Wat

Trairatanaram Temple


Trairatanaram Temple (Wat Trairatanaram, also Triratanaram) is a Theravada Khmer Buddhist temple on Quigley Avenue in North Chelmsford, Massachusetts.[1][2] It is one of the two major Khmer temples serving the Cambodian community of Lowell, and one of the first to serve the area.[1][3]

History

In the mid-1980s members of the Cambodian American community around Lowell bought a former Knights of Columbus hall in North Chelmsford and made it a Khmer Buddhist place of worship. They invited the Venerable Sao Khon Dhamathero (also given as Khon Sao), a Cambodian monk who had lived in Thailand, to serve there.[4] He founded the temple in 1985 under the sponsorship of the Venerable Maha Ghosananda (also spelled Ghosanada) and became its chief abbot.[1][3] Dhamathero had been ordained a novice monk in Cambodia in 1948, at age 14, and became a monk six years later.[1]

From its founding until the late 1990s the temple was active in Lowell's Cambodian community and took part in cultural activities in the area. Under Dhamathero it built youth programs, including programs to keep Khmer young people out of gangs. He joined the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association in 1986. In 1993 he helped found the Community Of Khmer Buddhist Monks, Inc., which works to bring Cambodian temples under one umbrella organization, and he served as its president until 2004.[1][5] Choun Chek came to live at the temple after the 1997 coup in Cambodia, and he and Sao at first agreed to serve together as spiritual leaders.[4]

The temple's tie to the Community of Khmer Buddhist Monks led to disagreements among its board, monks and lay community, and the tensions ended most of its outreach programs. Services continued, but the monks and lay members divided into "upstairs" and "downstairs" communities in the same building. As of 2019 Dhamathero led the upstairs temple and the Venerable Sarain was head monk of the downstairs community.[1][5]

In the spring of 2007 the temple held the funeral services of Maha Ghosananda, who had died on March 12, 2007, at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, Massachusetts. More than 3,000 people from across New England attended.[1] Ghosananda, often called Cambodia's Gandhi, had represented the Cambodian nation-in-exile at the United Nations in 1980, held the position of Supreme Buddhist Patriarch of Cambodia in 1988, and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995, 1996 and 1997.[3][1]

Directory records also use the institutional name Trairatanaram Temple, Inc.[2] In 2014 a temple directory listed Wat Trairatanaram at 21 Quigley Avenue with the telephone number (978) 251-2587. In 2019 the Pluralism Project listed 21–25 Quigley Avenue and the number 978-251-3374.[6][7] The 2026 directory of Cambodian Buddhist temples in the United States listed four monks.[2]

Architecture

The temple is a large building with white aluminum siding in a residential neighborhood. In 2006 it flew Buddhist, Cambodian and American flags, and three ornate boats shown at local water festivals stood near the parsonage.[5][4] Because of the disputes, it has two main worship areas.[1]

The upstairs hall is the original hall and the more elaborate of the two. It is a large open room hung with scenes of the Buddha's life, images of well-known Khmer monks, and Buddhist sayings in Khmer, Pali and English. Large photographs of Maha Ghosananda hang near the altars. A main altar stands behind two lower ones, and all three are multi-tiered and hold dozens of Buddha images of many shapes and sizes.[5][1] A photograph of the temple's grand opening hangs on an upstairs wall.[4]

The downstairs space is reached through the back door and down a flight of stairs. Its large hall has colorful murals of the Buddha's life and a small altar with dozens of Buddha images. The temple also has a kitchen, a dining room, a library and a monks' residence, and outside stand an outdoor altar and a small stage for larger gatherings.[1]

Religious life

As of 2019, chanting, prayer and food offerings to the monks took place daily at about 11 a.m., and evening chanting alternating with meditation began at 7 p.m. Special services, such as the Buddha's Birthday and Cambodian New Year, came four or five times a year and could draw as many as 600 people. The temple also held funerals and weddings, and its monks visited homes for small private ceremonies.[1][5] Both communities used Lowell's local cable network for a weekly Khmer-language television program about Buddhism and temple and community events.[1]

Visiting

As of 2019 the temple was open daily from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.[1]

Associations

Community Of Khmer Buddhist Monks (associated organization).[8] Organization details: Community Of Khmer Buddhist Monks.
The association is documented in the historical account last updated in 2019. The independent organization and the temple’s internal communities are not merged by this listing.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 Harvard Pluralism Project, Trairatanaram Temple (updated July 9, 2019)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Wat Ratanarangsey blog, 2026 Directory of Wat Khmer or Cambodian Buddhist Temples in the USA
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Atlas of Home, The Cambodians in Lowell, Massachusetts (2026)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Boston Magazine, The Battling Buddhists (May 15, 2006)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Harvard Pluralism Project archive, Trairatanaram Temple
  6. ↑ Temple News, 2558 Khmer Buddhist Temples Directory (2014)
  7. ↑ Pluralism Project, Buddhist Centers in Boston
  8. ↑ Harvard Pluralism Project

Sources

Retrieved from "https://dev.khmerconnection.com/w/index.php?title=Trairatanaram_Temple&oldid=8215"
This page was last edited on 27 September 2026, at 00:13.