Articles of BuddhaLand on Newspapers and Magazines
Article from The National Buddhist Magazine - The Tricycle
BuddhaLand
by Carolyn Gregoire, SPRING 2019
BuddhaLand
by Carolyn Gregoire, SPRING 2019
A Buddhist haven emerges in rural Kentucky, thanks to a generous retiree.
If you drive just an hour up Highway 71 from Louisville, Kentucky, toward Cincinnati, Ohio, you’ll come upon 200 acres of gently rolling hills and pristine countryside—an area that’s emerging as an oasis of Buddhist spiritual life.
Appropriately dubbed “The BuddhaLand,” the Kentucky property has been turned into an offering to the Buddha and his teachings by its proprietor, Nam Do, a 70-year-old retired engineer and Louisville resident originally from Vietnam. Since buying the property in 2002, Do has been offering free land that Buddhist organizations and individuals can build upon with their own funds. His mission is to nurture the American Buddhist community by providing more dedicated spaces to practice in areas where they can connect with nature.
Do arrived in Kentucky as a young man in 1975 after fleeing Vietnam on a US Navy plane, just one day before communists took over the country. His family settled in Louisville, where he went on to study engineering, then work at Ford Motor Company for 30 years. From a deep sense of gratitude and indebtedness to the country that supported him and his family, Do dedicated his retirement to service, which he sees as part of his spiritual practice.
Do comes from a family of temple builders. In 1920, his grandfather built the 10,000-square-foot Buu Thanh Temple, which today continues to serve more than a thousand families in two villages in southern Vietnam. His uncle and great-uncle both constructed temples in a neighboring village, and two monks and one nun in his family serve as abbots in temples elsewhere in the country.
The BuddhaLand was created especially for groups associated with the lineage of Do’s lifelong teacher, the Vietnamese master Thich Nhat Hanh.
“Most of [their centers] in the US are in cities,” he said. “For the mind, we have to seek out mountains and forests.”
Six major projects are currently under way at the center, including the Deer Mountain Retreat Center, which can house up to 500 guests. (Do hopes it will become “a Plum Village for the United States.”) So far, three local sanghas— as well as France’s Plum Village—have pledged their support, and it is expected to be completed in three to four years.
Other projects in various stages of development include a chanting hall, scenic overlook and meditation deck, three villages (including a cave village for extended periods of solitary silent retreat), the Stupa of Enlightenment, and the Mindful Forest Monastery, all of which are associated with Thich Nhat Hanh’s sangha. The first monk to join the monastery, Louisville native Michael Kavish (Thich Tinh Tri), now serves as its abbot, and four other monks are slated to take up residence there by the year’s end.
The BuddhaLand is also open to other traditions, not just those that follow Thich Nhat Hanh. A small temple is being built to serve Vietnamese Buddhist families, and the monks at Mindfulness Forest Monastery host retreats and teachings for Vipassana and other local groups.
“It’s a very peaceful place to practice,” said Kavish. “There’s a lot of good energy here.”
If you drive just an hour up Highway 71 from Louisville, Kentucky, toward Cincinnati, Ohio, you’ll come upon 200 acres of gently rolling hills and pristine countryside—an area that’s emerging as an oasis of Buddhist spiritual life.
Appropriately dubbed “The BuddhaLand,” the Kentucky property has been turned into an offering to the Buddha and his teachings by its proprietor, Nam Do, a 70-year-old retired engineer and Louisville resident originally from Vietnam. Since buying the property in 2002, Do has been offering free land that Buddhist organizations and individuals can build upon with their own funds. His mission is to nurture the American Buddhist community by providing more dedicated spaces to practice in areas where they can connect with nature.
Do arrived in Kentucky as a young man in 1975 after fleeing Vietnam on a US Navy plane, just one day before communists took over the country. His family settled in Louisville, where he went on to study engineering, then work at Ford Motor Company for 30 years. From a deep sense of gratitude and indebtedness to the country that supported him and his family, Do dedicated his retirement to service, which he sees as part of his spiritual practice.
Do comes from a family of temple builders. In 1920, his grandfather built the 10,000-square-foot Buu Thanh Temple, which today continues to serve more than a thousand families in two villages in southern Vietnam. His uncle and great-uncle both constructed temples in a neighboring village, and two monks and one nun in his family serve as abbots in temples elsewhere in the country.
The BuddhaLand was created especially for groups associated with the lineage of Do’s lifelong teacher, the Vietnamese master Thich Nhat Hanh.
“Most of [their centers] in the US are in cities,” he said. “For the mind, we have to seek out mountains and forests.”
Six major projects are currently under way at the center, including the Deer Mountain Retreat Center, which can house up to 500 guests. (Do hopes it will become “a Plum Village for the United States.”) So far, three local sanghas— as well as France’s Plum Village—have pledged their support, and it is expected to be completed in three to four years.
Other projects in various stages of development include a chanting hall, scenic overlook and meditation deck, three villages (including a cave village for extended periods of solitary silent retreat), the Stupa of Enlightenment, and the Mindful Forest Monastery, all of which are associated with Thich Nhat Hanh’s sangha. The first monk to join the monastery, Louisville native Michael Kavish (Thich Tinh Tri), now serves as its abbot, and four other monks are slated to take up residence there by the year’s end.
The BuddhaLand is also open to other traditions, not just those that follow Thich Nhat Hanh. A small temple is being built to serve Vietnamese Buddhist families, and the monks at Mindfulness Forest Monastery host retreats and teachings for Vipassana and other local groups.
“It’s a very peaceful place to practice,” said Kavish. “There’s a lot of good energy here.”
Article from Henry County Local Newspaper
BUDDHALAND COUNTY’S BURIED BUDDHIST MONESTARY
By Taylor Riley
Wednesday, October 17, 2018 at 12:00 am (Updated: October 17, 12:04 am)
BUDDHALAND COUNTY’S BURIED BUDDHIST MONESTARY
By Taylor Riley
Wednesday, October 17, 2018 at 12:00 am (Updated: October 17, 12:04 am)
Nestled on the Henry and Carroll County line, there’s 200 acres that hopes to be a site of enlightenment and mindful living.
On a road appropriately named Zen Forest, BuddhaLand is tucked deep into Turners Station. The Buddhist monastery, or community of monks, isn’t a secret, though; the 2-mile trail has been in the works for two years.
As one tours the facilities on the grounds, he or she will begin to feel the energy of the religion that focuses on personal spiritual development. You may, too, want to live among the monks in The Villages, reach enlightenment at the Stupa or recite the chants in the Tu An Temple.
The story
Nam Do, owner of BuddhaLand, is a traditional follower of Buddhism. He grew up going to the temple often with his family in Vietnam, where he said there were “temples everywhere.”
“To us, temple is house,” Do said.
By 1969, Do and his family were caught in the middle of the violent Vietnam War. The United States infiltrated Southeast Asia with hundreds of thousands of troops, as some of the natives were beginning to be sent to safer territories including North America.
Do and his family could not seek refuge until 1975 when they were fortunate to be the last group of Vietnamese to be picked up by the U.S. Navy before the communists took over the country, according to Do. His family was then relocated to the U.S.
On a road appropriately named Zen Forest, BuddhaLand is tucked deep into Turners Station. The Buddhist monastery, or community of monks, isn’t a secret, though; the 2-mile trail has been in the works for two years.
As one tours the facilities on the grounds, he or she will begin to feel the energy of the religion that focuses on personal spiritual development. You may, too, want to live among the monks in The Villages, reach enlightenment at the Stupa or recite the chants in the Tu An Temple.
The story
Nam Do, owner of BuddhaLand, is a traditional follower of Buddhism. He grew up going to the temple often with his family in Vietnam, where he said there were “temples everywhere.”
“To us, temple is house,” Do said.
By 1969, Do and his family were caught in the middle of the violent Vietnam War. The United States infiltrated Southeast Asia with hundreds of thousands of troops, as some of the natives were beginning to be sent to safer territories including North America.
Do and his family could not seek refuge until 1975 when they were fortunate to be the last group of Vietnamese to be picked up by the U.S. Navy before the communists took over the country, according to Do. His family was then relocated to the U.S.
“We were very lucky to come here,” Do said.
Do realized after many years in the U.S. that there were Vietnamese temples or Roman Catholic monasteries such as the Abbey of Gethsemani, in Nelson County, but not many places for American Buddhist monks and believers.
“American people need some type of support,” Do said.
After Do retired from the Kentucky Truck Plant where he was an engineer for 30 years, he and his devout wife decided to build a place for Americans to worship and soon BuddhaLand would become a reality.
“We wanted to pay back what we owe to (Americans),” Do said. Do previously built a farm in Henry County and knew the area was where he wanted to see his vision obtained.
The tour
Do and BuddhaLand’s Mindfulness Forest Monastery Abbot Thich Tinh Tri, an American monk, take visitors on an enthusiastic tour of the facilities beginning with the Retreat Center and Mindful Living Village.
The center, designed to be a headquarters for 500 Thich Nhat Hanh Buddhist mindful living groups in the U.S., with each group using the same practices of BuddhaLand. Do hopes that each year, the center will be used as a “good location” for an annual meeting.
The village, a 35-acre community, began construction last year. Do hopes it will be finished in the next several months with 35 cottage lots and a fully functioning Meditation Center and hall. The lots will be sold to retirees from Sangha, a community of Buddhist monks and nuns.
Next, meditators head to the stupa, a hemispherical structure containing relics, surrounded by flourishing blooms. The religious site is used as a meditation spot; it points upward so that the supplicant can have a “single point in mind,” according to the Abbot Thich Tinh Tri.
Dharma, or scrolls, are placed inside the sacred site. There are only four of these types of stupas in the U.S. and the one at BuddhaLand is the largest.
Next, the tour takes visitors to The Villages and Caves, which are small cottages on the side of a literal mountain used for monks and lay people (regular people), to meditate. There is no electric or water in the caves so that the meditations can be just as they are in Asia, fully succeeded.
Next, the site of Do’s home, which he converted into the monastery. Now, the full-time Abbot lives there, as well as teachers and local and nationwide American monks who stay for retreat and mediation. The home also holds the Chanting Hall, or the Tu An Temple, which is a place for enlightenment for devout Buddhists.
Also on the grounds of the two-mile trail is a deck that overlooks a forest that stretches to what seems like urban Cincinnati; the deck is also a place for monks to meditate.
Community of ‘brothers’
The American Abbot Thich Tinh Tri began practicing Buddhism in college, where he would go on retreats and study martial arts. As he continued his practice, he met the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, and he knew that he wanted his life to be different than his peers.
“The more I practiced, the more it made sense,” Thich Tinh Tri said.
The monk said the most essential vows for living a pious life are living with kindness and compassion.
“Knowing that suffering is universal and (then) giving with a bindless heart,” he said.
Monks are “human,” though, he pointed out.
“We constantly have to test ourselves,” he said.
Thich Tinh Tri’s thoughts about the temple were in unison with Don’s, saying, “all temples are a big family.”
“We pray together, we chant together, we meditate together,” Thich Tinh Tri said. “(And then) in-between, we play volleyball. We’re brothers.”
To tour BuddhaLand or use its facilities, contact Nam Do at 502-648-2050 or go to www.buddhaland.us.
Do realized after many years in the U.S. that there were Vietnamese temples or Roman Catholic monasteries such as the Abbey of Gethsemani, in Nelson County, but not many places for American Buddhist monks and believers.
“American people need some type of support,” Do said.
After Do retired from the Kentucky Truck Plant where he was an engineer for 30 years, he and his devout wife decided to build a place for Americans to worship and soon BuddhaLand would become a reality.
“We wanted to pay back what we owe to (Americans),” Do said. Do previously built a farm in Henry County and knew the area was where he wanted to see his vision obtained.
The tour
Do and BuddhaLand’s Mindfulness Forest Monastery Abbot Thich Tinh Tri, an American monk, take visitors on an enthusiastic tour of the facilities beginning with the Retreat Center and Mindful Living Village.
The center, designed to be a headquarters for 500 Thich Nhat Hanh Buddhist mindful living groups in the U.S., with each group using the same practices of BuddhaLand. Do hopes that each year, the center will be used as a “good location” for an annual meeting.
The village, a 35-acre community, began construction last year. Do hopes it will be finished in the next several months with 35 cottage lots and a fully functioning Meditation Center and hall. The lots will be sold to retirees from Sangha, a community of Buddhist monks and nuns.
Next, meditators head to the stupa, a hemispherical structure containing relics, surrounded by flourishing blooms. The religious site is used as a meditation spot; it points upward so that the supplicant can have a “single point in mind,” according to the Abbot Thich Tinh Tri.
Dharma, or scrolls, are placed inside the sacred site. There are only four of these types of stupas in the U.S. and the one at BuddhaLand is the largest.
Next, the tour takes visitors to The Villages and Caves, which are small cottages on the side of a literal mountain used for monks and lay people (regular people), to meditate. There is no electric or water in the caves so that the meditations can be just as they are in Asia, fully succeeded.
Next, the site of Do’s home, which he converted into the monastery. Now, the full-time Abbot lives there, as well as teachers and local and nationwide American monks who stay for retreat and mediation. The home also holds the Chanting Hall, or the Tu An Temple, which is a place for enlightenment for devout Buddhists.
Also on the grounds of the two-mile trail is a deck that overlooks a forest that stretches to what seems like urban Cincinnati; the deck is also a place for monks to meditate.
Community of ‘brothers’
The American Abbot Thich Tinh Tri began practicing Buddhism in college, where he would go on retreats and study martial arts. As he continued his practice, he met the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, and he knew that he wanted his life to be different than his peers.
“The more I practiced, the more it made sense,” Thich Tinh Tri said.
The monk said the most essential vows for living a pious life are living with kindness and compassion.
“Knowing that suffering is universal and (then) giving with a bindless heart,” he said.
Monks are “human,” though, he pointed out.
“We constantly have to test ourselves,” he said.
Thich Tinh Tri’s thoughts about the temple were in unison with Don’s, saying, “all temples are a big family.”
“We pray together, we chant together, we meditate together,” Thich Tinh Tri said. “(And then) in-between, we play volleyball. We’re brothers.”
To tour BuddhaLand or use its facilities, contact Nam Do at 502-648-2050 or go to www.buddhaland.us.
Article from RoundAbout Magazine in Madison, IN
Buddhist monks find solace for worship in Henry County, Ky.
By John Sheckler
Contributing Writer
Buddhist monks find solace for worship in Henry County, Ky.
By John Sheckler
Contributing Writer
TURNERS STATION, Ky. (October 2018) – BuddhaLand opened a year ago at 1184 Zen Forest Rd. in Henry County, Ky. Set in the wilds of the county near Turners Station, BuddhaLand is a place for meditation and getting back to nature. It is open to all, not just Buddhists. Now owner Nam Do is planning an open house Oct. 6-14 for the new Mindful Living Village opening there. The public is invited.
Getting to BuddaLand is a trick at best. A telephone GPS can send a person down a wrong road. If that happens in town, it is no big deal, but Henry County has some amazing wild places with roads that end in open fields. When visitors get lost, owner Nam Do will drive his Ford pickup truck out to meet them and lead them to BuddhaLand.
BuddhaLand is the brainchild of Nam, 71, who came to America in 1975, the day before the communists took over the country. After retiring from Ford as an engineer, he wanted a country place to live with his wife, Mai. He bought the large property and soon fell in love with the wild deer that graced the land.
“Instead of people, I have my deer,” Nam said. “They know this is a good place to hide.”
When Nam acquired the property, the first thing he did was build roads and install water.
The road is not paved but is a good trail for walking, and Nam occasionally pulls a hay wagon in an old-fashioned hay ride that also serves as a shuttle.
BuddhaLand is the brainchild of Nam, 71, who came to America in 1975, the day before the communists took over the country. After retiring from Ford as an engineer, he wanted a country place to live with his wife, Mai. He bought the large property and soon fell in love with the wild deer that graced the land.
“Instead of people, I have my deer,” Nam said. “They know this is a good place to hide.”
When Nam acquired the property, the first thing he did was build roads and install water.
The road is not paved but is a good trail for walking, and Nam occasionally pulls a hay wagon in an old-fashioned hay ride that also serves as a shuttle.
The setup encourages the deer to circumnavigate. If they are within the circle, they are safe from hunters.
A first-time visitor can be overwhelmed seeing BuddhaLand. There are plenty of buildings but with vast stretches of wild land between them.
In September, Nam’s home of 15 years was converted to a monastery for American monks. Up to five monks will live at the Zen Forest Monastery and teach at the property.
The most developed feature of BuddhaLand is now a non-profit organization called the Buddhist Meditation Center and Mindful Living Village. The 35-acre property has a meditation hall and several other buildings that will be used by lay practitioners of the Plum Village Tradition, established by Zen monk, Thich Naht Hahn.
There are approximately 1,000 lay-led groups, called “sanghas” in the United States. There are two well-established sanghas within an hour’s drive of Buddhaland.
Several members of the Louisville Community of Mindful Living serve as board members of the nonprofit organization. The project also has connections to the Flowing River Community of Mindful Living sangha that meets monthly in Madison, Ind.
Thich Tinh Tri, a monk from Louisville, has been a regular visitor to BuddhaLand for several years. He is an American monk who was ordained in the Hue Nghiem Monastery in Vietnam. He has practiced Zen meditation for more than 22 years in the Vietnamese and Japanese Zen traditions, along with Vipassana Meditation. For two years, he has been a resident monk at Tu An Buddhist Temple in Louisville. Thich Tinh Tri will be the abbot of the Zen Forest Monastery.
Communities of the USA who follow the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh. Visitors are welcome to come and spend a relaxing day at BuddhaLand or bring a sleeping bag to camp or stay in a dormitory room at one of the various buildings on the campus. Meals are simple vegetarian and are also free. Reservations for overnight stay is required.
There will be a dedication ceremony for the “Stupa of Enlightenment” from 10 a.m. to noon Sunday, Oct. 7, with lunch provided afterward. The stupa is 25 feet tall and contains 100 volumes of Buddist scriptures and 400 Buddha statues.
The Open House will be from Oct. 6-14 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. It is “a soft opening,” said Teresa Waller, facilitator of the Flowing River Community of Mindful Living in Madison. The Grand Opening is planned for April 20-28, 2019.
Getting to BuddaLand is a trick at best. A telephone GPS can send a person down a wrong road. If that happens in town, it is no big deal, but Henry County has some amazing wild places with roads that end in open fields. When visitors get lost, owner Nam Do will drive his Ford pickup truck out to meet them and lead them to BuddhaLand.
BuddhaLand is the brainchild of Nam, 71, who came to America in 1975, the day before the communists took over the country. After retiring from Ford as an engineer, he wanted a country place to live with his wife, Mai. He bought the large property and soon fell in love with the wild deer that graced the land.
“Instead of people, I have my deer,” Nam said. “They know this is a good place to hide.”
When Nam acquired the property, the first thing he did was build roads and install water.
The road is not paved but is a good trail for walking, and Nam occasionally pulls a hay wagon in an old-fashioned hay ride that also serves as a shuttle.
BuddhaLand is the brainchild of Nam, 71, who came to America in 1975, the day before the communists took over the country. After retiring from Ford as an engineer, he wanted a country place to live with his wife, Mai. He bought the large property and soon fell in love with the wild deer that graced the land.
“Instead of people, I have my deer,” Nam said. “They know this is a good place to hide.”
When Nam acquired the property, the first thing he did was build roads and install water.
The road is not paved but is a good trail for walking, and Nam occasionally pulls a hay wagon in an old-fashioned hay ride that also serves as a shuttle.
The setup encourages the deer to circumnavigate. If they are within the circle, they are safe from hunters.
A first-time visitor can be overwhelmed seeing BuddhaLand. There are plenty of buildings but with vast stretches of wild land between them.
In September, Nam’s home of 15 years was converted to a monastery for American monks. Up to five monks will live at the Zen Forest Monastery and teach at the property.
The most developed feature of BuddhaLand is now a non-profit organization called the Buddhist Meditation Center and Mindful Living Village. The 35-acre property has a meditation hall and several other buildings that will be used by lay practitioners of the Plum Village Tradition, established by Zen monk, Thich Naht Hahn.
There are approximately 1,000 lay-led groups, called “sanghas” in the United States. There are two well-established sanghas within an hour’s drive of Buddhaland.
Several members of the Louisville Community of Mindful Living serve as board members of the nonprofit organization. The project also has connections to the Flowing River Community of Mindful Living sangha that meets monthly in Madison, Ind.
Thich Tinh Tri, a monk from Louisville, has been a regular visitor to BuddhaLand for several years. He is an American monk who was ordained in the Hue Nghiem Monastery in Vietnam. He has practiced Zen meditation for more than 22 years in the Vietnamese and Japanese Zen traditions, along with Vipassana Meditation. For two years, he has been a resident monk at Tu An Buddhist Temple in Louisville. Thich Tinh Tri will be the abbot of the Zen Forest Monastery.
Communities of the USA who follow the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh. Visitors are welcome to come and spend a relaxing day at BuddhaLand or bring a sleeping bag to camp or stay in a dormitory room at one of the various buildings on the campus. Meals are simple vegetarian and are also free. Reservations for overnight stay is required.
There will be a dedication ceremony for the “Stupa of Enlightenment” from 10 a.m. to noon Sunday, Oct. 7, with lunch provided afterward. The stupa is 25 feet tall and contains 100 volumes of Buddist scriptures and 400 Buddha statues.
The Open House will be from Oct. 6-14 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. It is “a soft opening,” said Teresa Waller, facilitator of the Flowing River Community of Mindful Living in Madison. The Grand Opening is planned for April 20-28, 2019.
Article from The News – Democrat in Carroll County, KY
Buddhaland: The county’s hidden Buddist monestary
Thursday, October 18, 2018 at 11:48 am
By Taylor Riley
Buddhaland: The county’s hidden Buddist monestary
Thursday, October 18, 2018 at 11:48 am
By Taylor Riley
Nestled on the Henry and Carroll County line, there’s 200 acres that hopes to be a site of enlightenment and mindful living.
On a road appropriately named Zen Forest, BuddhaLand is tucked deep into Turners Station. The Buddhist monastery, or community of monks, isn’t a secret, though; the 2-mile trail has been in the works for two years.
As one tours the facilities on the grounds, he or she will begin to feel the energy of the religion that focuses on personal spiritual development. You may, too, want to live among the monks in The Villages, reach enlightenment at the Stupa or recite the chants in the Tu An Temple.
The story
Nam Do, owner of BuddhaLand, is a traditional follower of Buddhism. He grew up going to the temple often with his family in Vietnam, where he said there were “temples everywhere.”
“To us, temple is house,” Do said.
By 1969, Do and his family were caught in the middle of the violent Vietnam War. The United States infiltrated Southeast Asia with hundreds of thousands of troops, as some of the natives were beginning to be sent to safer territories including North America.
Do and his family could not seek refuge until 1975 when they were fortunate to be the last group of Vietnamese to be picked up by the U.S. Navy before the communists took over the country, according to Do. His family was then relocated to the U.S.
“We were very lucky to come here,” Do said.
Do realized after many years in the U.S. that there were Vietnamese temples or Roman Catholic monasteries such as the Abbey of Gethsemani, in Nelson County, but not many places for American Buddhist monks and believers.
“American people need some type of support,” Do said.
After Do retired from the Kentucky Truck Plant where he was an engineer for 30 years, he and his devout wife decided to build a place for Americans to worship and soon BuddhaLand would become a reality.
“We wanted to pay back what we owe to (Americans),” Do said. Do previously built a farm in Henry County and knew the area was where he wanted to see his vision obtained.
The tour
Do and BuddhaLand’s Mindfulness Forest Monastery Abbot Thich Tinh Tri, an American monk, take visitors on an enthusiastic tour of the facilities beginning with the Retreat Center and Mindful Living Village.
The center, designed to be a headquarters for 500 Thich Nhat Hanh Buddhist mindful living groups in the U.S., with each group using the same practices of BuddhaLand. Do hopes that each year, the center will be used as a “good location” for an annual meeting.
The village, a 35-acre community, began construction last year. Do hopes it will be finished in the next several months with 35 cottage lots and a fully functioning Meditation Center and hall. The lots will be sold to retirees from Sangha, a community of Buddhist monks and nuns.
Next, meditators head to the stupa, a hemispherical structure containing relics, surrounded by flourishing blooms. The religious site is used as a meditation spot; it points upward so that the supplicant can have a “single point in mind,” according to the Abbot Thich Tinh Tri.
Dharma, or scrolls, are placed inside the sacred site. There are only four of these types of stupas in the U.S. and the one at BuddhaLand is the largest.
Next, the tour takes visitors to The Villages and Caves, which are small cottages on the side of a literal mountain used for monks and lay people (regular people), to meditate. There is no electric or water in the caves so that the meditations can be just as they are in Asia, fully succeeded.
Next, the site of Do’s home, which he converted into the monastery. Now, the full-time Abbot lives there, as well as teachers and local and nationwide American monks who stay for retreat and mediation. The home also holds the Chanting Hall, or the Tu An Temple, which is a place for enlightenment for devout Buddhists.
Also on the grounds of the two-mile trail is a deck that overlooks a forest that stretches to what seems like urban Cincinnati; the deck is also a place for monks to meditate.
Community of ‘brothers’
The American Abbot Thich Tinh Tri began practicing Buddhism in college, where he would go on retreats and study martial arts. As he continued his practice, he met the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, and he knew that he wanted his life to be different than his peers.
“The more I practiced, the more it made sense,” Thich Tinh Tri said.
The monk said the most essential vows for living a pious life are living with kindness and compassion.
“Knowing that suffering is universal and (then) giving with a bindless heart,” he said.
Monks are “human,” though, he pointed out.
“We constantly have to test ourselves,” he said.
Thich Tinh Tri’s thoughts about the temple were in unison with Don’s, saying, “all temples are a big family.”
“We pray together, we chant together, we meditate together,” Thich Tinh Tri said. “(And then) in-between, we play volleyball. We’re brothers.”
To tour BuddhaLand or use its facilities, contact Nam Do at 502-648-2050 or go to www.buddhaland.us
On a road appropriately named Zen Forest, BuddhaLand is tucked deep into Turners Station. The Buddhist monastery, or community of monks, isn’t a secret, though; the 2-mile trail has been in the works for two years.
As one tours the facilities on the grounds, he or she will begin to feel the energy of the religion that focuses on personal spiritual development. You may, too, want to live among the monks in The Villages, reach enlightenment at the Stupa or recite the chants in the Tu An Temple.
The story
Nam Do, owner of BuddhaLand, is a traditional follower of Buddhism. He grew up going to the temple often with his family in Vietnam, where he said there were “temples everywhere.”
“To us, temple is house,” Do said.
By 1969, Do and his family were caught in the middle of the violent Vietnam War. The United States infiltrated Southeast Asia with hundreds of thousands of troops, as some of the natives were beginning to be sent to safer territories including North America.
Do and his family could not seek refuge until 1975 when they were fortunate to be the last group of Vietnamese to be picked up by the U.S. Navy before the communists took over the country, according to Do. His family was then relocated to the U.S.
“We were very lucky to come here,” Do said.
Do realized after many years in the U.S. that there were Vietnamese temples or Roman Catholic monasteries such as the Abbey of Gethsemani, in Nelson County, but not many places for American Buddhist monks and believers.
“American people need some type of support,” Do said.
After Do retired from the Kentucky Truck Plant where he was an engineer for 30 years, he and his devout wife decided to build a place for Americans to worship and soon BuddhaLand would become a reality.
“We wanted to pay back what we owe to (Americans),” Do said. Do previously built a farm in Henry County and knew the area was where he wanted to see his vision obtained.
The tour
Do and BuddhaLand’s Mindfulness Forest Monastery Abbot Thich Tinh Tri, an American monk, take visitors on an enthusiastic tour of the facilities beginning with the Retreat Center and Mindful Living Village.
The center, designed to be a headquarters for 500 Thich Nhat Hanh Buddhist mindful living groups in the U.S., with each group using the same practices of BuddhaLand. Do hopes that each year, the center will be used as a “good location” for an annual meeting.
The village, a 35-acre community, began construction last year. Do hopes it will be finished in the next several months with 35 cottage lots and a fully functioning Meditation Center and hall. The lots will be sold to retirees from Sangha, a community of Buddhist monks and nuns.
Next, meditators head to the stupa, a hemispherical structure containing relics, surrounded by flourishing blooms. The religious site is used as a meditation spot; it points upward so that the supplicant can have a “single point in mind,” according to the Abbot Thich Tinh Tri.
Dharma, or scrolls, are placed inside the sacred site. There are only four of these types of stupas in the U.S. and the one at BuddhaLand is the largest.
Next, the tour takes visitors to The Villages and Caves, which are small cottages on the side of a literal mountain used for monks and lay people (regular people), to meditate. There is no electric or water in the caves so that the meditations can be just as they are in Asia, fully succeeded.
Next, the site of Do’s home, which he converted into the monastery. Now, the full-time Abbot lives there, as well as teachers and local and nationwide American monks who stay for retreat and mediation. The home also holds the Chanting Hall, or the Tu An Temple, which is a place for enlightenment for devout Buddhists.
Also on the grounds of the two-mile trail is a deck that overlooks a forest that stretches to what seems like urban Cincinnati; the deck is also a place for monks to meditate.
Community of ‘brothers’
The American Abbot Thich Tinh Tri began practicing Buddhism in college, where he would go on retreats and study martial arts. As he continued his practice, he met the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, and he knew that he wanted his life to be different than his peers.
“The more I practiced, the more it made sense,” Thich Tinh Tri said.
The monk said the most essential vows for living a pious life are living with kindness and compassion.
“Knowing that suffering is universal and (then) giving with a bindless heart,” he said.
Monks are “human,” though, he pointed out.
“We constantly have to test ourselves,” he said.
Thich Tinh Tri’s thoughts about the temple were in unison with Don’s, saying, “all temples are a big family.”
“We pray together, we chant together, we meditate together,” Thich Tinh Tri said. “(And then) in-between, we play volleyball. We’re brothers.”
To tour BuddhaLand or use its facilities, contact Nam Do at 502-648-2050 or go to www.buddhaland.us