The Shrines of Buddha : Temples: Buddhists are visiting Highland Park sanctuaries to commemorate the purification of Buddha.

Except for the colorful paper lanterns and large statue of the mother of Buddha in its front yard, the narrow house on North Figueroa Street in Highland Park hardly merits a second look.

Such details might merely indicate Asian occupants. But the wooden bungalow in the 6800 block of Figueroa houses a Buddhist shrine.

It is headquarters for the Pureland Lotus Community, an organization of Vietnamese Buddhists.

This is not the only Buddhist sanctuary inconspicuously nestled among Western-style houses, apartments and small businesses in northeast Los Angeles. Down the street about two miles, at Figueroa and Avenue 52, is the Mystic Dharma temple. A few blocks west in the 900 block of Terrace 49, on Mt. Washington, is the Kanzeonji Zen house of prayer.

The three temples represent divergent strains of Buddhism from Vietnam, China and Japan. This week the faithful of all three are visiting their shrines to commemorate one of Buddhism’s most important events, the purification of Buddha.

Although the rituals at each shrine may vary, worshipers usually come bearing offerings of flowers, fruits and pastry to put on an altar lightly clouded by the smoke of incense and candles. As the members gather, a priest leads the chant of prayers retelling the life of Buddha on earth.

He was born Siddartha Gautama in India to a wealthy family. His deification in 566 B.C., marking his attainment of enlightenment through meditation and rejection of materialism, is the event being celebrated this week. The Buddha’s teachings first spread north through Asia over the next thousand years and came to the United States in the 19th Century.

According to the Handbook of Denominations, the first Buddhist temple in the United States was consecrated in San Francisco a century ago.

In 1985 the Buddhist Churches of America said there were 250,000 followers of Buddha in America practicing in 62 temples, the largest of which is in Hacienda Heights.

Last winter the Buddhist spiritual leaders gathered in Hacienda Heights’ temple complex for the 16th conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists. It was the first time that the biennial conference was held outside Asia.

In America some temples are formed by immigrants as a part of their ethnic expression and others are established to spread the teachings of Buddha to new groups.

The Rev. Ryugen Watanabe of the Kanzeonji Zen shrine is one of the Buddhist spiritual leaders who has reached beyond Asian followers.

At the Kanzeonji Zen shrine, 34-year-old Watanabe and his followers sat all day Saturday in meditation before an altar that was donated by Japanese businessmen. Watanabe, who was born in Japan, said that 90% of his members are Caucasians. He has all of the shrine’s literature printed in English to encourage membership from all backgrounds.

The Pureland Lotus and the Mystic Dharma, on the other hand, are oriented toward immigrants who speak Vietnamese and Mandarin Chinese.

Thich Duy Tin, an apprentice priest, said most of the members of the Pureland Lotus shrine are Vietnamese from Monterey Park, which has a population that is slightly more than 50% Asian.

Lily Lee, a worshiper, said the Mystic Dharma temple caters to Los Angeles worshipers originally from mainland China.

Lee said the priest who usually presides over the monthly services was in Hong Kong to oversee the construction of two gigantic statues for the temple, which is on property the Buddhist congregation bought from a Christian church about nine years ago. Because he could not return in time for the purification services, worshipers conducted their services with a tape-recording of the ritual chants, she said.

Lee said that up to a hundred worshipers would attend the big services conducted in the main sanctuary. Otherwise, about 10 members come to the monthly services in the basement of the fenced two-story building.

It is largely coincidence that Highland Park has become home to three Buddhist shrines. The Pureland Lotus and Mystic Dharma, whose congregations are widely dispersed, merely found the right buildings at the right price.

Watanabe, who ties his waist-length hair in a ponytail, said that it was no coincidence that he established his shrine in northeast Los Angeles. He said divine guidance informed him that Mt. Washington was one of the holiest mountains in the world.

“Personally, I didn’t like Los Angeles at all,” he said. His first home here was a car, but then a friend asked him to watch the house on Mt. Washington. The friend never came back. Eventually, Watanabe bought it and started his teachings in 1983. It was also through unforeseen circumstances that Watanabe and his followers bought the house across the street from the shrine for a yoga facility.

“Too many people were attending my yoga class, and it was crowded here,” he said. “I had been praying to Buddha to tell me what to do. Then one day, a real estate man knocked on the door and asked if I knew of anyone who wanted to rent the house across the street.”

Watanabe said he and his disciples make incense, body oils, meditation cushions and greeting cards to support the temple.

“I learned through meditation that I have been doing this for many lives,” Watanabe said. “I want to help the world. It hurts me so much to see what is out there.”

He said he came to America in the 1960s after a friend told him of a prediction saying that world peace will be attained when a tribe of American Indians receive Buddha’s teachings from two holy men from the East.

“I thought that might be me,” he said.