Man in Redmond, Washington Builds Buddhist Statue Garden in His Yard

July 14, 1999

Source: The Seattle Times

On July 14, 1999, The Seattle Times published an article on the efforts of Le Duy Hong, a retired custodian who has built a garden of Buddhist statues in the yard of his Redmond, Washington home, where he also runs a house temple. The garden, which overlooks a busy street near the headquarters of Microsoft, was constructed by Le in order to fulfill a promise he made to himself while working as an interpreter in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Le prayed that he would neither be killed nor have to kill in the conflict. His prayers were answered when he and his family immigrated safely to the United States in 1975. Now 65, Le has just imported a series of bodhisattva statues from Saigon that he bought with his retirement money to further adorn the garden and temple. The Northwest Dharma Association estimates that there are 25 to 45 small temples in houses in the Seattle metro area.