Havanpola Ratanasara

The sign near the door advertised "Bikini Dancers." Sure enough, the women danced and the men stared. Nobody smiled. The ambience suggested a hidden commerce in sex and drugs. If you tried, you might get someone to start a convenient fire or eliminate an inconvenient person. This is where I met Edwin. He agreed to help me--for a price. Allow me to explain. It happened eight years ago on a winter night in east Hollywood. One minute I'm pulling into a space at a mini-mart.

In colorful, multiethnic rites, Southern California's growing Buddhist community Sunday celebrated the faith's most important holiday and sought to combat what religious leaders call misunderstanding in the Christian world, especially by the Vatican. Buddhist clergy dressed in ceremonial robes--some in bright orange, yellow or crimson and others in black, gray or blue--chanted in seven languages outside the ornate Wat Thai Temple in North Hollywood.

In colorful, multiethnic rites, the growing Southern California Buddhist community Sunday celebrated Buddhism's most important holiday and sought to combat what religious leaders call misunderstanding in the Christian world, especially by the Vatican. Buddhist clergy dressed in ceremonial robes--some in bright orange, yellow or crimson and others in black, gray or blue--chanted in seven languages outside the ornate Wat Thai Temple in North Hollywood.

The 1970s and '80s saw Buddhism carve itself a slender slice of the American pie of religious diversity. To a small extent, U.S. Buddhist ranks grew with American-born converts captivated by meditation, Eastern philosophy and the tranquil way of the Buddha. Many more adherents were young immigrants from Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and other Asian countries where Buddhism was simply part of the culture.

In his first appearance of a 17-day visit, the Dalai Lama--the exiled spiritual-political leader revered by Tibetans as a living Buddha--offered some practical advice Wednesday to Los Angeles-area Buddhists trying to practice their religion in a predominantly Christian culture.

Forty-five American Buddhist organizations of various ethnic and sectarian traditions have formed a national body to further their own cooperation, to educate and grow, and, perhaps eventually, to add another religious perspective to church-state debates and national issues. "We've taken a remarkable step," said the Rev. Karl Springer of Boulder, Colo., the Jewish-born co-chairman of the new American Buddhist Congress.

A Vietnamese Buddhist temple that was hit by vandalism early this year because of confusion over swastika-like symbols on its entrance gate--emblems that signify goodness in that faith--also had its mailbox blown apart by a bomb, it was learned this week. Although the Buddhist group covered with plywood six reverse-swastika emblems in its gate--apparently mistaken for Nazi symbols--the group says its problems have continued.

In welcoming the Dalai Lama to Los Angeles on behalf of the diverse Buddhist community this week, a monk already prominent in organizing American Buddhists took the occasion to propose new ways to reduce tensions arising among U.S. practitioners of the ancient religion.