Friday, June 22, 2007

Cambodian Temple Opening in Hampton

Watt Munisotaram, Minnesota, USA (Photo: MCBS)

The Cambodian Buddhist Community in Minnesota and the Minnesota Cambodian Buddhist Society Inc. (MCBS) will organize a four-day celebration from Thursday, July 5th to Sunday, July 8th, 2007 to consecrate the newly built Cambodian Buddhist temple located at 2925 – 220th Street East, Hampton (approximately 3 miles east from Farmington on Hwy 50). This consecration ceremony involves also the sanctification of Buddha’s image and the placement of “Siima boundary” to mark the holy ground of the temple.

The Temple, the final product of MCBS’ s five-year project, represents the energy, enthusiasm, resourcefulness, and generosity of the Cambodian Buddhist community in the state. It will serve the spiritual and communal needs of people of Buddhist faith and as a center where Cambodian cultural values and tradition can be learned and preserved.

This unique community event will attract several thousand people from Minnesota and from other states. More than one hundred Buddhist monks from the United States, Canada, France, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Cambodia will be attending the ceremony.

The Temple, designed to reflect the style of Buddhist temples in Cambodia, will be the landmark of Cambodian people in Minnesota. It will symbolize the loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity – the four qualities that shape the conduct of Buddhist people.

The beauty of the architectural structure of this temple, its expressive carving of the holy path should highlight its real function that is to radiate peace to all living beings.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am really impressed with the works done by Cambodian people in Minnesotha to build this glorious temple in a foreign land to worship Buddha there. I was very pleased to be able to share digging one of the siima hole two weeks ago when I was there. Good luck to all people of Minnesotha. Areak Prey

Anonymous said...

wow!!, i'm speechless!!
this watt is must be the second biggest in the US, the first one I believe is in the state of Maryland, near DC.
hmmmm...everywhere khmers go, there's always signs and symbols about khmer culture and religion. B/c khmer/cambodian is the people of peace.

Anonymous said...

Congratulation for Khmer in Minnesota that build a beautiful symbol of Khmer in foreign land.

It is a symbol of solidarity of Khmer communities abroad that we have to appreciate.

Anonymous said...

Choum reab suor ahs lok lok srey net nieng kanya CONGRATULATIONS on this great occasion, from Canada's Cambodia Support Group (CSG).

I have visited many Khmer temples in Canada, USA and Cambodia. Along with Khmer traditional arts, the temples are central to the rebuilding of Cambodian pride around the world.

We of the CSG have worked for nearly 25 years, first with Khmer refugees and then with projects in Cambodia. We work with and honour our Khmer partners who lead the way in making life better for Cambodians. So too we honour the temples that focus on the greatness of Khmer life and culture. This new temple will be a great addition to the Khmer Buddhist scene in North America.

Sincerely yours,

Arne Sahlen
CSG Country Director
csg@cyberlink.bc.ca