On September 8, Kwan Eum Sa Temple in Los Angeles celebrated its 50th anniversary with a ceremony in the main Dharma Hall.

The event also featured a Dharma talk by the temple’s senior teacher Ven. Boseon, daesongsa, who visited from South Korea, and a performance by Buddhist singer Gwon Mihee to inspire the devotion of the congregation. Included in the event is the ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of the Kwan Eum Seon Center and the construction of a columbarium.

Meanwhile, a tea ceremony was dedicated to the late Venerable Doan, who served as the abbot of Kwan Eum Sa Temple and entered parinirvana in 2006. He was ordained as a sramanera by Venerable Dongsan in 1953 and pioneered the dissemination of Korean Buddhism in the US. The late Venerable Doan also founded the Religious Peace Association to cooperate with interfaith organizations in the US.