is a working-class area with liquor stores, check cashing shops, and a few bars. It was like a bloom of flowers in the desert, both literally and figuratively (they planted colorful flowers everywhere, and if you know Vietnamese Buddhists, you know they love their flowers!)

Here’s a picture of the statue in front of the chùa (temple):

Chùa Linh Son temple in Warren, Michigan

13 thoughts on “Sacred Mountain Monastery in Warren, Michigan”

  2. What a great picture. The contrast is just amazing. Have you visited them Brian? That's... so close to me... I can't believe I've never seen this before.
  4. I've been to Warren, MI. Yep, blue collar and depressed with the gutting of the manufacturing jobs. Never knew there was a big enough Vietnamese group there to establish their own temple.
  5. I am from Kalamazoo area of Michigan, that is wonderful to have a monastary there in the heart of it. I know that 20-25 years ago our church sponsored families every few years from Vietnam to get established in the US. I wonder if that was the seed of this. hmmm
  6. I've been to Warren, MI. Yep, blue collar and depressed with the gutting of the manufacturing jobs. Never knew there was a big enough Vietnamese group there to establish their own temple.
    Well, the good news is that the auto companies are doing well and between GM and the US Army there are thousands of new jobs in the area. Things are pretty nice right now, as far as Warren goes. Our current mayor has been doing a good job of attracting investment, cleaning up blight, and getting things going. The new civic center is really nice, and offers a farmer's market in the warm seasons and an ice-skating rink in the winter.
    What a great picture. The contrast is just amazing. Have you visited them Brian? That's... so close to me... I can't believe I've never seen this before.
    Yeah, it's literally at the end of my street. I have visited there but they didn't seem to understand why a non-Viet was there. They must have assumed I was a tourist. Smiles and nods. I asked a layperson if they needed any help painting or anything (it was during construction) and he looked at me like I was an alien, and said "no, no help." The language barrier was a big issue.

    Not very welcoming to non-Viet people.


  7. Yeah, it's literally at the end of my street. I have visited there but they didn't seem to understand why a non-Viet was there. They must have assumed I was a tourist. Smiles and nods. I asked a layperson if they needed any help painting or anything (it was during construction) and he looked at me like I was an alien, and said "no, no help." The language barrier was a big issue.

    Not very welcoming to non-Viet people.

    This is what I was afraid of, lol. Thanks for the heads up. :)
  9. Wait wait wait.

    Just how many Michiganders do we have on this site anyhow? Just curious, as I'm from Midland myself.

    And that looks pretty neat Brian. If I ever find myself around there I'll check that place out.
  10. @Brian

    I live in warren and I'm looking for a new sangha. Any recomendations?
    Have you been to Wat Paknam in Sterling Heights? It's up around 18 & Van Dyke. I have known the abbot and many of the families that go there for years, and they are all lovely people. It's a Thai Theravada temple; I don't know if that's what you practice.
  11. Vietnamese temples can turn up in some unlikely places. There's one outside New Orleans. When the hurricane flooded the 9th Ward in New Orleans, the Vietnamese community there was displaced. But rather than wait for government assistance, they rebuilt their part of the 9th Ward neighborhood themselves, helping each other rebuild their homes. When interviewed about this, they said they're used to banding together to help each other, something they learned to do after they had to evacuate their country. The temple is the heart of the community, they use it as a base from which to organize.
  13. That is so cool. I grew up in Michigan, wish I could've gone there ugh. So cool.

    -Wilson
    (zen blog: www.lightinthemadness.com)

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