A Small Buddha Statue Situated On A California Street Corner Has Brought Neighbors Together And Kept The Area Free Of Vandalism, Crime, And Litter
On the street corner of a neighborhood in Oakland, California, a small Buddha statue has helped bring neighbors together and keep the area free of crime, vandalism, and garbage.
But where did this statue come from? And how can such a small, simple figurine hold so much power?
It all started when a resident of Oakland named Dan Stevenson became fed up with the piles of trash that people kept dumping outside of his home after the city installed a permanent concrete divider to divert traffic.
People left behind all kinds of waste there, from bags of clothing to old furniture. Signs that warned against littering weren’t enough to deter them.
So, Dan and his wife Lu came up with a potential solution. They decided to set up a Buddha statue purchased from a hardware store. He installed the statue in a neglected space next door, and it worked better than he had hoped.
For months, the Buddha simply sat there, but then he started noticing some changes. It was painted, placed on a pedestal, and set up in a perfectly manicured shrine decked out with flowers, flags, and wall hangings.
There were also offerings of coins, fruit, crackers, and drinks that were changed out regularly. The statue had attracted dozens of Vietnamese immigrants who showed up in the mornings to pray.
Thanks to the Buddha, crime rates went down, and cleanliness went up. The shrine even became a tourist attraction. Some of the neighbors weren’t happy about all the activity, though.
After a few complaints, the city said it would remove the statue, but the community pushed back and saved the statue from being removed.
FotoHelin – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
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The care and maintenance of the Buddha statue can be credited to Vina Vo, a Vietnamese immigrant. She grew up in a village called Quang Ngai, where she would pray at the temple every morning with her family.
However, her home was destroyed during the Vietnam War. She fled the country in 1982 and eventually made her way to Oakland.
In 2010, someone from the Vietnamese church that Vo attended told her about the Buddha on the corner of 11th Avenue and East 19th Street, suggesting that she could take care of it. And that’s just what Vo did. The shrine was given the name Phap Duyen Tu, which is Vietnamese for “tranquility.”
Over the years, more structures have appeared around the Buddha. A second shrine, Quan Am Tù, is located just two blocks away.
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