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South Florida's Buddhists diverse

Date: Monday, 22-February-2010

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Dalai Lama may get the most attention, but SouthFlorida already has many Buddhist groups
James D. Davis
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
February 20, 2010

The Dalai Lama, who will speak at local collegesTuesday and Wednesday, may be the world'sbest-known Buddhist. But South Florida is alreadyfertile soil for various forms of the religion.

There's a Vietnamese temple in Davie. A temple inTamarac built by Taiwanese Buddhists. Centers forZen and Tibetan Buddhism in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties.

One of the biggest pieces of religious realestate in South Florida is the 126-acre FloridaNature Culture Center in Weston, owned by SokaGakkai International, drawn from Japanese Buddhism.

The Buddhist leader -- whose speeches at NovaSoutheastern and Florida Atlantic universitiesare sold out -- has helped catalyze the region'sspiritual development, Mai Nguyen believes.

"It used to be that not enough people were on aspiritual path," said Nguyen, director ofChakraSamvara Center in Miami Beach. "Now we havea massive number of centers and lamas andrinpoches and monks. The Dalai Lama cleared out alot of negatives for us. When he comes here, people work together."

And work they do.

In April, ChakraSamvara and the Wat BuddharangsiTemple in Miami will cosponsor an exhibit of a10-foot-tall Buddha, sculpted from a single piece of translucent jade.

Lama Glenn Mullin, who helped popularize Buddhismthrough his Mystical Arts of Tibet organization,will speak on Thursday at Books & Books in CoralGables. Mullin also will teach from Fridaythrough March 1 at ChakraSamvara Center on Miami Beach.

On Tuesday, members of the Broward Lotus Sangha,a group of Vietnamese Zen practitioners, willthrow a "tailgate party brownbag lunch" beforethe Dalai Lama's speech at Nova Southeastern --then hold a tea party at a Starbucks afterward.

Though they come from various movements, many ofthem voice admiration for the Dalai Lama. And perhaps more: affection.

"He's smart and witty, one of a kind," saidKhanya Moolsiri of Cooper City, secretary of WatBuddharangsi. "He has a charisma, wisdom,knowledge, and something like a glow around him."

Beyond the temples and study centers, Buddhismwields considerable influence. People whowouldn't don a saffron robe may try yoga ormeditation. Bookstores stock volumes like theLotus Sutra, "The Art of Happiness" by the DalaiLama -- and, of course, "Buddhism for Dummies."

"Someone could be Buddhist today, then Catholicon Sunday," said Nathan Katz, founder of theProgram in the Study of Spirituality at FloridaInternational University. "The time of fixedreligious identity is in its death throes."

Tibetan Buddhism found a local home aquarter-century ago, when students asked twomonks in New York to start a teaching mission inPalm Beach County. They met in a succession ofhouses, churches and gymnasiums, then created thePalm Beach Dharma Center in Lake Worth in 1999.

About 100 to 150 devotees chant, study andmeditate four days a week, and learn from theirtwo Tibetan teachers -- both titled rinpoche,meaning "precious one" -- sharing them withspeaking tours and a monastery in the Catskills.

For member Tim Tavis, a major appeal of TibetanBuddhism is the mystical element -- the idea ofdeities and shamans that can aid in a spiritual quest.

"For me, it's like climbing a mountain with allkinds of climbing aids," Tavis said.

The Soka Gakkai center in Weston is part of amovement that claims 12 million members in 192nations and territories. They include 2,500members in South Florida, twice as many as when the center opened in 1996.

The Weston center hosts national andinternational conferences. It also holds Sundayworship services, with people chanting before acopy of the Lotus Sutra, which Soka Gakkaiadherents see as the core teaching from theBuddha. They also hold twice-monthly youth rallies called "Rock the Era."

"In Soka Gakkai, the primary focus is on theindividual," said Ellen Soto, the center's peaceand community relations coordinator. "Everyperson has Buddhahood, an enlightened condition.You just have to awaken to it."

The Broward Lotus Sangha, which belongs to aVietnamese strain of Zen Buddhism, began meetinginformally around 2000, then incorporated in 2007.

The 50 or so regulars, who meet in west Broward,include Asians, Latinos, Jews, Christians,agnostics. "We're multicultural, multiethnic,multisexual," said Martha Martinez, the sangha's president.

Miami's Wat Buddharangsi was founded in the1980s, but the elaborate temple didn't open until2003. It's dominated by a gold-covered Buddhastatue 23 feet tall, one of the largest in theUnited States. The temple draws up to 500 for bigobservances like the birth and enlightenment of the Buddha.

Members like Khanya Moolsiri also hold dailydevotions. At a home shrine made of dozens ofBuddha statuettes, Moolsiri chants, lightscandles and incense and sends out wishes for thehealth and happiness of everyone.

"Even for animals," Moolsiri said. "When everyoneand everything is happy, you're the same. The No.1 rule of all religions is to teach people to begood. To teach the community to live in harmony."

Even people who don't practice Buddhism willlikely come to see the Dalai Lama, who hasvisited South Florida twice before. The monkstands simultaneously as an exiled martyr, a moral teacher, a hero to emulate.

That's fine with Buddhists, too.

"You know, Buddhists don't care if you'reBuddhist or not," said FIU's Katz. "If you'reChristian and the Dalai Lama touches you, and youre-create some of what he teaches, that'sperfect. That's the highest teaching there is."