Temple Divided
By MICHAEL LAFLEUR, Sun Staff
Article Last Updated: 12/30/2006 01:57:01 PM EST
CHELMSFORD -- The pair of buildings on Quigley Avenue may look nondescript, but they are at the heart of a bitter, long-running legal dispute over control and ownership of the largest Cambodian Buddhist temple in New England.
On one side are supporters of the Venerable Sao Khon Dhhamathero, president of the Community of Khmer Buddhist Monks Inc., who viewed his organization as the rightful owner of the Trairatanaram Temple because of his role in co-founding it in 1985. Then, there are those who cried foul at a 1999 deed transfer from the temple's board of directors to Sao Khon's organization, which they said was done illegally and without the congregation's knowledge.
Both groups have been sharing the temple since the dispute began.
Those opposed to Sao Khon are known as the "downstairs people." That's because they practice their faith on the temple's first floor, an arrangement representatives of both sides said was mandated by a judicial decree early in the case.
Sao Khon and his supporters who worship in the original temple space are known as the "upstairs people."
Now, a legal settlement reached earlier this month could pave the way to reconciliation.
A new board will be selected Jan. 6, and it will have the power to pick the next head monk and decide the proper ownership of 21 and 25 Quigley Ave. -- the temple and the home for its monks.
"All sides should look at the foundation of why we started this temple, and then we can move forward from there," said Sakal Kim, a Sao Khon supporter. "We don't want to point fingers who's right, who's wrong. We just want to move forward."
But deep wounds remain to be healed.
Thel Sar is a probation officer at Lowell District Court, chairman of the Lowell Community Public Charter School and recently was appointed by City Manager Bernie Lynch to the Lowell Election Commission. He has become a prominent member of the "downstairs people" and is also a member of the new board as well.
Sar said Sao Khon was able to secure the $1 deed transfer to his organization because the board president at the time was his friend and fellow monk Samboon Kert.
He added that Sao Khon and his Community of Khmer Buddhist Monks have undertaken similar temple takeovers in Cambodian-American communities across the United States, including in Lynn and Providence. In Chelmsford, many people objected to losing the temple that was purchased and maintained through their donations, he said.
"If we didn't have enough people who feel what the monks did was wrong, this temple would have been legally transferred to Sao Khon, and we would not have any temple," Sar said. "This whole issue divided the community a great deal, and we wasted a lot of resources -- I say easily half a million dollars."
Sao Khon could not be reached for comment.
His attorney, Virginia Lee of Concord, and Sao Khon's supporters argue that the dispute largely grew from a split at the temple: the first "downstairs people" were supporters of a monk who had come to Lowell from Cambodia as a visitor on a temporary visa and had grown estranged from other monks in Sao Khon's Community of Khmer Buddhist Monks. That original monk has now returned to Cambodia, but the dispute continued.
Lee said the Community of Khmer Buddhist Monks has been trying to create a standardized, Cambodian Buddhist religious community in the United States, thus the need to acquire temple ownership in the organization's name.
It now owns about 80 temples in the United States, including four in Massachusetts, according to temple officials. Lee added that the organization's position has been that it had been the owner of the Chelmsford temple in all but name since Sao Khon founded it "and this was just confirming that transfer."
"It's really a religious issue. For those of us who aren't involved, it's hard to understand the whole thing," she said.
Sar, a relative newcomer to the situation, said he never viewed the dispute as a religious one.
"The actual thing was Sao Khon went out and transferred the deed to himself," he said.
He argued that the "upstairs" side reached the settlement for fear they would lose at trial, which had been scheduled to begin Dec. 6 at Lowell Superior Court.
Lee said the settlement admits no wrongdoing on either side, but simply provides a framework for both to come to terms with each other -- something she had been counseling since before the case went to court.
"The idea is we're moving forward," she said. "They have to work it out."
Under the settlement, representatives of the downstairs and upstairs factions in the temple each were allowed four seats on what will be a 13-member board. During the Jan. 6 meeting, those eight members will chose the remaining five members to round out the board. Then, with Sao Khon casting a 14th vote, the new board will select a head monk for the temple. Ten votes are needed for that selection to be finalized.
"It's going to be hard," said Mao Kang, a Sao Khon supporter and a member of the new board. "It's not going to be the same, like before. We can't even look at each other in the face. It's almost eight years' custody battle. Everybody's losing on each side."
Michael Lafleur's e-mail address is mlafleur@lowellsun.com. |
