Tam Vu
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.
