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Buddhist teacher for Vietnamese immigrants

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Kusala Bhikshu was ordained a Buddhist monk in Los Angeles 17 years ago

Vietnamese immigrants in California have hired a white American man to teach Buddhism to their kids because they think they will relate to the teacher and to his English. Lisa Napoli reports from Long Beach. (Photo: Lisa Napoli) Download MP3

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KATY CLARK: I’m Katy Clark and this is The World. Immigrants often find that the difficult adjustment to life in America is a little easier at a house of worship. So it is with a Vietnamese community in Southern California. These immigrants are keeping their religion alive for the next generation thanks to an unlikely partnership. Lisa Napoli has our story.

LISA NAPOLI:  Sunday afternoon is a busy time on the grounds of the Gotama Temple on Orange Avenue in Long Beach. Inside, prayers are chanted next to an ornate altar. An outdoor kitchen is in full force, as elderly Vietnamese enjoy a lunch of steamed rice, noodles and lemongrass soup in the shade. It’s only when you see the dozens of children assembling under a makeshift tent next to the dishwashing operation in the back that you have a sense that you’re anywhere but Vietnam. It’s time for Buddhist Sunday school.

KUSALA BHIKSHU:  Here’s my five precepts song so you can remember the five precepts.

NAPOLI: Reverand Kusala Bhikshu was ordained a Buddhist monk in Los Angeles 17 years ago. The fact that he’s a white American isn’t what first drew Michelle Bui to him.

MICHELLE BUI: Because right now I cannot find any Asian among us that speak English very well. I cannot [INDISCERNABLE] it.

NAPOLI: She was just looking for any monk who spoke English to teach Buddhism to the American-born children of her fellow immigrants. That Kusala happened to be a six-foot-two former Lutheran from the Midwest who liked singing songs about the Dharma on his ukulele was an added bonus.

BUI: Kusala, he had everything in him. He’s so nice, so kind and patient. So I asked him to help me.

NAPOLI: Now, most every Sunday, Bui and Kusala make the rounds to different temples around Southern California. The tent gets pitched; area rugs laid out, cushions distributed, and the kids assemble for instruction about Buddha, karma, and loving kindness.

BHIKSHU: Do we have to love all the criminals?

MALE SPEAKER: Yes.

BHIKSHU: Yes. And you have to love all the politicians.

MALE SPEAKER: [INDISCERNABLE] the robots?

BHIKSHU:  You have to love the robots, too. Those kind of questions a more traditional monk or monastic may feel uncomfortable answering. That’s perfect, because those are the questions I had when I came to Buddhism and now I’m sharing those answers with them.

NAPOLI: Kusala says he’s accustomed to teaching mostly Caucasian Americans, converts like himself, who are older. Which is why he enjoys this new, younger audience.

BHIKSHU: For me going into an Asian Buddhist temple and speaking to Asian children and looking the way I do, it’s another challenge. How can I make the Dharma talk accessible to the children? How can I allow them to relate to me as a monk but also as a friend on the path?

NAPOLI: Closest on the path is Michelle Bui, the woman who brought him here. She continues to sign up Vietnamese parents across Southern California, eager to have Reverand Kusala spread Buddhism to their American-born children. For The World, I’m Lisa Napoli in Long Beach, California.

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