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California
Related: About this forumBuddha seems to bring tranquility to Oakland neighborhood
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/johnson/article/Buddha-seems-to-bring-tranquillity-to-Oakland-5757592.phpThe 11th Avenue resident in Oakland's Eastlake neighborhood was simply feeling hopeful in 2009 when he went to an Ace hardware store, purchased a 2-foot-high stone Buddha and installed it on a median strip in a residential area at 11th Avenue and 19th Street.
He hoped that just maybe his small gesture would bring tranquillity to a neighborhood marred by crime: dumping, graffiti, drug dealing, prostitution, robberies, aggravated assault and burglaries.
What happened next was nothing short of stunning. Area residents began to leave offerings at the base of the Buddha: flowers, food, candles. A group of Vietnamese women in prayer robes began to gather at the statue to pray.
And the neighborhood changed. People stopped dumping garbage. They stopped vandalizing walls with graffiti. And the drug dealers stopped using that area to deal. The prostitutes went away.
He hoped that just maybe his small gesture would bring tranquillity to a neighborhood marred by crime: dumping, graffiti, drug dealing, prostitution, robberies, aggravated assault and burglaries.
What happened next was nothing short of stunning. Area residents began to leave offerings at the base of the Buddha: flowers, food, candles. A group of Vietnamese women in prayer robes began to gather at the statue to pray.
And the neighborhood changed. People stopped dumping garbage. They stopped vandalizing walls with graffiti. And the drug dealers stopped using that area to deal. The prostitutes went away.
In that case, Ukiah in Mendocino County must have no crime at all!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Ten_Thousand_Buddhas
The City Of Ten Thousand Buddhas (Chinese: 萬佛聖城; pinyin: Wànfó Shèngchéng, Vietnamese: Chùa Vạn Phật Thánh Thành) is an international Buddhist community and monastery founded by Hsuan Hua, an important figure in Western Buddhism. It is one of the first Chinese Zen Buddhist temples in the United States, and one of the largest Buddhist communities in the Western Hemisphere.
The city is situated in Talmage, Mendocino County, California about 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Ukiah, and 110 miles (180 km) north of San Francisco. It was one of the first Buddhist monasteries built in the United States. The temple follows the Guiyang Ch'an School, one of the five houses of classical Chinese Ch'an. The city is noted for their close adherence to the vinaya, the austere traditional Buddhist monastic code.
The city is situated in Talmage, Mendocino County, California about 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Ukiah, and 110 miles (180 km) north of San Francisco. It was one of the first Buddhist monasteries built in the United States. The temple follows the Guiyang Ch'an School, one of the five houses of classical Chinese Ch'an. The city is noted for their close adherence to the vinaya, the austere traditional Buddhist monastic code.
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Buddha seems to bring tranquility to Oakland neighborhood (Original Post)
KamaAina
Sep 2014
OP
dhill926
(16,317 posts)1. K & R....
Very cool .
silverweb
(16,402 posts)2. Beautiful.
[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I hope the transformation lasts.
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)3. Some of those things seem strange.
I can understand leaving offerings and saying prayers and all of that, but why would drug dealers and prostitutes leave? If they did leave, it was probably for reasons other than the statue.
noiretextatique
(27,275 posts)4. also, demographics in Oakland are changing rapidly
because of the soaring rents. i left my 1 bedroom 3 years ago paying $750.00. the rent increased to $1400.00. i welcome the buddha, but the price of living in Oakland is driving a lot of people out.
mackerel
(4,412 posts)5. is that why there are so many Oakland
Transplants in Vallejo these days?