“‘Nam mô A Di Đà Phật’” (Homage to Amitabha Buddha) is a greeting you hear at Chua Huong Lam temple in Pearland, a suburb of Houston. A dozen Buddha statues and a large figure of Quan Am Tathagata, the bodhisattva (one who seeks awakening) of compassion in an open courtyard are the only indications that this is a religious institution. A series of steps leads to the entrance where the sweet smell of incense and the melodious prayer chants can be heard.
Chua Huong Lam is a temple run entirely by a group of Vietnamese nuns called “‘sư cô’”(sister). But what sets this temple apart is the seamless merge of traditional religious teachings with modern approaches to promoting Buddhism in the community. Sư cô Ni Su Tinh Hao along with eight other nuns governs and manages Chua Huong Lam which supports a congregation of over one hundred families who gather here to pray, learn about their culture, and connect with each other.
At first, a Vietnamese temple in Texas might seem out of place. But Houston has one of the largest immigrant populations in the country, second only to Los Angeles. And according to the Greater Houston Partnership report, it includes a vibrant Vietnamese community of over 95,000 people (2021).
All the sư côs in Chua Huong Lam got their official training in Vietnam at a very young age. Sư cô Ni Su Hao recollects her experience of meeting senior nuns at a temple in Vietnam at just 15 and immediately feeling a sense of belonging and inner peace. “I knew this is what I was meant to do with my life and worth all the sacrifices I need to make to get here,” says Sư cô Ni Su Hao. Some of the other sisters joined the order much later in life due to varied life circumstances. But regardless of when they started, they all live based on the core philosophy of Buddhism, which centers around understanding the causes of human suffering and the path to liberation through ethical conduct, mental discipline, and wisdom.
Formally trained and ordained in Vietnam, the nuns spent years training locally before making their way to Houston. Many have lived in places like India, Taiwan, and Sri Lanka practicing the teachings of Buddha and serving the communities in these countries. Sư cô Ni Su Hao herself was introduced to a head monk from a temple in California while she was in Taiwan who encouraged her to move to the US to start Chua Houng Lam in 2007 to support the community.
“At that time, there was little residential or commercial development in this suburb. We had an acre of land and a small mobile home,” she explained. The nuns converted an existing stable into a temple and gradually expanded the complex until 2019. “We did a lot of the work on our own taking on roles of architects, masons, and even
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This year has been a good one for Vilnius. The Lithuanian capital celebrated its 700th birthday on 25 January 2023, and a few months later it was named the European Union’s green capital for 2025. Perhaps most symbolically – as Lithuania continues to firmly reject its Soviet past and align itself closer with the west – Vilnius played host to the Nato summit in July.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kelsey Frampton, a 21-year-old business student from Fresno, California, who's studying in Barcelona. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
Next Saturday at 10 p.m. local time—that’s 1 a.m. on Sunday for East Coast night owls—Formula 1 racing will return to Sin City after a 40-year hiatus with the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix. Set against a neon-drenched cityscape, the high-octane spectacle will see 20 drivers take 50 laps around the 3.8-mile street circuit, with its 17 turns winding past the new MSG Sphere. After two quick bends and a hard left, it’s a straight shot down the Las Vegas Strip at speeds up to 212 m.p.h., racing past the Venetian and Caesars Palace and zipping between the famed Bellagio fountains and the Eiffel Tower at Paris Las Vegas.
For over ten years, the Jaipur, India-based brothers and founders of Trunks Company, Priyank and Paritosh Mehta, have been on a mission to revive the steamer trunk and support local artists who make them. This week, they’ll be exhibiting 11 of the most ornate examples of the company’s work at the Salon Art + Design fair at thePark Avenue Armory, from a library trunk with quilted leather lining that’s embedded with speakers and lit with LED spotlights to a hand-painted red, white and navy blue Games Island Trunk that unfolds to become a tiny casino featuring amusements like Jenga, poker and chess. About a dozen craftspeople work two to three months on each of the trunks, which are meant to be statement pieces in a home rather than accompanying their owners on a trip, says Paritosh. “We’ve been commissioned to craft a trunk in the shape of the Taj Mahal Palace by the hotel, and to make a trunk for a collector to display his watch collection,” he says. “We’re building a whole lifestyle around heritage trunks.” Next year, though, the company plans to debut its most practical collection to date: hand-painted trunks with wheels that one can actually travel with.
As part of a road-trip series they're filming for the "Today" show, Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush stopped in Waco, Texas, to see home-renovation power duo Chip and Joanna Gaines.
Many travelers don berets to tour Paris or buy floral Aloha shirts the day they land in Hawai‘i. Dressing like a local when you go to a new place can be a way to fit in and immerse yourself in a new destination. “Adopting sartorial codes and social mores is a form of recognition and gratitude,” says Denise N. Green, a Cornell University professor of apparel design.
Americans have been left baffled by a British woman's perspective of what locations were considered close to her hometown, sparking a conversation about the vast geographical differences between the countries, and their differing takes on distances.
A festive holiday like Thanksgiving calls for the kind of cocktail that induces nothing short of delight—and not just because it makes dealing with ornery family members much easier. After all, a traditional Turkey Day menu is filled with once-a-year dishes so why not pair them with a equally exceptional (and seasonal) drinks that work perfectly with the feast?
An ever growing one of a kind event is putting South Dakota’s Custer State Park ever more on the map. Those who experience the thrill of the park’s annual late-September Buffalo Roundup quickly discover that nearby Mount Rushmore is not the only dramatic site in this southeast corner of the Black Hills region. Some two million guests a year who now make the trek here are on to something, after all.