POWER OF FIVE: The Venerable Thuok Lach, an honorary monk at the Cambodian Buddhist Temple in Southeast Memphis, stands in front of the symbolic five mounds of sand at a recent Cambodian New Year celebration. The mounds represent Buddha and his four disciples. -- Photograph by Rosalind GuySanctuary expands to house monks who have been camping out there
April 19, 2006
ROSALIND GUY, The Daily News (Memphis, Tennessee, USA)
"You cannot be a part of others' lives without being a part of your own life ... You can't just run around like you have no roots, because if you do, you end up feeling lost.."
- Sophan Lach
A regular attendee at the Cambodian Buddhist temple in Southeast Memphis
- Sophan Lach
A regular attendee at the Cambodian Buddhist temple in Southeast Memphis
Cambodian legend has it that two deities once engaged in a challenge to offer the ultimate sacrifice. The challenge: If you can figure out my riddle, then I will chop my head off and vice versa.
That legend offers a glimpse of the cultural beliefs that are imparted and celebrated during the traditional Cambodian Buddhist New Year ritual of handing over the symbolic head from the old angel to the new angel. The old and new angels are figurative sisters who share the responsibility of caring for their father's head.
The Cambodian New Year was actually last Thursday, but the celebration took place between Friday and Sunday at the Cambodian Buddhist temple at 5111 Bryndale Ave. in Southeast Memphis.
Amid all the traditional decorations - a table with feathers and offerings, a spot for the angels, the five mounds of sand representing Buddha and his disciples and the stage where youngsters performed - stands an unfinished building that soon will become the home of the temple's monks, who have lived in the sanctuary itself since 1999.
Directly adjacent to the temple, the $85,000, 1,600-square-foot monastery is scheduled to be finished within a couple of weeks. It will have two floors and room for four live-in monks.
A rectory of sorts
The temple used to be the site of a community center. Built in 1961, the 3,872-square-foot structure was purchased in 1999 by members of the local Cambodian community who wanted a place to worship and socialize.
Thoeurn "John" Chan, a local jeweler and pawnshop owner, spearheaded the project. Besides donating a large portion of the money himself, he helped secure the financing for the loan.
Chan undertook the effort because he just wanted to bring in something nice for the community. As the Memphis Cambodian population grew, he noticed how everyone was scattered.
Along with other elders, he began collecting money to purchase the property on Bryndale.
The construction of the monks' residence began about five or six months ago.
Once the monastery is complete, Chan plans to start raising funds to build another temple on the property. And after that is complete, the old one will be redesigned and turned into a gathering spot.
There's no timeline for when the plans will come to fruition because it all depends on the frequency and amount of donations.
But all the members have donated something, said Sophan Lach, one of the people in charge of preparations for the recent New Year festivities. Everything from the elephant statue - which represents peace - to the paintings on the wall was donated.
"It's just not right," she said, talking about the monks living in the temple instead of in their own space.
The blessings of liberty
Lach's father, the Venerable Thuok Lach, is one of the monks currently living in the temple. He's also the honorary head of the monastery.
When the monastery is finished sometime in May, the members will hold a ceremony to bless the building.
Currently, only two monks are living in the temple, but there should be four as tradition dictates. But it's difficult to get other monks to come over from Cambodia because they want to be close to their families, Chan said.
Kaneka Lim, a 14-year-old who attends Wooddale Middle School, became this year's new angel during the weekend's festivities.
"It makes me happy," she said of participating in the yearly ritual. She's had a part as a dancer in the past three ceremonies.
It's also a way for the older generation to teach the stories, customs and traditions of the culture.
Brave new world
As the only religious center for Cambodian Buddhists in Memphis, the temple has served as a residence for monks as well as being a place of worship and culture.
It is in the temple where the new angel, old angel and the angels' "maids of honor," or angels in waiting, practiced for the ceremony in which the head of the father was given to the new angel. After both angels have addressed each other in their native tongue - quite a challenge for high school students who normally speak English - the angels perform a dance of thanks and blessings.
Theary Hory-Dodson, who also attended Saturday's event, came with her family to the United States in 1981 to get away from a country that had been destroyed by the Vietnam War and the conflict involving the communist dictator Pol Pot. She was only 7 at the time.
"The country was devastated, so we came over here," she said. "We had the opportunity to leave and we left."
More than 1 million Cambodians died from execution, forced hardships or starvation under Pol Pot's regime. And the Vietnamese invasion in 1978 turned into a 10-year Vietnamese occupation that touched off almost 13 years of civil war.
Associated Catholic Charities helped families like Dodson's come to the United States with refugee status. Efua Coleman-Appah, the organization's director of refugee and immigration services, declined to estimate the total Cambodian population in Memphis, deferring to her communications department. Chandra Tuggle, director of communications, said Catholic Charities hasn't resettled any Cambodians since 1981.
More than 21,000 Cambodians have entered the country with refugee status, according to a report released by the U.S. Committee for Refugees.
Having the temple and participating in the traditional ceremonies of their homeland is one way local Cambodians stay connected to their roots, Lach said.
"You cannot be a part of others' lives without being a part of your own life," she said.
Like she's told her niece many times before, "You can't just run around like you have no roots, because if you do, you end up feeling lost."
That legend offers a glimpse of the cultural beliefs that are imparted and celebrated during the traditional Cambodian Buddhist New Year ritual of handing over the symbolic head from the old angel to the new angel. The old and new angels are figurative sisters who share the responsibility of caring for their father's head.
The Cambodian New Year was actually last Thursday, but the celebration took place between Friday and Sunday at the Cambodian Buddhist temple at 5111 Bryndale Ave. in Southeast Memphis.
Amid all the traditional decorations - a table with feathers and offerings, a spot for the angels, the five mounds of sand representing Buddha and his disciples and the stage where youngsters performed - stands an unfinished building that soon will become the home of the temple's monks, who have lived in the sanctuary itself since 1999.
Directly adjacent to the temple, the $85,000, 1,600-square-foot monastery is scheduled to be finished within a couple of weeks. It will have two floors and room for four live-in monks.
A rectory of sorts
The temple used to be the site of a community center. Built in 1961, the 3,872-square-foot structure was purchased in 1999 by members of the local Cambodian community who wanted a place to worship and socialize.
Thoeurn "John" Chan, a local jeweler and pawnshop owner, spearheaded the project. Besides donating a large portion of the money himself, he helped secure the financing for the loan.
Chan undertook the effort because he just wanted to bring in something nice for the community. As the Memphis Cambodian population grew, he noticed how everyone was scattered.
Along with other elders, he began collecting money to purchase the property on Bryndale.
The construction of the monks' residence began about five or six months ago.
Once the monastery is complete, Chan plans to start raising funds to build another temple on the property. And after that is complete, the old one will be redesigned and turned into a gathering spot.
There's no timeline for when the plans will come to fruition because it all depends on the frequency and amount of donations.
But all the members have donated something, said Sophan Lach, one of the people in charge of preparations for the recent New Year festivities. Everything from the elephant statue - which represents peace - to the paintings on the wall was donated.
"It's just not right," she said, talking about the monks living in the temple instead of in their own space.
The blessings of liberty
Lach's father, the Venerable Thuok Lach, is one of the monks currently living in the temple. He's also the honorary head of the monastery.
When the monastery is finished sometime in May, the members will hold a ceremony to bless the building.
Currently, only two monks are living in the temple, but there should be four as tradition dictates. But it's difficult to get other monks to come over from Cambodia because they want to be close to their families, Chan said.
Kaneka Lim, a 14-year-old who attends Wooddale Middle School, became this year's new angel during the weekend's festivities.
"It makes me happy," she said of participating in the yearly ritual. She's had a part as a dancer in the past three ceremonies.
It's also a way for the older generation to teach the stories, customs and traditions of the culture.
Brave new world
As the only religious center for Cambodian Buddhists in Memphis, the temple has served as a residence for monks as well as being a place of worship and culture.
It is in the temple where the new angel, old angel and the angels' "maids of honor," or angels in waiting, practiced for the ceremony in which the head of the father was given to the new angel. After both angels have addressed each other in their native tongue - quite a challenge for high school students who normally speak English - the angels perform a dance of thanks and blessings.
Theary Hory-Dodson, who also attended Saturday's event, came with her family to the United States in 1981 to get away from a country that had been destroyed by the Vietnam War and the conflict involving the communist dictator Pol Pot. She was only 7 at the time.
"The country was devastated, so we came over here," she said. "We had the opportunity to leave and we left."
More than 1 million Cambodians died from execution, forced hardships or starvation under Pol Pot's regime. And the Vietnamese invasion in 1978 turned into a 10-year Vietnamese occupation that touched off almost 13 years of civil war.
Associated Catholic Charities helped families like Dodson's come to the United States with refugee status. Efua Coleman-Appah, the organization's director of refugee and immigration services, declined to estimate the total Cambodian population in Memphis, deferring to her communications department. Chandra Tuggle, director of communications, said Catholic Charities hasn't resettled any Cambodians since 1981.
More than 21,000 Cambodians have entered the country with refugee status, according to a report released by the U.S. Committee for Refugees.
Having the temple and participating in the traditional ceremonies of their homeland is one way local Cambodians stay connected to their roots, Lach said.
"You cannot be a part of others' lives without being a part of your own life," she said.
Like she's told her niece many times before, "You can't just run around like you have no roots, because if you do, you end up feeling lost."
No comments:
Post a Comment