Clergy Vietnam

About 20,000 Vietnamese Americans, most of them refugees who have settled in Orange and Los Angeles counties, on Sunday joined in what was billed as the largest celebration of Buddha's 2,542nd birthday in the United States. Amid traditional bright flowers festooned around a huge, smiling baby Buddha, booming drums, and a covey of caged doves, there was a strong modern-day undercurrent--polite but forceful protest against the persecution of Buddhist monks in Vietnam.

About 20,000 Vietnamese Americans, most of them refugees who have settled in Orange and Los Angeles counties, on Sunday joined in what was billed as the largest celebration of Buddha's 2,542nd birthday in the United States. Amid traditional bright flowers festooned around a huge, smiling baby Buddha, booming drums, and a covey of caged doves, there was a strong modern-day undercurrent--polite but forceful protest against the persecution of Buddhist monks in Vietnam.

About 20,000 Vietnamese Americans, most of them refugees who have settled in Orange and Los Angeles county communities, on Sunday joined in what was billed as the nation's largest celebration of Buddha's 2,542nd birthday. Amid traditional bright flowers festooned around a huge, smiling baby Buddha, booming drums and a covey of caged doves, there was a strong modern-day undercurrent--polite but forceful protest against the persecution of Buddhist monks in Vietnam.

About 20,000 Vietnamese Americans, most of them refugees who have settled in Orange and Los Angeles county communities, on Sunday joined in what was billed as the nation's largest celebration of Buddha's 2,542nd birthday. Amid traditional bright flowers festooned around a huge, smiling baby Buddha, booming drums and a covey of caged doves, there was a strong modern-day undercurrent--polite but forceful protest against the persecution of Buddhist monks in Vietnam.