Photo and videos courtesy of Gillian Maxwell, Distinctively Dressed
How the accidental buddha created a sacred space
In the Eastlake neighbourhood of Oakland in Northern California, where Dan Stevenson and his wife Lou live, drug dealers, sex workers and a lot of garbage - including old furniture and more - became an annoyance and an eyesore. They were exasperated. One day they decided to take action and put a concrete Buddha in the area across from their home where the garbage was frequently piling up. Dan affixed the Buddha to a slab of concrete. That was in 2012.
About four months later, someone painted the Buddha white, and people started to leave offerings - oranges, pears and coins. Then he was painted gold, and his eyes were carefully painted in over time.
They inadvertently created a sacred space.
Eventually, an entire shrine was built around the Buddha and other friends joined him, including the goddess of mercy Quan Yin. As time passed, people began to come to venerate the Buddha and leave offerings. At least 70 people come each day to venerate the Buddha. Every feast day, the local Vietnamese community comes and bring Dan and Lou gifts.
Over time the drug dealers, users and sex workers moved from the area. Crime dropped over 82% in the neighbourhood. That was back in 2015 when Phoebe Judge of the podcast Criminal, interviewed Dan. Criminal followed up with him again four years later. He reported that more and more people have come. It’s even on Google maps with reviews.
Periodically some damage has been inflicted upon the site. And each time something is destroyed, it just gets bigger. What was once a single statue of Buddha has now become not just a sacred space, but a sacred place.
Listen to the original Criminal episode from 2012.
Credit: https://radiopublic.com/criminal/s1!6dab1
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