Wat Lao Buddhavong
3043 Catlett Road
Catlett VA, 20119
Sam Nussbaum
Wat Lao Buddhavong is a Theravada Buddhist temple located in Catlett, Virginia just off route 28 and approximately forty five minutes from Washington D.C. The temple and gardens cover roughly sixty acres and are set in a reclusive part of rural Northern Virginia which almost gives it a feeling of a retreat in itself. The temple was dedicated in 1993 and is led by Abbot Phra Achan Maha Bounmy Kittihammavanno, a monk from Laos who spent a great deal of time in his youth as an acetic forest monk. Today, the temple is an active part of the community and welcomes all who wish to grow in the dharma or learn more about the culture surrounding Buddhism.
Theravada Buddhism
Wat Lao Buddhavong’s connection to Theravada Buddhism comes from the fact that the founder is from Laos where Theravada tends to be the predominate form of Buddhism. The same can be said for the rest of Southeastern Asia (Thailand, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, etc.) and the community at Wat Lao tends to be Southeast Asian as well. Theravada tradition tends to focus on the monks studying the dharma and meditation in order to imitate the life of the Buddha while the lay community supports them through dana, the practice of lay people making merit by giving food and support to the temple. The relationship is symbiotic as most lay people are not trying to achieve enlightenment in this life and they focus their attention on building good karma in order to improve their chances of being reborn in a position to achieve enlightenment. Traditionally, Theravada monks fall into two categories; forest monks who focus intensely on meditation and village monks who focus on studying dharma. Most monks start as village monks and as they grow in their knowledge, they become forest monks and focus on meditation with the hopes of achieving enlightenment. Theravada monks take a vow to follow 227 precepts or rules that guide their lives. Most of these rules seem logical like the vows of celibacy and not to take life while others may seem a bit odd like a vow to not handle money or to eat after noon which are more about Buddhist goals to follow the Middle Path and avoid excess. At Wat Lao Buddhavong, traditions have been adjusted to better fit modern lives. Here, they continue many traditions like dana, but offer classes to anyone, regardless of whether or not they are a part of the temple community, interested in learning more about meditation or dharma.
Phra Achan Maha Bounmy Kittihammavanno
As the founder of Wat Lao Buddhavong, Kittihammavanno is also the present abbot of Wat Lao Buddhavong in addition to being the current Vice President of the Lao Buddhist Monk Association of the US. Born in Laos, he ordained as a monk at age 12 and spent several years in a Thai refugee camp after leaving Laos in 1980. He eventually gained access to the United States and began spreading Buddhism. Along with a few others, Kittihammavanno founded Wat Lao and chose the location in Fauquier County for many reasons but most importantly the location offered plenty of space to host festivals but was simultaneously tranquil. Kittihammavanno is considered to be one of the most respected abbots in the world and many have come from around the world to study meditation with him. He continues to play an important role at Wat Lao, but unfortunately when I visited he was away in Thailand on a mission trip.
The 2001 International Vesak Celebration
In 2001, Wat Lao hosted the International Vesak Celebration, a festival celebrating the important events in the Buddha’s life, particularly birth, enlightenment, and death. Due to the amount of space and proximity to the nation’s capital, Wat Lao was chosen to host the festival and people came from all over the world to be in the presence of Phra Achan Maha Bounmy Kittihammavanno. Many other Buddhist communities in the area came to partake in the celebrations but they do not typically interact with other local Buddhist communities with the exception of major festivals. Wat Lao also hosts an annual cultural festival (they plan it to coincide with Independence Day) where many communities gather, celebrate, and have a fair to raise money for temple upkeep in addition to a festival celebrating Lao New Year. Given that Wat Lao has so much space, it makes them an obvious choice to hold larger scale events. With regards to connection to Asian Buddhist communities, Wat Lao is not directly tied to any other monasteries but as previously mentioned, the founder continues to visit countries in Southeast Asia to establish Buddhist Missions.
The Community
Wat Lao’s community is majority Southeast Asian immigrants and their descendants. The elder members of the community speak almost exclusively Thai and certainly seemed more traditional than their younger counterparts and come to ask the monks questions and participate in prayer. There was one man there who I assumed to be in his mid to late 50s and clearly of European descent but unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to speak to him and learn about his experience with Buddhism. The younger generation focuses on helping with the logistics of maintaining a monastic community as opposed to simply coming for prayers. Most of the younger people (Late 20s-40s) work to help the monks cook and manage the financial aspects of Wat Lao.
My Own Visit to Wat Lao
Over Thanksgiving break, I made my way to Wat Lao with my younger sister, a sophomore in high school, to get a look at what the temple looked like on the inside. I had driven by countless times before but this project finally gave me an excuse to pursue my curiosity. When I arrived, I walked around the grounds for a bit looking at the small pond with fish, statues of various Buddhist gods, and marveling at the architectural features on the roof of the temple. There were speakers outside projecting what sounded like a chant or prayer of some sort outside but I could not tell if it was a recording or if someone was speaking inside so we decided to go in.
After taking off our shoes at the door, I was immediately impressed with the ornate features of the inside of the Dharma Hall. All around the tops of the walls and ceilings were scenes depicting different stories about the Buddha’s life and I could clearly see images of his birth, life of luxury at home, Great Departure, etc. At the front of the hall, there was a stage where about ten or so monks sat and behind them was an enormous mural of what had to be the tree under which the Buddha became enlightened because directly in front of that was a larger than life replica of the Buddha covered in gold paint. Surrounding the large Buddha were dozens of smaller ones and other various offerings. I later learned that all of the painting was done by hand when the Dharma Hall was dedicated in 1993. While standing in the back, I estimated that there were about 5 dozen people there that day, almost all were sitting on the floor in prayer while only a few elderly people sat in chairs around the perimeter of the room.
While prayers were happening, a man named William came and asked if it was our first time here and told us to have a seat and that he would catch up with us after the prayers. I sat down and listened to the monks pray and periodically, one of the monks (a younger one, probably in his 20s) would hit a gong. Then, some of the lay people set up a table with the monks’ begging bowls and people began to line up and place food and money in the bowls which I immediately recognized as practicing dana. One of the older community members, a woman who had to be at least 80, came up to my sister and I, handed us little containers of sticky rice and pointed to the table. We walked over and placed the rice in the bowls and returned to our seats.
Afterwards, the monks ate their meal while the laypeople sat and talked amongst themselves. William came over and explained that the rest would eat once the monks were done and we were welcome to join. I proceeded to ask him questions about the history of the temple and he was quite helpful. I asked how often the whole community gets together and he explained that it was actually quite lucky that we stopped in when we did because they only gather together once a month and during the rest of the time the temple is open from sunrise to sunset for individual prayer and meditation. They also host classes in meditation and learning the teachings; he gave me a copy of the schedule in case I was interested in returning. After that, we were invited to eat a potluck style lunch and enjoyed the food everyone brought. Overall, I had a very informative trip to Wat Lao Buddhavong and felt incredibly welcome and might return for their cultural festival in July.
Sources:
http://www.watlaodc.org/page.cfm/go/home
http://www.ibcdc.org/temples/wlb.htm
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1998/07/05/celebrating-the-freedom-to-worship/37d5188f-0e05-4560-8757-e1312120cd94/?utm_term=.b7c964100700