Photos

The meticulously manicured lawn and courtyard of a beautiful temple. Hsi Lai Temple is a traditional Chinese Buddhist mountain monastery temple, located in the foothill region of Hacienda Heights, a suburb of Los Angeles. Hsi Lai means "Coming West" in the sense of the "Great Buddhadharma Coming West." It's affiliated with one of Taiwan's largest religious organizations, the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist order. The planning and construction of the temple in the 1980s caused some controversy in the surroudning community, but construction began in 1985, just about the time we were living there! I remember it being built as a child, but haven't ever visited until just a few months ago. It was finally completed in November, 1988. It reportedly cost around 10 million dollars to construct. Features include the Bodhisattva Hall, the first shrine one encoiunters when entering the temple, the Arhat Garden, and the Main Shrine, seen in the photo. There is also a dining hall which serves vegetarian buffets daily for lunch, at a very reasonable cost of $7. Anyone can eat there. There's also a translation and publishing center devoted to the publication and distribution of Buddhist books and pamphlets. The temple also offers classes in both English and Chinese for meditation, etc.