Meditative Temple Becomes Center of a Sepulveda Zoning Controversy

Doan Lap, a Vietnamese refugee with three children and a high-pressure job at an American bank, found life in the United States to be anything but easy.

After escaping from war-torn Saigon in 1975, he worried about mastering English and American customs, about his job as a bank officer and about his two sons turning to gang life.

Two years ago, Lap said, things got so bad that his doctor told him he ought to see a psychiatrist because he worried too much.

Instead, Lap began to frequent the Buddhist Meditation Center in Sepulveda, where he would chant along with about 20 other Vietnamese Buddhists or sit quietly and meditate. Although the trip took 45 minutes from his home in Rosemead, Lap went faithfully every Sunday to the converted house in the 9200 block of Columbus Avenue.

The meditating, he said, has helped him better manage the stresses of his new life. “Now, I go to the meditation center and I feel better. . . . Without meditation, I suffer,” Lap said.

But lately, Lap is distressed again.

The meditation center, the only one for Vietnamese Buddhists in the San Fernando Valley, may be in trouble. A zoning administrator will soon decide whether the facility--which houses four Zen Buddhist monks and one Zen Buddhist nun--will be allowed to remain in the residential neighborhood.

A neighboring couple is mounting a campaign to oust the center from the block, saying it has brought too many cars into the area.

“As this temple has grown, it has destroyed the residential character of the neighborhood, and that is our main objection,” said David Kaplan, who lives across the street.

The center was created in 1981 without the necessary city permits that would have allowed its use as a religious gathering place. Four years later, a zoning dispute erupted when a few neighbors of the Buddhist center protested that having the temple in their neighborhood increased noise and traffic. The dispute temporarily ended when the Los Angeles Board of Zoning Appeals agreed to allow the center to remain at its location for two years.

With the time now up, a hearing on renewal of the center’s permit was held Friday before an associate city zoning administrator. But the official decision on the temple’s fate was postponed for two more weeks.

“I’m pretty convinced that the meditation center is responsible and can continue there,” said Jon Perica, assistant zoning administrator. “I think I’m going to approve it with additional conditions.”

Perica said he may try to confine the worshipers to indoor activities and bar them from eating in the front yard, two activities that Kaplan and his wife, Lois, have complained about.

Lois Kaplan argued that the center is not strictly a retreat for spiritual contemplation, but has become more of a social gathering place. She said she objected to people bringing food and offerings to the center and to children playing in the front yard.

“It has become a community resource,” she said. “It is a church in every sense of the word.”

The Kaplans are worried that with its growing importance in the community, the center will soon spread over the entire block.

‘House Has No Value’

“All they have to do is buy a few more houses . . . then what you’ve got is a long half-block of a Vietnamese religious community,” Lois Kaplan said. “Then my house has no value.”

The monks at the center said they have no intention of buying more property in the area. They laughed at the very suggestion.

“Even if I wanted to buy, we don’t have the money,” the Rev. Ho Huyen Minh, the center’s spiritual leader, said through an interpreter. “We are refugees. How can we afford to buy?”

Aside from the Kaplans, most neighbors say they coexist peacefully with the Buddhist center. A petition asking that it remain in their neighborhood was signed by 22 of the neighbors who live within 300 feet of the center.

“To me, it’s not a problem,” said Jack Denton, who lives across the street from the center. “In fact, I think they’re delightful neighbors. They’ve been very, very considerate.”

“So what if the children take food and offerings to Buddha?” Denton said. “I bring flowers to my mother’s grave too. So, big deal.”

Haven’t Caused Trouble

The neighbors who flank the center echoed Denton’s sentiments at Friday’s hearing.

“I believe everybody should be left alone if they don’t cause anybody else trouble--and they haven’t,” said Kathy Hales, the center’s next-door neighbor. “I like them. If I have a problem, it’s resolved immediately. I’d rather have them as neighbors than most other people. They’re courteous, quiet and they smile all the time.”

“I can’t imagine having a better group of neighbors,” next-door-neighbor Jim Richards said in agreement.

Those who run the meditation center--a converted three-bedroom house with an elaborate altar in the living room area--say they have tried to be good neighbors.

“I wish to live in harmony with my neighbors and if my neighbors don’t like something, I will correct it,” Minh said.

‘Beautiful Place’

Most neighbors say the Buddhist monks and nun have improved the property around the small meditation center. In addition to erecting a statue of Buddha on their well-manicured front lawn, they have made other improvements and have built a parking lot for 15 cars in the backyard.

“Before they moved in, the property was in disrepair,” Richards said. “They’ve landscaped it and made it into a beautiful place.”

The Buddhist clergy regularly warn their neighbors when they expect a large number of cars in the area, Richards said. And, instead of using the converted house for the year’s two largest religious events--Buddha’s birthday and the Chinese New Year--they rent the auditorium at a nearby junior high school, Minh said. Those events often draw more than 80 people.

“We have the right to organize here. Even so, we never do that because we want to show our good will,” said the Rev. Thich Tri Chon, a monk who resides at the center.

In addition to its importance as a religious resource for the Valley’s Vietnamese Buddhists, the center also provides refugees with needed psychological support, according to social workers and mental health counselors.

“There has been a lot of emotional disturbance for Vietnamese refugees who came to this country. At least 30% suffer from severe depression,” said Sang G. Do, a psychotherapist. “Sometimes it is beyond my ability to help these people. Only religion can help them. This is one of the very rare centers to provide spiritual and mental health.”

Hao Doan, director of the Southeast Asian Community Center in Van Nuys, said the meditation center provides “spiritual leadership and guidance useful in reducing stress and eliminating isolation.” He said he often refers troubled refugees like Lap to the center.

“I bring my family and it helps,” Lap said. “They teach you how to live the right way, how to show love to others.”