Features

Commentary: Berkeley Thai Temple Responds to Critics

Friday April 29, 2005

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We would like to respond to Matthew Artz’s April 8 article regarding the Berkeley Thai Temple’s use of the newly acquired lots that formerly housed the South Berkeley Community Garden, run by Spiral Gardens. 

We were deeply affected and sad to hear that the gardeners were brokenhearted to see that what they worked so hard on had disappeared. We hear that they and some of the neighbors are upset at the temple for removing the garden that they love. We care very much about our neighbors and how we as a temple represent both Buddhism and the Thai community in the Bay Area. Therefore, we think it is important to address these concerns in order to strengthen our relationship with the community. 

We would like to extend our sincere apology to those whom we have unintentionally offended. We offer the following explanation in the spirit of reconciliation. We did not intend to be unclear to Spiral Gardens about the impact to the plot. Perhaps the language barrier created a problem in communicating to one another. Here are our intentions, which we want the larger community to know: 

Due to the temple’s growing needs, we decided to purchase the lots adjacent to the temple, which is owned by the Trust of Weston Havens. Spiral Gardens had leased this plot from the trust until the temple acquired it. When we bought it, we let Spiral Gardens continue to use the land for an additional three to five months, without charge, so that they would have time to take what they needed from the garden. Evidently, no one came to remove any plants from the garden at all. We would like to be able to use the land to fulfill our pressing needs, which include building either a sanctuary for the Buddha, a place for temple events, or additional parking. We will plant trees, add rose bushes, an herb garden and a Buddha garden as a place of respite for visitors. 

We feel very badly that we should have notified the city before we removed any trees and should have informed our neighbors of the changes on the land. We apologize for this as we did not know the rules and regulations pertaining to the trees’ removal. We do intend to follow procedures from now on. 

We kindly ask the public to understand that we do not harbor ill will or ill intentions to mislead any one. We sincerely hope that by explaining our view to the public in this manner, will help eliminating misunderstandings about our temple and the Thai community. 

Sincerley, 

Ajahn Manatt 

Head Monk  

On behalf of the Berkeley Thai Temple