The study of Buddha thought continues to inspire perceptions of social liberation.
The practice of the study of Buddha thought was brought to North California during the 1800s by workers from the homelands of China and Japan who sought employment and residence in the Bay Area of North California, but as a cultural influence Buddha thought remained only with these workers and the external colonies of their culture within California they gave rise to, including surviving the disruption to social order created during the 1940s with the incarceration of all California residents of Japan descent, and the caste system employed against all non-Whites throughout the 20th century until the 1960s.
It happened during the 1960s that thousands of revolutionaries who ascribed to Marxism began to study the leading explanations of Buddha thought, through books published at public universities. This sudden practice on part of White American revolutionaries to study "far eastern" philosophies was due to their interest in the revolutionary thought of Kim Il-sung and other leading lights during the global campaign of liberation during the 1960s and 1970s.
Although there occured much social disruption directed against the revolutionary people, the interest in Buddha thought remained in practice and is able to spread an influence of thought into many societies across California.
Examples of this are provided on this page, not as an endorsement of the schools, individuals or practices of the various sets of Buddha thought scholars and their practices. These examples are provided to instruct you about the pervasive visibility and influence of Buddha thought in California, especially in our San Pablo bay area.
2011-12-04 "New Directions in Buddhist Theory and Practice", a book reading by Rev. Jundo Gregory Gibbs, author of "Becoming Buddhist, Becoming Buddhas, Liberating All Beings"
"Major Buddha relic collection smiles on LA temple"2013-10-17 from the "Associated Press" [
sfgate.com/news/article/Major-Buddha-relic-collection-smiles-on-LA-temple-4905151.php]:
Rosemead, Los Angeles County -- Although he'd been a practicing Buddhist for 20 years, until 10 months ago Dharma Master YongHua hadn't even seen so much as one of the sacred relics known as shariras that are so important to his faith.
So it came as quite a surprise to the modest, soft-spoken monk when he learned he was becoming the caretaker of more than 10,000 of them.
YongHua's modest Lu Mountain Temple became a repository for the thousands of colorful crystals, two teeth and a single hair that are believed to have come from the body of the Buddha himself. A congregant offered up the collection that he'd painstakingly gathered for years.
The relics are said to be capable of producing miracles for people who go near them. And although Buddhists, like members of other religious groups, say that has to be taken on faith, even the skeptical are starting to believe miracles are happening since the shariras arrived.
"In the beginning, I didn't really know what to think," said Vickie Sprout, who meditates at the temple.
Following YongHua's advice to keep an open mind, she and others noticed, they said, after six months of meditation in the presence of the shariras, that their efforts were leading to a more relaxed, blissful state.
Looking back, YongHua said, it was no small miracle that the relics even made it to Lu Mountain Temple.
Located on the corner of a hillside residential street, the temple is easily mistaken by average passersby for what it once was: a modest, 1950s-era, cookie-cutter tract home in an aging bedroom community east of Los Angeles. A glance down the hill offers a smog-shrouded view of hundreds of other homes, all looking the same.
The handful of monks who live there like it that way. They rise at 3:30 a.m. each day and, inside the ornate temple that outsiders never see, they spend much of their days in quiet meditation.
"When we're cultivating Buddhist teachings we're kind of hidden," said Master Xian-Jie. "We don't want a lot of people around."
Since the shariras' arrival, there have been quite a few people around.
Hundreds from around the country arrived earlier this year when the monks put the relics on display.
They crowded up to the altar, around a statute of the Buddha and elsewhere for an up-close view of thousands of colorful crystals, some believed to have come from the heart and other body parts of the Buddha himself when he was cremated nearly 3,000 years ago.
Other crystals are believed to have come from his family members and disciples, said YongHua, as the bespectacled, brown-robed monk showed them off again to visitors last month.
"To us, shariras are very important because if we see them we think we see the Buddha himself, even though the Buddha passed away a very long time ago," said Thu Nguyen, a 70-year-old retired day care worker who traveled from San Jose with a dozen fellow Buddhists to see them.
The last time she was in the presence of shariras, she said, was more than 10 years ago at a temple in the Chinese city of Shanghai.
Although such relics can be found at other Buddhist temples around the country, such a large collection is unusual, said Sonya Lee, a University of Southern California professor and expert on Buddhist art and culture.
The Lu Mountain Temple is the new home of more than 10,000 Buddha relics. Photo: Damian Dovarganes, Associated Press
In this Sept. 18, 2013 photo, the tooth of the Buddha, covered with crystals is displayed as the crown jewel of the Lu Mountain Temple Buddhist relics collection in Rosemead, Calif. The temple has become a repository for the colorful crystals and a hair that are believed to have come from the body of the Buddha himself. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Photo: Damian Dovarganes, Associated Press
This Sept. 18, 2013, photo shows venerable XianChi, left, Bhante Wanarathana, center, and venerable XianJie at the Lu Mountain Temple in Rosemead, Calif. The temple has become a repository for the colorful crystals and a tooth and a hair that are believed to have come from the body of the Buddha himself. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Photo: Damian Dovarganes, Associated Press
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