.Another popular temple in Oklahoma City is the Wat Sangharattanaram Buddhist Temple of Oklahoma. This temple targets a mostly Thai population and, like the Buddha Mind Monastery, was founded in the mid-1980s. This temple owns a significant number of properties from sheds to residences around the main building composing what is essentially a small-scale monastic complex. Following Thai traditions, the temple practices Theravada Buddhism like the OKBV, though it is located 14 miles south, and appears to target a native Thai population rather than a more general audience or converts; all of their website and a majority of their Facebook posts and fliers are published in the Thai language. In my research I found no evidence of collaboration on events between this temple and the OKBV.
Just a few blocks away from OKBV lies the Rissho Kosei-Kai Dharma Center, a Mahayana group which has 239 branches in Japan, and half a dozen in the U.S.. This temple practices the subset of Mahayana called Ekayāna, which translates to “one-vehicle”, and is greatly influenced by the Lotus Sutra. Of all the temples in the city, their website’s design is the sleekest, and seems to target people with limited experience or complete newcomers to Buddhism who are interested in meditation. Their head teacher, a woman named Rev. Kris Ladusau, herself a convert from Methodist Christianity, serves as the first white reverend in any of Rissho Kosei-Kai’s temples. The demographics of temple attendees appear split between white and Asian ethnicities. The center seems to take a casual, Protestant approach to Buddhism, where their Facebook page has a number of memes and events which other temples might not offer. For example, they held a screening of The Big Lebowski in 2018, emphasizing the Zen iconography of “The Dude” protagonist. While the Buddhist traditions vary significantly between this temple and OKBV, their proximity within two miles of each other is surprising, especially in a city where Christianity is by far the dominant religion.
