NEWS - A Second Burmese Buddhist c

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Subject: NEWS -  A Second Burmese Buddhist center opens in Fremont, California

Burmese Buddhist center opens

                   BY T.T. NHU
                   Mercury News Staff Writer 

                   With the close of escrow last week on a house in
Fremont, the two
                   Burmese Buddhist monks who will live and meditate
there wasted little
                   time getting settled.

                   U Kosalla, the abbot for the new Kursalakari Burmese
Buddhist
                   Meditation Center, moved in that same afternoon. A
few hours later, a
                   follower, Maung Chit, backed his pickup up to the
modest Spady Street
                   house, bringing soft drinks and water for the monks.

                   Bearing cartons of eggs, fruits and vegetables, Aye
Aye Thein of
                   Fremont bustled in and out of the empty house,
fulfilling her duties as a
                   Buddhist devotee.

                   ``Monks are completely dependent on people in the
community,'' said
                   Chit, of Fremont. ``We must bring them all the
necessities of life.''

                   Kursalakari is the second Burmese meditation center
to open in
                   Fremont in recent weeks. Mettananda Vihara was
consecrated Oct. 17
                   in a 150-year-old house on Central Avenue.

                   The Kursalakari center will be inaugurated at a
public ceremony
                   Sunday at the Newark Community Center.

                   The openings of the two meditation centers are the
latest examples of
                   how the Bay Area Burmese community has quietly
extended its reach
                   -- spiritually and physically.

                   Despite its small size -- about 10,000 Burmese are
estimated to live in
                   the Bay Area -- members of the local community now
have five
                   Buddhist meditation centers to choose from.

                   The abbots of the two new meditation centers in
Fremont say they have
                   a common goal: to keep alive both the religion and
the culture of
                   Burma, since renamed Myanmar by its military rulers.

                   ``Our main purpose is to develop and spread Burmese
Buddhism
                   among the children and others who wish to retain our
language and
                   culture,'' said U Dhammapiya, the abbot at
Mettananda.

                   ``Although all Burmese are Theravada Buddhists, we
approach
                   Buddhism through different forms of meditation and
outlook,'' he said.
                   Theravada Buddhism is a conservative branch of the
religion found
                   mainly in Southeast Asia.

                   Burmese say they like to make use of all their
temples and meditation
                   centers.

                   ``Burmese are devout and go to different temples for
different
                   occasions, unlike people here who attend a single
church,'' said Daw Yi
                   Yi Law, who lives in Union City and supports several
Burmese Buddhist
                   centers.

                   The first Bay Area center dates to 1978, when the
Taungpulu Kaba-Aye
                   Monastery was founded in Boulder Creek. The Theravada
Buddhist
                   meditation center was mainly a retreat for devotees
who had spent up
                   to several years in silent meditation.

                   Taungpulu Kaba-Aye Sayadaw Phaya, the abbot of the
center, is
                   reported to have spent more than 20 years in a cave
in Burma, in a
                   retreat from the world. He eventually was persuaded
by Rina Sivcar, a
                   professor of Buddhism at the California Institute of
Integral Studies, to
                   come to the United States and found the monastery in
Santa Cruz.

                   ``Ours is a forest tradition,'' said U Kosalla, the
Fremont abbot. He said
                   he meditated for three years in the Kyauk Shin Tawye
forest with his
                   master before coming here.

                   Burmese Buddhists make a distinction between
monasteries -- where
                   monks live and pray -- and meditation centers, where
devotees come
                   for retreats and religious studies.

                   Other local Burmese centers are Tathagata in San
Jose, which caters
                   mainly to Vietnamese adherents, and Dhammananda
Center in Half
                   Moon Bay, whose abbot, U Silananda, has recently
started a center in
                   Mexico.

                   According to U Dhammapiya, abbot at Mettananda, the
Fremont area
                   has the second-largest Burmese community in the Bay
Area with about
                   2,000 people. Daly City has the largest, about 3,000.

                   About 50,000 Burmese are believed to live in the
United States.

                   But it's hard to distinguish Burmese from other
Asians. ``Burma is such
                   an ethnically diverse country,'' she said, ``and the
reason Burmese are
                   not very visible here is that we've blended in all
too well.''

                   Part of the reason, according to Robert Myint, Daw Yi
Yi's son, is that
                   the majority of overseas Burmese are of
Chinese-Burmese origin.
                   Indian-Burmese are the next largest group; only 5
percent are ethnic
                   Burmese. ``Language is our unifying bond,'' Myint
said. 

                   ``Whenever people from Burma get together, no matter
what our ethnic
                   origin, we all speak Burmese.''

                   Bringing Buddhism to the Bay Area occasionally has
resulted in some
                   unusual difficulties. To qualify as a non-profit
religious entity, the
                   meditation centers had to form boards of directors to
oversee the daily
                   activities of the monks.

                   ``The board at Dhammapala disapproved of the monks'
going to school,
                   and other practical matters,'' Lin said. ``This is
America. We must
                   adapt.''

                   Both Fremont centers now have new governing boards of
directors. This
                   time, however, they're not taking any chances. 

                   The board members are mostly monks.


                   IF YOU'RE INTERESTED 
                   Kursalakari Meditation Center is celebrating its
opening Sunday at the Newark
                   Community Center, 35501 Cedar Blvd., with an all-day
event.
                   Contact T.T. Nhu at tnhu@xxxxxxxxxxxxx or (510)
790-7317.