Theravada Dhamma Society of Iowa

The Theravada Dhamma Society is a Buddhist Organization created by Burmese refugees in the northern midwestern United states. This organization seems to have been started by the Monk Ashin Nyanissara, who is also known as Sitagu Sayadaw, in order to provide centers for Theravada Buddhism practices as well as to support monastic residents. The title of Sayadaw is given to the head monk of a Burmese monastery. Nyanissara is from Burma, which nowadays refers to itself by the name of Myanmar, and travels to and from Burma and the United States to help develop and stabilize the Myanma population at home and abroad. Sadly, Burma continues to be an unstable state to this day, dealing with attempted coups and is at the moment currently undergoing a civil war. Nyanissara has constructed many social projects in Burma, including water pumps, hospitals, and schools of Buddhist thought. In the United states, he has created the monasteries of Sitagu Dhamma Vihara in Minnesota, the Sitagu Buddha Vihara in Texas, and lastly, the Sitagu Sangha Vihara in Florida, each named after the three Jewels of Buddhism. He also regularly participates abroad in humanitarian efforts and interfaith dialogue through the Board of World Religious Leaders, which he is a member of. In recent years, he has been criticized for his lack of intervention and possible endorsement of the most recent coup of Burma, condoning the works of anti-muslim activists in the country and having a personal association with the current leader of the country. His creation of the Theravada Dhamma Society (TDS) was with the goal of providing centers for the practice of Theravada Buddhist meditation and Dhamma study in the United States, for both laypeople and monks, and for Westerners and Asians in a traditional monastic context. While the organization is most prevalent in the aforementioned states of Minnesota, Florida, and Texas, they have been developing sites in other states such as Iowa.

 

The main practice of the Theravada Society is in the name: Theravada Buddhism. Theravada is a traditional school of Buddhist thought relating to learning and keeping the teachings of the Buddha as close to the original source text as possible with little change. This practice is possible through the preservation through the Pali Canon of texts, the only complete set of texts that have survived the many centuries in a native Indic language. Some key differences from the Mahayana styles of practice are the idea of instant rebirth without any transitory state, as well as views on the Buddha’s time on earth related to practice such as the idea that Buddhas cannot stop aging. While Theravada Buddhism has not spread as widely as Mahayana Buddhism due to the stricter ruleset, it has spread into the United States largely unaffected with a few exceptions. Since the monastic and layperson differ so drastically in terms of their practice, it becomes harder to support the monks through the donation of food if there is not a surrounding buddhist community to support that. A Burmese translator had to host a monk briefly in his house before the temple in Minnesota was built, making the monk live in the style of a layperson temporarily, something that would not be allowed in traditional Theravada Buddhism. This is a small example of an exception that needed to be made in order to better integrate with the organization of the United States, as well as focus on the greater good of providing religious services to the community of refugees from Burma. In terms of interacting with the community, there is a significant level of outreach that goes on in the TDS, mostly relating to making sure their presence is known around the areas where their Viharas are, they also have extended to more rural areas like just south and east of Marshalltown, Iowa, where the Theravada Dhamma Society of Iowa is located. This site is the major focus of this paper on the TDS, and the outreach there can be seen in their interactions with local American citizens. 

The Iowan Branch of the Theravada society’s location is just off of the road from highway thirty, peeking out from behind a row of trees. The site is very well taken care of, and preserves much of the natural landscape around it. As far as I can tell, the site has peaked at about one thousand people visiting at one time, but this was due to a major event. Most of the information on the website for the TDS is written in the Burmese alphabet, which makes it a bit tricky to get to the heart of some of their work, but I have endeavored to translate it to the best of my ability. The temple has been present outside of Marshalltown for a little over a decade, and has spent a fair amount of time working with the non-buddhist citizens in order to help with the construction of the temple and necessary parts to facilitate visits and habitation. This is mostly done through the company JBS Swift and Company, a meat processing company with Brazilian origins, which has a meat packing plant just a few minutes north of the monastery. Many of the one thousand five hundred Burmese refugees that live in Marshallton work for this factory either directly, or by close proximity. This may be due to the company’s promise to reduce their greenhouse emissions to zero, as well as halting any aid to their supply chains involving illegal deforestation efforts in the Amazon Rainforest, the first international meat company to do so. This would be something that would align in values with the Buddhist community, as they view harm to any animals and the ecosystems that support them as being a source of bad karma. While the validity of this claim is currently being pursued in the legal world, JBS still had agreed to lend the Iowan community help in need of more resources and labor amidst work on the temple. A monk and liaison to the greater Marshalltown community, Tay Tun, reached out to JBS Marshalltown who helped locate and source equipment, technology, funds and time off work at the factory to see the Theravada temple finished. Local news articles state that “More than 20 percent of JBS Marshalltown’s workforce, over 500 employees, are a part of the Theravada Dhamma Society community in Marshalltown.” Tay Tun had grown up in Marshalltown after his birth in Burma, making him the youngest of the monks at the event, and stated that “The celebration provides a crucial link to the cultural traditions the younger generations of Burmese-Americans may not otherwise be exposed to — especially for those who are born in the U.S.” Another monk, Ashin Tikkha, explained that “We need to share our religion and culture with the second generation, Marshalltown is full of very nice people. They welcome us, our people, our culture, our religion.” While the community is by and large welcome to continue their practice and faith with the support of the greater community, some people took issue with the large statue of the Buddha, one of the greatest in size in the United States. The statue is eighteen feet tall and twelve feet wide, making use of the aforementioned labor and equipment given by the JBS corporation. This statue was completed in two years, and remains a significant marker of the Theravada Society of Iowa’s yearly picnic held on August fifth. 


The yearly picnic for the fifteen hundred or so Burmese refugees is an important part of the society’s outreach to the broader community, as it is open to both practitioners of the Theravada faith and any non practicing Americans who are interested in visiting or supporting them in any myriad of ways. In the morning, they practice the ceremony known as the Buddha Puja Anekaja Mingala, or the Monk Donation Ceremony. This involves the blessing and sharing of merits to all the living, as well as giving or donating lunch to the monks. The community is open to anyone at any time as well as during the picnic, as there are no traditional days of service and no operating hours, making it particularly accessible for anyone who might need it. Some of the regular visitors to the picnic are non-buddhist Americans, such as the incumbent mayor and some of the townspeople who make up Marshalltown. There are a myriad of  plans for the town including public parks, which the mayor expressed interest in making sure the community was somewhat involved in utilizing that space as they see fit. Overall, the Theravada Dhamma Society of Iowa has a very strong presence in the community, with the Burmese refugee community making up a significant part of the workforce at the local factory, and supporting the temple through the traditional means of theravada buddhism: food and financial donations to help maintain the space and the monks who inhabit it. While it is unfortunate that these people had to flee their country for their safety, it is good that there is a welcoming spot for them in an unlikely place.

Sources:

Report written by Sebastian Knebel