Wat Lao Buddharam was founded in 1989 to serve the growing Laotian population of Charlotte.  Besides providing them with access to their traditional Theravadin Buddhist practices and beliefs, it serves like many Asian-American temples as a cultural center, where Old World language and customs can be preserved and transmitted to new generations.

Wat Lao consists of several buildings on about thirty acres of land in suburban Charlotte, with a moderate-sized pond.  The land was cleared by the community to make way for the temple compounds.  The main temple is a colorful building with a traditional-style roof and serpentine nagas (elemental dragon spirits) leading up to the entrance.  Inside the rectangular building there is a large open space for gatherings, with an altar area on one end dominated by a large golden Buddha.  The walls are covered with original paintings depicting incidents in the life of the Buddha.

The grounds also include a smaller temple that is used by the monks for meditation, a stage and barbeque area for social gatherings, and a small house where the monks live.  The monks' residence has a receiving room, a kitchen, bedroom, and a small shrine where daily practice takes place.  Much of the monks' time is spent in this room offering prayers and meditating.  The grounds are also graced with several beautiful stupas, large statues of the Buddha, and small huts which serve as memorials for deceased loved ones.

Wat Lao Buddharam doesn't have official members--local Laotian-Americans attend regularly or not as they see fit.  The primary religious gatherings occur roughly every other Sunday morning, when people gather at 10:00 a.m. to pray, make offerings, and listen to one of the monks deliver a sermon.  Such events last until one or two in the afternoon and are followed by food and socializing.  Usually fifty to one hundred people will attend on any given Sunday, but special occasions bring out a thousand or more attendees.

Another common religious ritual is offering food to the monks, who are only allowed to eat food prepared for them by others.  In Laos they would go on begging rounds to get their meals, but in Americalaypeple, usually women, make their meals and bring them to the temple.  The monks must finish eating before noon, as they are not allowed to eat after twelve o'clock, in accordance with ancient Buddhist monastic rules.  Formal meditation is not usually performed by the laity, though some older members do meditate with the monks for an hour or so on Sunday evenings after their prayers.

The monks who stay at the temple are all from Laos or Thailand, and live at Wat Lao for a year or more before moving on to another American temple, while others take their place.  Thus, the religious leadership of the American Theravadin community slowly rotates around the country, exposing the laity to many teachers and the monks to many ways of American life.  Usually from one to three monks are living at Wat Lao at any given time.  Their English tends to be minimal, and services are alaways conducted in Laotian, with collective rituals in the Pali language. 

JW