Local temple delays completion of garden

The finishing touches on a meditation garden in Gainesville, fit with about 85 tons of statues, will require more time and money to complete.

A Nan Buddhist Temple, located at 2120 SE 15th St., recently paid about $500,000 to erect three buddhist statues imported from Vietnam earlier this month, according to Alligator archives. The three statues, which were delivered Jan. 11 and 13, include a sitting Buddha, a reclining Buddha and a 45-foot-tall representation of Quan Yin, the Buddhist goddess of compassion, according to archives.

The temple’s head monk, Thich Duc Thong, wants to add light fixtures, landscaping, a front gate and additional, smaller statues to the garden, a project that needs approximately $200,000 to complete, said Trang Le, a longtime member of the temple.

“It will take quite a while and then after that, he will add another statue (depicting) when the Buddha was born,” he said.

The garden won’t be finished for about two years, said Le, who visits the temple about three times a week. The trio of white granite statues were paid for almost entirely by private donations from members of the temple, Le said.

Despite the project being an ongoing process, the tentative date for the garden’s grand opening is May 7, Buddha’s birth day, said Bob Todd, who personally invested in the statues.

Although the meditation garden isn’t close to being complete, it will still host festivities for the Vietnamese New Year on Jan. 29, Todd said. The event is open to everyone and will serve vegetarian food in exchange for donations.

Todd said he has a difficult time describing how he felt when he saw the completed statues.

“They’re so beautiful,” Todd said, “and I think the statues will be there long after we’re all gone.”

The smaller sitting Buddha weighs 66,138.7 pounds.