Buddhists Will Hold Open House
The Newport Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple is having an open house Sunday to introduce the public to its new dharma school--a religious education program for children that officials hope will help boost the size of the congregation.
Dharma school uses stories, songs, drama and crafts to teach Buddhism. Though the temple had a dharma school in the past, it was discontinued about five years ago while the temple underwent reconstruction.
Bolstering its numbers has been an ongoing project at the small Shin Buddhist temple in Costa Mesa since it broke off from its parent temple in Los Angeles in 1995.
Most of the congregation, explained the Rev. Tsuyoshi Hirosumi, is issei--people who were born in Japan and immigrated to the United States. Though many of them have strong ties to the temple, many of their children do not.
The open house will begin at 11 a.m. Sunday. The temple is at Victoria Street and Newport Boulevard in Costa Mesa.
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