SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Saying goodbye to a loved one is never easy. It was even harder at the height of the coronavirus pandemic when houses of worship and funeral homes were closed and hospitals could not allow visitors.
Despite that, local Buddhist temple leaders helped families understand death and grief amid the global pandemic, and in turn, they say it helped them deepen their practice.
For the past month, every seven days, the Dang family has prayed at Kim Quang Temple in Arden-Arcade. It's a symbolic act in Buddhism for the Dang family to offer vegetarian goods and tea to Vo Thi Tram, the 89-year-old matriarch of their family. She died of cancer last month at a Sacramento hospital. Restrictions have gradually lifted.
"It helped them find peace and let us know that my grandma is doing okay," said Trang Dag. "She's going to reincarnate and [I feel] more at peace for me"
Master Thich Thien Duyen leads Kim Quang Temple. He has guided grieving Vietnamese American families through chanting practices during the pandemic while following state guidelines as best they can.
"This room normally [has] a lot people in here, now just a few," he said of Buddha hall. It's limited to immediate family members, who wear white headbands as a sign of respect in Vietnamese Buddhist practice.
The rituals vary, but traditionally, it's a process for the spirit to transition to the next life, believed to take 49 days in Buddhism.
"People's souls or mindstreams continue and is going to take rebirth somewhere," said Yama Yeshe Jinpa, of the Lion's Roar Dharma Center.
He says ending gatherings tested him and those at the international temple, which closed its doors throughout the pandemic. The two temples shifted their services online when houses of worship were forced to close, but Jinpa says Buddhist practices weren't interrupted.
"A lot of rituals, Buddha designed to be remote anyway," he said. "The idea is that we're all connected."
Jinpa says, when his sister died, he couldn't see her or attend a memorial. He prayed alone. It was a difficult endeavor, but one that helped him process his emotions.
At Kim Quang temple, Zoom chanting became a norm.
"Because in Buddhism [there] are many ways to chant. Many ways to practice," explained Thich Thien Duyen.
Though they miss the full gatherings at the temple, the two teachers say the pandemic deepened the importance of their rituals which are meant not only to guide the deceased but to help heal those who live on, carrying out their memory.
