We came to check out this Buddhist temple and everyone was so friendly! There was a lunch event and…read morequite bustling despite the rain. They served Biriyani, one of my favorite Burmese dishes, and the various Burmese desserts were so good and not that sweet. The temple area to pray was on the smaller side compared to the temple in Azusa and the surrounding area was also small. There is an area where someone will receive your donation. Overall, it was a lovely experience!

Amazing Buddhist Monastery that does alot for the Burmese Community here in Southern California…read more They usually have different Buddhist teachers from Burma come here and preach different sermons here during the weekdays. Weekends are usually more social events. Large Courtyard Area for seating large groups of people. Meditation Hall.

My mom wanted to do a good luck prayer for the LUNAR NEW YEAR so I searched on Yelp for the nearest…read moretemple to us and found Hsi Lai Temple!... FIRST OF ALL: WOW!! What a gorgeous and magnificent temple this is!! It has about 2 floors of parking and the temple also has additional floors to go up as well. So be expected to walk up quite a few amounts of stairs!! FIRST FLOOR: We did a prayer with a donation and it came with some apples and other assortments in a red gift bag. The red gift bag required a donation of $20 per bag so me and my mom bought 2. Then, their were some nice ladies there who helped guide is on what to do. We prayed in front of 5 statues and posted the red gift bags in the middle... SECOND FLOOR: This is where we can do another prayer with 1 incense. And this is also where the restrooms were as well so make sure you don't back down to the first floor because the RESTROOMS are on the second floor!!! PARKING: Plenty of parking. There are 2 floors available for parking!! This temple really transported us to another country!! It was also very peaceful and quiet!! SATU HSI LAI TEMPLE!!!

Hsi Lai Temple (completed in 1988) is one of the largest Buddhist temples in North America. During…read moreeach Lunar New Year, the temple transforms into a festive spot with cute decors. Many visitors from across Southern California have a tradition of visiting within the first 15 days of the Lunar New Year as this period is still considered a part of the holiday celebration. [Lunar New Year Food Fair]: Each year, the temple sets up a food fair and this year the fair happened on the 1st, 5th, and 6th days of the Lunar New Year. Always check the website for the dates the temple sets up the food fair. All dishes are 100% vegetarian. Booths were selling fa gao (Chinese steamed cake), nian gao (steamed rice cake), turnip cake, boba milk tea, and even Girl Scout cookies. [Parking]: Under normal circumstances, there is free onsite parking at the temple; however, do NOT bother trying to park at the temple on days when shuttle service is available as visitors will be redirected to a shuttle parking lot. Temporary off-site parking and shuttle buses were located at Puente Hills Mall near Round1. Check the website for shuttle service dates. This year the shuttle service was offered on the 1st, 5th, 6th, and 12th days of the Lunar New Year. The shuttle service operated from 8 AM to 5 PM. There were two types of shuttles - big buses dropped off at the street level so guests needed to walk up to the temple while small shuttles dropped off in front of the Bodhisattva Hall. [Other experience outside of food fair]: There were booths selling cute zodiac charms. Most visitors come here to do the following acitivities (1) ring the Peace Bell, (2) view art gallery exhibitions like calligraphy, (3) attend Dharma services, (4) participate in the Light Offering Ceremony on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year, (5) enjoy cultural performances on the 1st day of the Lunar New Year, (6) drink free hot teas at the information center, (7) throw pennies and try to hit a bell at the Arhat Garden, and (8) throw golden medallions with red ribbons at the tree. Visitors can go behind the Bodhisattva Hall to stop by the Main Shrine. At the Main Shrine, visitors can get free incense, pray & bow to Buddhas, and place it in the giant incense burner. Visitors can also purchase light offerings for $120 per person as well as other offering items at tables near the giant incense burner. [Photo]: Outdoors ONLY. [Prohibits]: No meat, fish, poultry, alcoholic beverages, smoking and vaping (e-cigarette), any use of marijuana, bicycles, rollerblading, skateboarding, pets (except certified service animals), and drone planes. [Dress code - preferred]: Shirts with sleeves (male and female), no tank tops, shorts, short skirts/dresses, flip-flops, or slippers. [Conclusion]: The temple offers one of the most comprehensive Lunar New Year food experiences in the entire Southern California. This is also one of the most festive places in Southern California during Lunar New Year. Highly recommend to stop by here at least once to experience the celebration. P.S. - The temple has a really good vegetarian lunch buffet.

What is unique about Parami Buddha Vihara in Los Angeles Myanmar Buddhist Community is bringing…read moreboth the younger and the older generations together. The Monastery offers regular Buddhist study courses that abridge the spiritual and cultural gaps between the U.S born kids and their parents. While the young are being trained in Buddhist values and Burmese language programs, the adults also are having the opportunities to engage in meditation practices, initiating their sons and daughters into being monastic novice-hood and Buddhist nunhood and Buddhist Yogi lives. In so doing, Myanmar Buddhist families are able to maintain their spiritual, cultural, and national heritage of their homeland. Because of this uniqueness, Myanmar Buddhist families can narrow the gap, and mostly likely they can abridge a generation gap by staying connected to Parami Buddha Vihara in many ways they can.

Parami Buddha Vihara is a recently founded Burmese Theravada Buddhist monastery, among others that…read morehave mushroomed in the SGV since the 1990s. As with most Burmese monasteries, Parami is a converted home located in a residential neighborhood, with patio on the backyard for Burmese-style ah-hlu donation celebrations and a main shrine room in the front of the house. The monastery's home base used to be a small house (next to the Vietnamese Xa Loi Temple) on Del Mar Ave. in Rosemead. What sets Parami apart are its Burmese language and Buddhist Dhamma courses (offered on Sundays, akin to Sunday school), offered to both children and adults, including lessons in core beliefs, Pali scriptures and prominent suttas, Buddhist ethics, among other topics. This is a rarity in the Burmese American community, as monasteries typically focus on merit-making services and religious ceremonies, which IMHO, are less practical.

The most beautiful stunning temple. The food is amazing and delicious. The people are kind and I…read morelove it here. 10000000000/5 stars if I could live here I would.

The Master Monk of the new Hai Tang Buddhist Temple is named Nhat Thanh. He practiced several years…read morein India, the origin land of Buddha. If you ever get the chance, please visit this temple and say hello to Monk Nhat Thanh. Overall, it's such a wonderful and peaceful experience. Despite your need for the visit, whether it's for a spiritual guidance or daily prayer, this temple is open every day of the week and everyone is extremely welcoming. You and your soul will definitely find a sense of peace and calmness as your worries and sorrows will also fade away here. In addition, there's plenty of vegetarian dishes available each day for you to choose and purchase from; every dish is made with so much love and care. Your donations will go a long way to help further build the temple. There's also group prayers every Tuesday, Thursday, & Saturday around 7pm along with weekend gatherings. The environment here is like no other, the Hai Tang Temple is truly so beautiful and spacious. I love this temple with all my heart and I know your donations would be greatly appreciated here as well!

DhammaCakraTra (DCT) adalah organisasi non-profit Indonesian Buddhist di California yang mana…read morekebanyakan dari member nya adalah masyarakat Indonesia. DCT mengadakan kebaktian pada hri sabtu kedua dan minggu keempat di setiap bulan nya. DCT juga mengundang pendeta2 Buddhist dan professional speakers secara rutin untuk memberikan Dhammadesana (Dhammatalk) di hampir setiap kebaktian. Most of the Dhammatalks are in English. DCT membuka pintu untuk semua orang yang tertarik dan ingin belajar Buddha Dhamma.

I had the immense privilege to be able to join this temple's celebration of Losar, the Tibetan New…read moreYear. (Tashi delek) is what I heard upon entering this temple, with kindness emanating from the Tibetan monks as well as the Chinese speaking docent of the temple. Services are often conducted in Tibetan, Mandarin, and English, and visitors such as myself are welcome to participate in the Buddhist religious practices, such as the mantra chanting. Buddhists of all ethnic backgrounds come here to be in community with their faith. On this occasion, Tibetans gathered to celebrate their New Year and generously allowed us to celebrate with them.

I'm taking their Beginner's level Tibetan language class here. Their pedagogy is very different…read morefrom other American schools', e.g., Beverly Hills Lingual Institute, UC extension. Instead of the familiar explanatory and full immersion approaches which American schools usually employ, Land of Compassion Buddha's monks pretty much use the most primitive way to teach a new language-recitation, memorization and repeated practices-in class! I basically don't do any revision at home, as I'm busy with other things; and they go over the new things like 30 or 50 times in class with us to make sure we do the work even if after class we don't study ourselves. I'm wondering if it's a monastic way of language learning as self-study may not take up as much time of a student's, at least when they are on elementary level. Just my guess. Venerable Thupten Jangchu is pretty awesome. I honestly don't remember learning like this after graduating from the kindergarten at six. He guarantees everyone in the whole class "gets it" before he moves on to something new so it becomes not only about learning but also practicing patience, which is sometimes even more important to a student. My class becomes something I look forward to through the week. Nothing is better than learning a new thing in a tranquil place filled with beautiful dharma (the teachings of the Buddha) tools and nice people. The accent/dialect Venerable Jangchu teaches is Khampa which is spoken in Eastern Tibet. If you need to learn another accent/dialect, you should ask in advance when you sign up. I think I paid about $200 for a boot camp lasting 1.5 months. The text book costs $15. A steal, right? Oh, no shoes in the center. There's tea for students. Just make sure you clean up after yourself. Volunteer to put the study trays and sitting cushion back to the storage after class. There are no chairs; we sit on the floor so I find pants more convenient than dresses or skirts. As for lunch, the mall with eateries, Starbucks, Westfield and Ikea is 5 minutes away.

It's a beautiful temple. We come here to pray, worship and guidance - usually during times of…read morecelebration or need. The people have always been kind and parking never seems to be an issue.

For Vietnamese New Years, my family and I always like to go to many temples to pray for our…read morefamily's well-being for the entire year. Every year I try to find more temples to take my mom and my aunties so when my friend from my temple's youth group posted a picture with her family here, I knew I had to bookmark it for when I had the chance to come by. I believe this is a Chinese temple. The only big difference from the Chinese temples and the Vietnamese temples I have been to so far is that the Chinese temples let you wear your shoes indoors whereas you take off your shoes when you enter the mainhall at a Vietnamese temple. My auntie and I entered the main hall and my auntie was in awe. She was so happy at the architectural beauty and the temple and the amazing Buddhist statues that they have here. She said it resembled a temple back in our hometown in Vietnam that she would come and visit when she came back from the city. She was so excited that she told me to take pictures to show my mom and their other siblings. Of course, I will have to take my mom back here to experience that resemblance first hand. The smell of the incense already filled the air throughout the mainhall so my auntie and I decided to just burn one incense to prevent wasting too many incenses during the festive New Years celebrating. We said our prayers for the family and walked around to admire the temple. I think they had some New Years fortune things, but I am not able to read the writing so there was no point to grab any fortunes. Among the many tables in the mainhall, I saw this interesting table with red ribbon tied to a coin and I asked the volunteer behind the counter what it was for. From what my nonverbal skills could decipher the red ribbon with the coin is $5 each and the purpose is to make a wish and then throw the ribbon onto this wishing tree for good luck. I'm not sure if this is a new year thing or a Chinese Temple thing... but it sounded fun so I gave the volunteer $10 so that my auntie and I could make some wishes to start off the New Year on positive vibes. I don't know if it matters how high we throw it but I made sure to throw it onto a really high branch!! This is a really nice temple to visit if you are looking for a temple to visit in the area or if you are just curious and want to stop by to check it out for yourself. Lunar New Years is definitely one of the most festive times of the year to visit temple and in my opinion the best time to visit even if you aren't Buddhist.

This review is long overdue! During Lunar New Year, while visiting my grandma, my aunt told me…read moreabout Ton Thang Temple. I was in the middle of my own temple tour--visiting 10 different temples in two weeks--and she mentioned that this one was new, really pretty, and had a unique $20 donation package that included flowers, incense, and a chance to throw your fortune into a tree. So the next day, my partner, friend, and I dropped by--and wow. This temple is beautiful. It's on the smaller side, but there's something about being here that filled me with warmth. The space was decorated with stunning flowers around the statues, and there were plenty of spots for Lunar New Year photos. Once I stepped inside, I immediately felt a sense of peace. The volunteers were incredibly kind, making the experience even more special. Since the temple is still relatively new, there weren't too many visitors when I went (though that could be because I arrived around 4 PM). I'm definitely adding this temple to my rotation for next year's tour!