About Us

By Prof. Steven Emmanuel

Brief Background

In 2006, a group of Pure Land Buddhist monks from Vietnam purchased a 4-acre property in the rural Virginia Beach community known as Pungo. The monks had previously been at another location in the Kempsville area of Virginia Beach, but were forced to move when that property was reclaimed by the city as part of a project to widen the road. By moving to Pungo the monks hoped to establish a permanent root for their temple.

by Phap Trung

The  Dong Hung Temple is a religious institution dedicated to serving followers of the Mahayana tradition of Zen Buddhist practiced in Vietnam.

This Zen sect is based mostly on meditation, applying the strict rules and discipline(Sila and vinaya) as principles, and using the Pure Land tradition (Sukha’ vati), together with meditation practice, as the foundation for cultivating one’s virtue and wisdom.

“Serving Sentient Beings for a good cause in a Dharma way is offering to the Buddha.”  Buddha has taught us to always have compassion and love for others, especially the less fortunate, the poor, the indigents.  Nowhere better to serve than in our old country, Viet Nam, where there is tremendous poverty in certain under served areas.

Dong Hung temple in Virginia Beach, VA is officially known as the Buddhist Education Center of America, Inc. It is named after another Pagoda in the district 2 of Sai Gon City, in South Vietnam – namely To Dinh Dong Hung, which literally translated to the Ancestral Temple Dong Hung.  The temple’s name was chosen to commemorate the Founding Fathers – the Venerable Bhikkhu Thich Buu Chi who built, and the Venerable Bhikkhu Thich Hanh Tru who succeeded his Master in the maintaining and renovating processes throughout its history.