Best Of Buddhism

Exterior of the City of 10,000 Buddhas (Ukiah, CA)

Exterior of the City of 10,000 Buddhas, an active Buddhist community in Ukiah, California, 2007 (Photo by: Kimberly Harrison)

Monks Perform Sunday Service at Tinh Xa Quan Am Temple (Seattle, WA)

Sunday morning service at Tinh Xa Quan Am in Seattle, Washington. 7-4-93 Photo by J. Song 0938 #24

Statue of Kuan Yin at Hsi Lai Temple (Hacienda Heights, CA)

Statue of Kuan Yin at Hsi Lai Temple, Hacienda Heights, California

Placing Gold Leaf on a Buddha Statue During Songkran New Year's Celebration (North Hollywood, CA)

Members of community placing gold leaf on statue of the Buddha during Songkran New Year's celebration at Wat Thai in North Hollywood, California Wat Thai, LA 0938 #58 (PP)

Opening Ceremony for Tibet Week at Emory University (Atlanta, GA)

Buddhist monks from the Drepung Loseling monastery conduct the opening ceremony for Tibet Week at Emory University in the student center. The ceremony includes deep throatal chanting, which is intended to "lift the human spirit to the level of God," according to Geshe Lobsang, director of the Loseling Institute and religion faculty at Emory. (Photo: Josh Phillipson and Katy E. Shrout/The Pluralism Project)

The Center of the Mandala (Atlanta, GA)

The center of a mandala is always a symbol of an enlightened value. For the community mandala, the value is wisdom: appropriate for a university community. All around the center, a mantra to the Buddha of Wisdom is repeated: Om Ah Rapa Tsa Na Dhi. (Photo: Josh Phillipson and Katy E. Shrout/The Pluralism Project)

Monks Finishing a Mandala (Atlanta, GA)

Three days later, the community mandala is nearly complete: dozens of hands have worked on it. (Photo: Josh Phillipson and Katy E. Shrout/The Pluralism Project)

Monks Prepare a Sand Mandala (Atlanta, GA)

The Loseling monks prepare to create a mandala, or sand painting. (Photo: Josh Phillipson and Katy E. Shrout/The Pluralism Project)

Chua Van Duc (Biloxi, MS)

Thich Nu An Tri, a Buddhist nun, rings a bell during the Sunday morning service at Chua Van Duc, a Buddhist temple in Biloxi, Mississippi. The members of the temple paid Thich Nu An Tri's way to America from Vietnam so she could be their spiritual leader. (Photo: Cindy Brown/The Pluralism Project)

Chua Van Duc (Biloxi, MS)

Thich Nu An Tri, a Buddhist nun, rings a bell during the Sunday morning service at Chua Van Duc, a Buddhist temple in Biloxi, Mississippi. The members of the temple paid Thich Nu An Tri's way to America from Vietnam so she could be their spiritual leader. (Photo: Cindy Brown/The Pluralism Project)

Arhat Garden (Hacienda Heights, CA)

Arhat Garden pluralism.org

Kurukulla Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies (Medford, MA)

An array of offerings, provided by lay members of the community for a special ceremony to honor Tara, sits before the altar at the Kurukulla Center in Medford.

LamaChuckStanford_MonkInPrayer

Tibetan Monk in prayer prior to teachings given by H.H. Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India in March 1998 - NOT IN AMERICA

Tibetan Monk in Prayer

Tibetan Monk in prayer prior to teachings given by H.H. Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India in March 1998 - NOT IN AMERICA

Statue of the Buddha at Mahayana Dharma Center (Spring Green, WI)

Statue of the Buddha at Mahayana Dharma Center pluralism.org

Midwest Buddhist Meditation Center (Warren, Michigan)

Thanks After Eating "May all that live be happy and without suffering." (Photo: Bill McNeece/The Pluralism Project)

Prayer Leader Before Buddha (Columbia, PA)

Prayer leader before Buddha, with detail of the main altar in the foreground. pluralism.org

Buddha Statue at Rocky Mountain Buddhist Center (Missoula, MT)

Buddha Statue at Rocky Mountain Buddhist Center (Missoula, MT)

Buddha Statue (Missoula, MT)

Buddha Statue at Rocky Mountain Buddhist Center (Missoula, MT)

Prayer at Sandhikaram Wat Khmer (Lynn, MA)

Buddha_Project_33.tif Sanghikaram Wat Khmer, Lynn, MA 11/2000 Photo: Kris Snibbe/Harvard Pluralism Project Lotus file # 34 Frame #22

Children Light Incense at Sandhikaram Wat Khmer (Lynn MA)

Buddha_Project_50.tif 11/2000 Photo: Kris Snibbe/Harvard Pluralism Project Lotus file #7 Frame #31a

A Monk at Sandhikaram Wat Khmer (Lynn, MA)

Buddha_Project_56.tif Sanghikaram Wat Khmer, Lynn, MA 10/2000 Lotus File #1 frame #15.tif

Children at Sandhikaram Wat Khmer (Lynn, MA)

Buddha_Project_5.tif Lotus File 12 Frame #1a Photo: Kris Snibbe/Harvard University Pluralism Project