Organization
Community Of Khmer Buddhist Monks
The Community of Khmer Buddhist Monks, Inc. (CKBM) is a Theravada Buddhist organization of Khmer monks and lay people in Lowell, Massachusetts.[1] It was incorporated in 1993 to build unity among Khmer Buddhist monks and lay practitioners in Lowell and to promote Theravada Buddhism and Cambodian cultural traditions, and it is the organization behind the Vatt Khmer Lowell temple and cultural center project on Townsend Avenue.[1]
History
CKBM received its federal tax exemption as a Buddhist religious organization in August 1995.[2] In 2014 it published a directory of Khmer Buddhist temples in the United States and other countries, compiled by Bhikkhu Pat Sophal and updated on April 2, 2014.[3] The directory listed CKBM at 48 Townsend Avenue with a second phone number, (978) 251-2587, and a fax number, (978) 251-1198.[3] The address on record dates from 2011 to 2019.
The Venerable Sao Khon served as CKBM's head monk in 2013.[4] By 2022 he was its president, under the name Venerable Sao Khon Dharma Thero.[1] While it worked toward its temple, CKBM also organized an annual water festival modeled on the water festival in Cambodia, which marks a naval victory in the reign of King Jayavarman VII in the 12th century. The community had a traditional long boat shipped from Cambodia for the celebration.[5]
Temple project
CKBM announced its plan for a new temple in 2011. It set up a board to oversee the project and brought professionals and other Cambodians from outside the religious community onto it. The Buddhist scholar Nhem Kimteng joined the executive committee.[4] The planned Vatt Khmer Lowell is a three-story temple in a style that recalls Angkor Wat: a white building on stilts, its scalloped stupa, a pagoda-like tower, rising above a clearing near the Merrimack River.[4][6] It is meant as a place of worship, a monastery for monks from Cambodia and other countries, and a center for Khmer arts, history and language.[4]
By May 2015 the project had 12 acres (about 4.9 hectares) of land beside the river and had raised $840,000. Its plans also included a cultural center and a facility for seniors.[6] By 2022 the design had grown to a 30,000-square-foot (about 2,800-square-meter) temple and cultural space, where children of Cambodian heritage could learn the Khmer language and their ancestors' culture. Plans also called for a library and a museum of Khmer culture linked with the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and for nearby homes for female monastics and elders.[1] The 84,000 Buddha Campaign set out to raise $10 million by enshrining 84,000 Buddha images in the temple complex, each with its donor's name engraved in the base. Donations have come from Buddhists and non-Buddhists, Cambodians and others, around the world. Five hundred monks were expected at the inauguration planned for 2020.[1]
Vatt Khmer Lowell is backed by its own separately registered local corporation.[1]
See also
- Vatt Khmer Lowell, the temple and cultural center project CKBM is behind
- All organizations
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Buddhistdoor Global, When the Dharma came to Lowell (June 2022)
- ↑ TaxExemptWorld, Middlesex County, Massachusetts organizations (2021)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Khmer Buddhist Temples Directory, 2558 B.E. (2014)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Long Beach Post, Sex and the Single Monk (October 2013)
- ↑ Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Reflections from Lowell
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Atlantic, This Cambodian monk is building a mini Angkor Wat in Lowell (May 2015)