Asbury Park Newspaper - September 8, 98

To Share the peace of mind,

Buddhists hoping to build pagoda in Manalapan

By STEPHANIE HOO (FREEHOLD BUREAU)

MANALAPAN — The plush carpets soothe weary feet, and the smiling Buddha statues promise peace of mind. But no furnishings can overcome the discomfiting fact that this Buddhist chapel is too small: It can't accommodate more than 10 people at a time.

And so, at the Burmese Buddhist retreat on Gordons Corner Road, the monks have expansion plans.

They hope to build an octagonal pagoda—or chapel— 45 feet in diameter and 55 feet tall, as well as expand the existing building.

"We need more space," said the Venerable Pyinnya Thiha, one of two resident monks.

The retreat's current shrine is crammed into the attic of the house in which the monks live.

It's definitely cozy, but it doesn't quite do the job when a large family wants to meditate together, Pyinnya Thiha said.

The Planning Board has been receptive to the expansion proposal, said the monks' architect Stephen Kiely, who isn't Burmese but is Buddhist.

In preliminary meetings, the board has offered help and advice, though a final hearing has not been scheduled, he said.

The America Burma Buddhist Association, based in Brooklyn bought five acres in the township in 1995 to run a religious retreat, where the two resident monks teach insight meditation. Buddhists can come for a long weekend to be spiritually refreshed.

The entire association has five monks and practices Theravada Buddhism, the dominant religion in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

Most association members are Burmese emigrants, though non-Burmese Americans also visit the retreat, Pyinnya Thiha said.

"We teach meditation—how to practice meditation, how to learn meditation," said the chief monk, the Venerable Ashin Indaka.

"The goal is to get inner-peace, which reduces stress and purifies the mind," Pyinnya Thiha said.

The monks came to Manalapan from Brooklyn looking for a peaceful place. "Even if we found enough room in the city, there would be too much noise. You'd hear sirens, horns, people, all kinds of noise," said Thein Win, a Brooklyn resident who is an architect and consultant for the project.

"We have a growing community in the tri-state area," Win said. "On major holidays, we don't have room here."

The monks want to increase the capacity of the retreat to at least 20 people, he said.

"The pagoda will have a positive blessing in the community it's built in, giving peace of mind even for people who are not of this faith," Kiely said.