Chùa Huê Quang or “Temple of the Gift of Light” is a Buddhist temple located just outside of Richmond in Glen Allen, Virginia (Wilson 242). Located off Hungary Road, the temple catches the eye with its unique architecture and large Buddha statues near the entrance and in each parking circle. Around each statue, one may find an ornate assortment of offerings to the Buddha including fruit and flowers. Inside, there is an altar with a large statue of the original Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, along with several smaller statues of bodhisattvas and Buddha incarnations. More offerings are arranged around these statues as well. The rest of the temple is mostly empty and serves as room for members to worship. Behind the temple is another small building serving as a community gathering spot. Members of the temple usually gather here to eat food and converse after morning worship services. In addition to the building being a community center, the head monk, Master Thich Minh Tri, resides in this building and uses it as his office.
Chùa Huê Quang is the main headquarters for the Richmond Buddhist Association, which is mostly composed of a Vietnamese community practicing an eclectic mix of Buddhist denominations. The members of this community originally practiced and worshipped at the Ekoji Buddhist Sangha in the City of Richmond; however, the numbers in this community continued to grow to the point that they needed their own temple and gathering space. The community began building Chùa Huê Quang in the late winter of 2002, and completed the temple in the spring of 2003 (“Richmond Buddhist Association/Hue Quang Temple”). Ever since the construction finished, more and more Buddhists, mostly of Vietnamese descent, have joined the temple.
Origins
Chùa Huê Quang does not have a single founder since it was constructed by a group of people; however, members of the temple owe its creation to the head monastic and founder of the Ekoji Buddhist Sangha, Rev. Kenryu Takashi Tsuji. If not for Rev. Tsuji, the Richmond Buddhist Association and its members would not have their own practice and gathering space. Rev. Tsuji allowed the Vietnamese group to worship in his temple before the group grew very large. A central figure to the spread of Buddhism in North America, Takashi Tsuji was born in British Columbia. Starting in the late 1930s, he enrolled at Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Japan and was eventually ordained in a sect of Shin Buddhism (Lattin). When he returned to North America, Tsuji became a minister at a temple in Vancouver but lost his position after being relocated to an internment camp during World War II. Once the war ended, Rev. Tsuji moved to Toronto, where his career and influence began to blossom. At first, he only ministered to a small group of Buddhists, but the group eventually became the Toronto Buddhist Church; Rev. Tsuji later founded two more large Buddhist temples in Canada and travelled to San Francisco “to serve as National Director of the Buddhist Churches of America” (Lattin). He was the president of the Institute of Buddhist Studies as well, and eventually became the bishop of the national Buddhist Churches of America. After retiring as the bishop, Rev. Tsuji moved to Virginia and eventually established the Ekoji Buddhist Temples in Washington D.C. and Richmond. The Richmond Buddhist Association is very grateful for Rev. Tsuji and the Ekoji Buddhist Sangha, since his generosity led to the creation of Chùa Huê Quang and its community.
Teachings & Beliefs
Rev. Tsuji was a trained monastic in Jodo Shinshu, or the “True Pure Land School” of Buddhism. This school focused on the works of the Japanese monk Honen and his disciple Shinran, and the practices of this particular form of Buddhism include ethical conduct and “chanting the name of the Buddha Amitabha” (Lopez 612). However, when practicing and leading worship at the Ekoji Buddhist Temples, Rev. Tsuji often combined many teachings from other schools of Buddhism with the Pure Land philosophy as well. These forms included Theravada, Tibetan, and Zen Buddhism. This allowed the sangha to grow larger because it attracted Buddhists of other ethnicities to his temples. One group that these teachings especially attracted were Vietnamese Buddhists. In fact, the Vietnamese community of the Ekoji Temple in Richmond grew so large that they eventually built their own temple: Chùa Huê Quang. Many of the practices and beliefs the members of Chùa Huê Quang practice stem from Rev. Tsuji’s combined philosophies of Theravada, Tibetan, Zen, and Pure Land Buddhism.
The community at Chùa Huê Quang mostly practices a very lay form of Buddhism that embraces many of its different schools. The only monastic at the temple is the master himself, and everyone else is a lay follower of the eclectic Buddhist philosophy. The community believes praying for and honoring a recently deceased member “spiritually helps the departed loved one through the death transformation so they can find the right path in the afterlife” (Baldwin and Edford). Many services involve chanting; members of Chùa Huê Quang believe these chants help improve their individual merit and the merit of their community. Baldwin and Edford make note of a small conflict within the Buddhist communities of Richmond, for some place more emphasis on chanting while others focus more heavily on meditation. The Buddhist community at Chùa Huê Quang focuses very heavily on chanting (Baldwin and Edford). Members of the temple are encouraged to practice mindfulness and good ethical conduct as well. The congregation is also intrigued by meditation practices, as they help them relax and clear their minds. Members of the temple present offerings to the Buddha to improve their individual merit and display their gratitude and mindfulness to the Buddha as well. The offerings can be seen at any of the Buddha shrines in the parking lot or in the temple.
Worship Practices
Chùa Huê Quang starts its main worship service on Sundays at 8am, and the service usually does not conclude until around 11am or 12pm. Around 100 people attend it. The service first begins with the ringing of a large bell to signify the clearing of mind and all of its previous thoughts. The master then leads a meditation session that lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. After the meditation session, the master guides the members through a series of chants, usually from traditional Indian Buddhists texts such as the Heart Sutra (“Richmond Buddhist Association/Hue Quang Temple”). In fact, most of the chants are focused on the traditional Indian Buddhists texts, yet, the traditional Tibetan mantra Om Mani Padme Hum is also a regular chant heard during the morning service (“Richmond Buddhist Association/Hue Quang Temple”). The chants are all spoken in Vietnamese, and temple members are provided with booklets to follow along during the service. When changing chants, the bell is rung in order to serve as a transition to a new chant. After chanting is finished, the master delivers a sermon to the congregation, which is usually known as “dharma-talk” (“Richmond Buddhist Association/Hue Quang Temple”). Once the sermon is completed, the service moves to a room in the back of the temple. This room contains pictures of all the deceased members of the temple, and the master and congregation pay their respects. This usually lasts no more than 30 minutes, and once the congregation is done honoring the deceased members, the service ends. The chanting and ritual of honoring the dead is very similar to the practices seen in Theravada village temples. After the service, the members usually gather in the small community center for food and beverages.
One noted practice of the temple involves honoring the deceased. As noted above, it is regularly practiced in the Sunday worship sessions; however, in the event of a recent death, the family members and friends of the deceased will visit the temple to honor and pray for their loved one (Baldwin and Edford). The members visit once a week for seven weeks (Baldwin and Edford).
Demographics & Ties with Other Communities
Chùa Huê Quang has approximately 500 members. The majority of the community at the temple is Vietnamese-American, however there are members who are Chinese-Vietnamese (“Richmond Buddhist Association/Hue Quang Temple”). There are even some European-American members of the temple (“Richmond Buddhist Association/Hue Quang Temple”). Vietnamese is the dominant language at the temple, and it is spoken during all worship services. The community announcements are written and spoken in Vietnamese as well. One interesting activity offered at Chùa Huê Quang is a Vietnamese language class for all members; however, children are the majority of attendees for these classes. The members at the temple also engage in many activities, including gatherings for Buddhist holidays and other community-driven activities including a lottery night. The members of the temple have a Facebook group, and many of the announcements are passed through their page.
The Richmond Buddhist Association still stays in close contact with the Ekoji Buddhist Sangha, and members from the Cambodian Buddhist Association attend the temple from time to time as well (“Richmond Buddhist Association/Hue Quang Temple”). However, on my visit to the temple my guide was unsure whether the temple communicated with other Buddhist temples around the world. The only communities my guide knew Chùa Huê Quang interacted with were other Buddhist communities across Virginia.
I would like to personally thank Master Thich Minh Tri and Sandrine Ngo for allowing me to visit and touring me around the Chùa Huê Quang Temple!
Dawson Connell
Credited, yet indirect founder Rev. Kenryu Takashi Tsuji
Works Cited
Baldwin, Brent and Asriel Eford. “Vietnamese Buddhist Temple Searches for Common Ground.” JuneNicholson’s Blog. 8 May 2009, https://junenicholson.wordpress.com/2009/05/08/vietnamese-buddhist- temple-searches-for-common-ground/. Accessed 22 November 2016.
Lattin, Don. “Buddhist bishop Kenryu Tsuji.” SFGATE. 4 March 2004, http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Buddhist-bishop-Kenryu-Tsuji- 2813503.php. Accessed 28 November 2016.
Lopez, Donald S. The Norton Anthology of World Religions: Buddhism. Ed. Jack Miles. 1st ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2015. 612. Print.
“Om Mani Padme Hum: The Meaning of the Mantra in Tibetan Buddhism.” Dharma Haven. 2 Nov. 2003, http://www.dharma-haven.org/tibetan/meaning-of-om- mani-padme-hung.htm. Accessed 28 November 2016.
“Richmond Buddhist Association/Hue Quang Temple.” The Pluralism Project. 2004, http://pluralism.org/profile/richmond-buddhist-association-hue-quang- temple/. Accessed 22 November 2016.
Wilson, Jeff. Dixie Dharma: Inside a Buddhist Temple in the American South. North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press, 2012, https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/06/.