Wat

Wat Jetapon Khemararam

វត្តជេតពនខេមរារាម


Wat Jetapon Khemararam (វត្តជេតពនខេមរារាម) is a Theravada Khmer Buddhist temple on Crystal Lake Boulevard in south Dallas, Texas.[1][2][3] It is known in English as the Cambodian Buddhist Temple of Dallas, and its name is also written Wat Jetaphon Khemararam.[1][4] Its entrance gate is a replica of the towers of Angkor Wat.[5]

History

The temple has stood in a wooded part of south Dallas since 1985.[1][5]

Over about four and a half years, the 11 monks then living at the temple and community volunteers carved and sculpted a new temple gate by hand. They modeled it on the towers of Angkor Wat, with its images of the Buddhist universe. The finished gate is about 9.8 meters (32 feet) wide and 9.8 meters (32 feet) high.[1][4][5] The temple's festival listing called the gates the only replicas of their kind in the world.[4]

The temple marked the gate's completion with a three-day public festival from June 10 to 12, 2016. More than 150 monks from across the United States and from Cambodia were expected to attend and give blessings. The program included monks' blessings and chanting on the Friday evening, food offerings to the monks at 11 a.m. on the Saturday and Sunday, cultural parades around the grounds, and traditional dance and music on the main stage. City and community leaders joined a ribbon-cutting at the gate at 2 p.m. on June 12.[4][5][1]

The temple had held the festival for 31 years, but 2016 was the first time it promoted the event to the wider public. "The temple has always welcomed the public, but this is the first time where they're reaching outside of their community," said spokeswoman Teresa Nguyen.[5] She called the gate a source of great pride for the local community because of the place of Angkor Wat in Khmer history, culture and religion.[5]

Temple and grounds

The Angkor Wat gate forms the entrance. The grounds hold several temple buildings and many Buddha images, including a reclining Buddha. The monks live on the grounds, and signs in English mark some buildings as monks' quarters.[6]

The temple stands among several other places of worship. It is about 400 meters (a quarter mile) from the Cao Dai Tay Ninh Temple of Dallas, and Homprakhoon Baptist Church, Wat Lao Sirimoungkhoun of Dallas and the St. John Neumann Redemptorist Monastery are nearby.[6]

Religious life

The temple follows the Theravada tradition.[3] In 2016, 11 monks lived at the temple, and a 2026 directory of Khmer temples in the United States lists five.[1][7]

The temple observes Pchum Ben, the Khmer festival honoring ancestors, and the Khmer New Year.[8][9][10]

Festivals

The Khmer New Year celebration runs over two days in April and draws large crowds for live music, traditional Khmer dancing and food vendors. In 2025 it ran on April 12 from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and on April 13 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and it took place again in April 2026.[9][10][11]

Each summer the temple holds a two-day street food festival as a fundraiser, with Cambodian and Southeast Asian dishes from several vendors. In 2025 it opened on Saturday, July 19, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and continued on Sunday, July 20, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with free admission.[12]

The 2016 gate festival had more than two dozen vendors selling Cambodian street food such as beef skewers, papaya salad, coconut ice cream and sugarcane juice. It also had a marketplace for jewelry and home goods, cultural performances and fortune telling. Admission and parking were free.[5][1]

Cultural program

Selepak Khmer Angkor is the temple's Sunday school program for preserving the Khmer arts.[13]

Visiting

In 2019 the grounds were open and visitors could walk freely around them.[6] The Khmer New Year is held in April, and the summer street food festival has free admission.[9][12]

Associations

Cambodian Buddhist Temple Of Dallas, Inc. (associated organization).[14]
Legal name: Cambodian Buddhist Temple of Dallas, Inc..
The temple is also documented publicly as the Cambodian Buddhist Temple of Dallas or Wat Jetaphon Khemararam.[1] The cited sources do not establish present corporate standing or property ownership.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 D Magazine, Cambodian Festival Celebrates New Temple Gates With Food and Culture (2016)
  2. ↑ Wat Khemara Ratanaram, directory of Khmer temples in Texas
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 BuddhaNet World Buddhist Directory, Texas
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 CultureMap Dallas, Cambodian Buddhist Temple of Dallas presents Cambodian Festival and Ceremony (2016)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 CultureMap Dallas, Dallas festival draws worldwide attention with extraordinary unveiling at Cambodian temple (2016)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Dees Stribling, The Cambodian Buddhist Temple of Dallas (2019)
  7. ↑ Bhikkhu Pat Sophal, Cambodian Buddhist Temples in the USA, B.E. 2570 (2026)
  8. ↑ YouTube, Pchum Ben at the Cambodian Buddhist Temple of Dallas, October 10, 2010
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 C-NOW, The Cambodian Buddhist Temple of Dallas Happy Khmer New Year 2025 (Facebook)
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 YouTube, Happy Cambodian New Year 2026, the Cambodian Buddhist Temple of Dallas
  11. ↑ YouTube, A Beautiful Evening at the Dallas Khmer Temple, Khmer New Year 2026
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 CultureMap Dallas, food and drink events, week of July 14, 2025
  13. ↑ Selepak Khmer Angkor, Facebook page
  14. ↑ BuddhaNet World Buddhist Directory, Texas

Sources

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This page was last edited on 26 September 2026, at 23:15.