In the fall of 2014, six young members of the Tu Viện Hồng Đức community worked together to create digital stories about their experiences of Buddhism here in the Des Moines area. Two of the storytellers discuss their excitement performing a dance in honor of the bodhisattva Quan Âm at the dedication ceremony for the temple’s sculpture garden, and one young man describes how he expresses his gratitude to the bodhisattva when visiting her statue to bow and pray. Two other participants discuss the importance of keeping Vietnamese cultural ties alive through temple educational programs, and one young woman tells us about her relation to both Christianity and Buddhism on her personal spiritual journey.
Special thanks to the Slay Fund for Social Justice for funding the creation of these digital stories.