Lawsuit Says Monk’s Home Is His Temple

City officials have filed a lawsuit against a Buddhist monk alleging that he is violating city zoning regulations by using his home as a temple.

But owner Thanh Tung Duong says that city officials have it all wrong, that his two-story stucco structure on Magnolia Street is a home, not a temple.

“This is a place where monks live,” Duong said. “But it is not a temple. Vietnamese may call it a temple, but here, as in Vietnam, anywhere a monk lives, people will say it’s a temple.”

This is the second time Garden Grove officials have sued a Vietnamese monk alleging improper conduct of religious services in a residential area.

In the latest lawsuit, filed in Orange County Superior Court this week, City Atty. John R. Shaw is seeking a court injunction to stop Duong from using his home as a temple. The single-family home is not zoned to be used for religious purposes, Shaw said.

Duong’s home has a pagoda-style, brick-tile roof, a graceful water fountain with a statute of a Buddhist goddess in the backyard and a large room for praying. The room includes an imposing altar and a table laden with pictures of the dead where visitors bring offers for their departed loved ones. The house is known within the Vietnamese American community as a sanctuary where the destitute can come on most Saturdays for free hot vegetarian meals.

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According to the lawsuit, city inspectors observed about 330 people coming and going into Duong’s house on the night of Feb. 18. About 110 cars came by or parked around the house, the lawsuit said, and “numerous people jaywalked across Magnolia Street, obstructing traffic in attempting to reach the house by foot.”

“City staff also observed festivities, such as a dragon dance, with drums and percussion instruments and costumes,” the lawsuit stated. Sitting in his small office Thursday, Duong denied conducting services at his house on Feb. 18, which was the eve of the Chinese New Year, a night on which practicing Buddhists normally flock to temples to pray. Duong, known within the artistic community as a poet, painter and landscape designer, said he had some friends over that night to observe the coming new year.

Many strangers came knocking on his door, the monk said, but he turned them away.

“I guess some of them hung around outside, but I have no control over that,” said Duong, whose Vietnamese Buddhist honorific title is Thich Quang Thanh.

When Duong applied for a building permit last year to renovate his four-bedroom house, city officials required that he sign a form promising that his property would not be used for religious purposes, according to the lawsuit.

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The city contends that Duong heads a nonprofit religious organization called Vietnamese-American Buddhist Center for Charitable Services--Bao Quang-- and advertises his organization in local Vietnamese-language publications, listing his home address as the central location.

Duong said he doesn’t advertise Bao Quang’s services.

Two business listings in Westminster, the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce Business Directory and the Nguoi Viet Yearbook, confirmed that they print Bao Quang in their publications as a public service and that Duong does not pay for it.

In April 1994, Shaw filed a lawsuit against the Bat Nha Temple on West Street to stop services there.

The Bat Nha Temple complied with a subsequent court order that prohibited gatherings of more than 12 people at the house at one time, Shaw said.