November 11, 2010 We encountered the land at 423 Davis Street

November 22, 2010 We officially signed a contract to purchase 2.5 acres of land, where we would build the temple. We would finalize the purchase if the City Council of Virginia Beach approved of our plans for the property.

March 9, 2011 The Planning Commission voted 100% for religious use.

April 12, 2011 The City Council of Virginia Beach also granted a permit to build Dong Hung  temple on this land.

After the first hearing in March was successful, we - the monks and Buddhist followers - searched around for financing, but we were denied by the five major banks in the area, until late April. With the blessing of the Triple Gems, the SunTrust bank agreed to loan us the money with 6.5% interest for 15 years and a 40% down payment. With the urgent help of the Buddhist followers, the Temple raised enough funds for the down payment.

May 19, 2011 we closed on the property, signed papers and became proud owners with keys in hand.

April 8th in the lunar month, the monks burned incenses and invited the Triple Jewels to bless the new land.

15th of April (Buddha’s Birthday) We officially invited the Buddha’s statue and Dharma instruments to the guest room where we had an altar for honoring the Triple Gems, and blessed the house by pouring the blessed water.

Then, the monks and Buddhist followers (Vietnamese and Americans) cleaned the yard, fixed up inside the house and around the property. We converted the old dusty garage to a Buddha’s hall as you can see today. We cleaned the fences and decorated around the temple, put in a new storage, and invited Buddha statues to the new zen garden.

October 4th The first weekly service was performed at the ancestor monks’ altar because the Buddha’s hall was not ready yet.

October 16, We celebrated and officially invited the Triple Jewels to the new Buddha’s Hall and invited the deceased Buddhist followers to the honoring room next the the Buddha’s altar.

October 19, We received an Occupancy permit for the new Buddha’s hall.

December 5 and 6, We moved the reclining Buddha and three Pure Land statues from the old site to the new site. The Kwan Yin statue is still at the old site because we currently lack the means for its transportation.

December 11, We invited the Most Venerable Thích Bửu Minh (presiding at Van Hanh Temple in Raleigh North Carolina) to preside the Amitabha’s anniversary and bless the temple.

December 20 The Kwan -Yin statue - the last one- was moved to the new temple successfully!

Other activities such as building the Kwan Yin site, and parking lot are high on our priorities list. However, we invested a lot of our funds into fixing the temple. Unfortunately, we do not have enough funds on hand to do everything at one time, so we will have to remain patient. We hope that the Buddhist followers in all the ten directions will help and support us in building the new temple, which benefits all sentient beings!