Temple: Buddhism in Asian America

In the second half of the 20th century, changes to immigration law and the end of the Vietnam War brought new waves of immigrants to the U.S. from China and Southeast Asia. While the city of Lowell, Massachusetts, became a magnet for Cambodian and Laotian refugees, nearby Boston became an important settlement zone for Vietnamese refugees and Chinese immigrants.As these communities expanded and stabilized, members felt the need to reconnect to their homeland cultures by reviving institutions that had nurtured them in their earlier lives. Buddhism and Buddhist temples were an essential component of those lives, especially in Southeast Asia. As one member of Lowell's Laotian community noted: "The temple is our home, our culture, our bloodline."Recorded from the late 1980s to 2025, Temple: Buddhism in Asian America documents in photographs and text six Buddhist temples serving the Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, and Chinese communities in the Boston-Lowell area, creating an up-close portrait of a remarkable moment in U.S. immigration history and the deepening presence of Buddhism in American life.