Wat
Wat Samakki Dhammikaram
Wat Samakki Dhammikaram (វត្តសាមគ្គីធម្មិការាម, Wat Samakkidhammikaram) is a Cambodian Buddhist temple at 26 Rugby Road in Brooklyn, New York.[1][2] It stands off Caton Avenue in Prospect Park South, just south of Prospect Park, in a Queen Anne-style house. Its sign reads "Watt Samakki-Dhammikaram, A Cambodian Buddhist Temple, All Are Welcomed!"[2][3]
History
The temple was founded in 1983.[4][3] In 1987 the Cambodian American Society Humanitarian Association of New York and New Jersey bought the house in Prospect Park South and set it up as a pagoda. Its founders wanted a place where people could come to keep their culture, traditions and religion.[2]
In the 1980s the temple was more than a place of worship. New York had few Cambodian restaurants or grocery stores, and families gathered there for weekly potlucks.[4] In the 1990s rent increases and worries about crime led many Cambodian families to leave Brooklyn for Lowell, Massachusetts, and Long Beach, California. About 400 Cambodian families remained in Brooklyn in 2017.[3]
In 2011 a directory of Khmer temples listed the Venerable Samvarasilo Long Mean as abbot, with the telephone number 718-856-8918, the email address wsd@watt-samakki-dhammikaram.org and the website www.watt-samakki-dhammikaram.org.[5][6][7] The same telephone number appeared in a 2024 listing.[1]
A newly appointed treasurer required that every transaction be posted on a website he built. By 2015 the temple said it had raised $110,000 the year before and accounted for all of it.[4] Mean Mak joined the board in 2014, first as treasurer and then as chairman, and raised a little over $100,000 for the temple by 2017.[3] In 2018 the Brooklyn Eagle gave his time on the board as six years. Mak said a transparency policy he adopted brought back the congregation's trust. Kenny Seng was the temple's executive president in 2018.[2]
Religious life
Cambodian monks in orange robes lead evening prayers, and ceremonies are held in Khmer.[3][4] In late November 2017 two monks lived at the temple, the Venerable Bunthoeun Thor and the Venerable Bunsim Oung. Their prayers that evening lasted about 45 minutes, before an altar with a large gold Buddha image at the center, two other gold Buddha images beside it and more images in stone and wood.[3] The temple's achar, an unordained prayer leader chosen by the community, leads prayers and chants.[4]
Four or five times a year the house and the surrounding block fill for festivals, such as Cambodian New Year in mid-April and Kathen in mid-to-late October.[3] Kathen marks the end of the rainy season. It is the offering of new robes to monks who have finished their three-month rainy-season retreat, and today it is also the main fundraiser for the pagoda.[2] A monk in a new robe leads worshippers carrying gifts and flowers, and the congregation circles the temple three times to the beat of drums. Believers regard the three circuits as a way to keep the devil from entering the temple.[2][4] About $45,000 was raised at Kathen in 2018, and the money pays for repairs and utilities.[2] Guest monks from Philadelphia in 2015 and from Virginia in 2018 spoke to the congregation.[4][2]
Community
The Brooklyn Eagle and NYCity News Service called it Brooklyn's only Cambodian Buddhist temple. In 2015 Roads & Kingdoms called it the only Cambodian temple in New York City, while a 2017 account counted two, with Wat Jotanaram in the Bronx regarded as a cousin temple.[2][4][3] It is a place where the generations of New York's Cambodian community meet. In 2015 it served mostly older members, and older women cooked the food shared there.[4]
Festivals bring music, dancing and homemade food such as spring rolls, noodles, fish cakes, cold beef and spicy vegetables, and every family brings a dish.[3] Mak called the temple less religious than before and more like a community center, with Cambodian dance lessons and parties alongside prayer and teaching.[3] Temple leaders have worked to draw young people and bring the next generation onto the board. In 2018 three girls in traditional costume performed classical Khmer dance at Kathen, and leaders hoped to teach the Cambodian language soon. Khmer classes had already been planned in 2015 but had not begun.[2][3][4] On December 17, 2017, the temple planned a party for Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia, with Cambodian dancers and artists and the Bronx Cambodian community.[3]
Visiting
The front yard holds large Buddha images, stone animal statues, a small carved wooden pagoda and a golden arch over the entrance, under Cambodian and Buddhist flags.[3][2] In 2017 Mak said visitors could meet the monks, say prayers, learn about Buddhism and join the festivals, and the monks said they hoped to lead prayers at the same time every day, open to all.[3]
Associations
Cambodian American Society Humanitarian Association of New York and New Jersey (associated organization).[8]
The Brooklyn Eagle states that this association acquired the Rugby Road house in 1987 and established it as a pagoda. Current ownership and governance are not stated.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wat Khmers, Khmer pagodas in New York (2024)
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Brooklyn Eagle, In the heart of Brooklyn a devout Cambodian culture celebrates centuries-old traditions (November 2, 2018)
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 NYCity News Service, All are welcome at Brooklyn's Cambodian Temple (December 2, 2017)
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 Roads & Kingdoms, The Last Temple (November 23, 2015)
- ↑ Temple News, Networks, page 16 (October 31, 2011)
- ↑ Temple News, temple listings, page 54 (October 31, 2011)
- ↑ National Cambodian American Organizations, Cambodian National Directory
- ↑ Brooklyn Eagle (November 2, 2018)