Usefulness of attending a Thai temple in the United States So I've been a Buddhist since around 2007, but I've never been to a temple. I don't think I've ever actually met another Buddhist. I just go by what I read in Bodhi's translations and Thanissaro's lectures and practice on my own.

A few months ago, I started working in Raleigh, NC, and my drive home now goes right by this Dhammayut temple (map). It's only something like 8 minutes out of my way.

I had called their number a few years ago and asked if--I forget what I said specifically--something like do you have any services? (I may have said "Sunday services." Ack.) The response was something like:


  Aah.. uh, no... 


Sort of like a Consuela "no.. no..". It didn't seem that the person spoke English very well, although I think he understood my question.

At the time I had figured that a Thai temple is probably just not very interested in westerners. (I've noticed typical western converts to Buddhism don't tend to wholeheartedly buy into one tradition or another, they might read books on Zen, listen to lectures by the Dalai Lama and also watch videos by Ajahn Brahm. They often totally disregard the idea of rebirth. I can see how some of this might be off-putting to conservative Theravadins.)

So I figured their interest is just in attending to the Thai community there, and/or they may have few or no people that speak English well enough to teach in that language. Since then I've sort of alternated back and forth between this view and thinking maybe I ought to pursue it further. Now that I'm so close to the temple, I'm thinking more about trying to attend.

So my question is does anyone here have first-hand experience with Thai temples in the United States and how those tend to handle westerners wanting to attend?

I'm really only interested in practice. I'm only interested in devotion-based actions (e.g. veneration of Buddha statues, kathina ceremonies) insofar as they inspire practice, because I can imagine a scenario where the only thing being done is offering of incense, giving robes and alms to monks and maybe listening to Pali chanting, with little or no meditation or English-language talks. If that's the case, it might not be worth it. (Although this is a Dhammayut temple, so I would tend to think they would certainly be doing meditation there?)

I'm specifically interested in anyone who's Thai and attends Thai temples in the United States, especially a Dhammayut temple like this one, and could give me some insight as to how they operate, what practices they do and how useful it would be to someone who's interested primarily in practice, less in ritual..
Sorry not Thai.

I'm a westerner (black American) who attends a Thai Forest temple, and they were welcoming to me since the beginning. Honestly as someone who has been attending for a while, the "Sunday service" question would have been strange to me too. We have chanting and meditation open to laypeople once in the morning and evening. Of course, visitors are welcome all day, and there are regulars who also make lunch for the monks, and offer other food, medicine, and other donations.

It is not good to make decisions based on your imagination. For example, your assessment would be incorrect if applied to our temple. Offering robes formerly is mostly only done once a year for Vesaka. Also, donations, chanting, and meditation go hand-in-hand. Offering food, taking refuge, praising the Three Jewels, practicing gratitude for things we do not normally think about (food, shelter, clothing), and spreading loving-kindness is the basis for a healthy meditative life. At my temple, they speak both Thai and English, and if you can find an English version of the Pali chanting book they use (technically their books are already in "English" as far as using transliterated Roman script), it is easy to pick up on the keywords that let you know what you are chanting at any given moment. 

Also, the Buddhists in our temple are comfortable with going to Mahayana-based temples as well, and "doing as the Romans do", which includes more incense offering and devotional aspects like that.

Saying that, the Dhammakyut orders formed from a movement that basically Protestantized Buddhism in that region, so you have to take in account how Thai Buddhism is practiced in modern times when considering practicing Thai Buddhism.

It is really like any other new place. You just go in and check it out, without expectations, meet it on its own terms, then decide whether the temple is for you or not.