Buddhayana-Monastery

The Buddhayahn monastery (closed in the spring of 2001) in Hazel Park was founded in 1994 by Venerable Tahn Pra Vinai (Winai), a Thai Buddhist monk who first moved to the United States in 1991. A woman from the local Thai community found the house, formerly a private residence, for Venerable Vinai when he decided to move to the Detroit area to start his own monastery. He had previously been at several other Buddhist centers in the United States, including temples in San Antonio, Washington D.C., Wichita, and Las Vegas. Venerable Pra Winai's original temple in Thailand arranged for the procurement of the house.The monastery is in a house on a residential street in Hazel Park, a working-class suburb in Oakland County, north of Detroit. The front rooms (former living and dining rooms) of the house serve as a Buddha room. In addition there is a kitchen and a bedroom for the monk. While the center claims to have about 300 supporters, only about 15 people come to the center on a regular basis at least once a week. Attendance at ceremonies generally varies between 10-30 people, but can reach 70 or more. The overwhelming majority of those who come to the center are Thai immigrants to the United States. Individuals from Laos and Cambodia, who have begun to attend more recently, make up the rest of the core members. Other individuals, however, from Vietnam, China, India, Sri Lanka, as well as a small number of white Americans attend the center. Ceremonies are conducted using Pali and Sanskrit, while informal conversation tends to be in Thai.