Buddah statues adorn a wall of the Vietnamese Buddhist Association on a Sunday, when their prayers are held, in San Francisco on March 17, 2024.
San Francisco is home to a wide variety of different cultures and, although they may be hard to find, Vietnamese communities do exist. If you walk along Duboce Avenue, you may pass what looks like your normal, run-of-the-mill San Francisco home, but inside is a Buddhist temple called Chùa Từ Quang, locally known as the Vietnamese Buddhist Association. For decades, the temple has been a space for the elderly Vietnamese community to practice their spirituality and feel at home. Most of the regulars fled during the Vietnam War and this temple provides them with a little piece of Vietnam. Almost 50 years later, the rituals and sense of community still stand today.
Books and seat cushions line the carpet floor of the Vietnamese Buddhist Association in preparation for the Sunday prayer in San Francisco on March 17, 2024. (Tam Vu/Xpress)
A disciple of the Chùa Từ Quang temple prays to an altar in San Francisco on March 24, 2024. (Tam Vu/Xpress)
A devotee carries lit incense after a prayer at the Vietnamese Buddhist Association in San Francisco on April 21, 2024. (Tam Vu/Xpress)
Devotees pray together at the Vietnamese Buddhist Association in San Francisco on March 24, 2024. (Tam Vu/Xpress)
After Sunday prayers, volunteers serve lunch that was prepared the day prior at the Vietnamese Buddhist Association in San Francisco on March 24, 2024. (Tam Vu/Xpress)
Tam Vu (she/her) is a Vietnamese-American photographer for Golden Gate Xpress and Xpress Magazine. She is a photojournalism major with a minor in Asian American studies. She originally entered SF State as a print and online journalism major, but switched to photojournalism in her second year after finding her passion for visual storytelling. Her special interests include Asian American identity and underground music. In the future she hopes to make a video documentary on her parents' immigration story to highlight the generational impact that the Vietnam War has on many families.
