Anybody know what Chua Dieu Quang is?

DaftChris

I pass a building almost everyday with a sign that reads "Chua Dieu Quang". It is about the size of a small house, has multi-colored flags and there is another building in construction next to it.

I think it's the new Buddhist temple in my town, but I'm not too sure. I did some research, but the only thing I found out was that there is another temple of the same name out in California.

Does anyone know exactly what Chua Dieu Quang is? What tradition it follows? It's practices?

Also, I tried to do some research of my own, but the only thing I found was the temple in California and a lot of websites in Vietnamese. I would contact the place, but there is no website or phone number.

Sile

I don't know about where you are, but in my birth town of Sacramento (CA) it's a Vietnamese Buddhist temple (Chùa Diệu Quang)

DaftChris

@Sile

I live outside of Augusta, Georgia.

Sile

Hmm..there's one in Saigon as well:

DaftChris

So, it's been months since I posted this thread, and instead of making a new one, I'm reviving this one.

Big renovations have been made to the temple over these past few months. There is a HUGE statue of Quan Yin outside of the temple; the word "shu" is used on the temple's now official sign; there are gardens and flags on the property; and the nuns are Vietnamese and wear grey-ish/purple robes.

Based on this, could anyone possibly tell me what the temples affiliation could be? I would go myself, but I don't know the temple's schedule (they don't have a website) and my work and school schedules keep me from actually going to the temple and talking to the nuns or practitioners.

Invincible_summer

If it's anything like the Vietnamese and Chinese temples around here, it will probably be generally Mahayana. Maybe not full-out Pure Land since they have a large Guan Yin statue, but most likely it will be a bit of Pure Land, a bit of Chan/Zen/Thien, etc.

I've noticed quite a bit of syncretism in Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese Buddhism.

cvalue

I think all Dieu Quang temples are named after this nun (1936-1963) (See picture). So it's more likely that the abbot of this temple is a nun? (I just guess). Nun Dieu Quang put gazoline on herself and burnt herself to death to protest the Vietnamese government. She is less well known than Thích Quảng Đức. After Thích Quảng Đức, there were a few who followed his example and she was one of them.

DaftChris

So after months of thinking about it, I finally went to a service at the Chua Dieu Quang temple. It wasn't a very large crowd. Including myself and the two nuns (who speak absolutely no english, btw), there were about 8 people. One of whom arrived about half way through the service.

One of the interesting things was that, when I asked about the school the temple is affiliated with, I wan't given a name to go by. They just said that they do a lot of chanting with little to no meditation. And that was true. The entire half hour service was chanting Vietnamese mantras, walking around in a circle chanting "Nam Mo a Di Da Phat", and bowing to a shrine with Buddha and Quan Yin.

Overall, it was a nice experience and I will definitely be going back for more services.

Invincible_summer

@DaftChris - the chant you mention is the Vietnamese version of the nembutsu/niànfó. So definitely some Pure Land influence there.

matthewmartin

DaftChris said:

They just said that they do a lot of chanting with little to no meditation.

Chanting is noisy meditation.