True Buddha Diamond Temple Of New York

The religion here is an amalgam of Chinese Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, & Daoism, all with an overriding religious loyalty to the founder, Lu Shengyan, the «Living Buddha». Nevertheless, the art is an awesome collection of Buddhist statuary & thangkas unmatched in scope anywhere in NYC — by even the Met or the Rubin.

This temple use to be located in lower Manhattan by the world trade center. (this temple wasn’t flexible with the opening hours. They closed early on opening days and they were closed on holidays) I didn’t check their new hours, but for the pass few years the days I went, they were open.
Couple of years back, they brought this new location. It was kind of odd to be located in a residential area. But I got use to it and it worked out cause it’s better and easier to find parking in the street versus the temples in Chinatown or Flushing.
Most of the time this temple is empty and people /​staff would mind their own business. They are slowly improving in many ways. I remember the pass few years there were never anything on the tables to «bai sun» or worship. There was just incense sticks for lighting. But when I went this year there were a lot of food, snacks, candies, soda & waters filled all over the table to worship various gods, spirits and ancestors that was there. This means they are actually using some of their donations or profits to improve their temple by putting various food on the tables to worship. This shows improvement. I have noticed that this temple is more of a profit organization then the non-​profit organization. As in they try to make money by having special ways to collect money from a individual or family that is willing to invest in special kind of worship. It’s up to you to believe it or not. Because of the location, these special worships are cheaper then other temples so if you are interested you can look into it! They also have a area that sells blessed bracelets and necklaces.
There isn’t a heavy incense smell in this temple so it’s good. It’s spacious and clean. you will need to take off your shoes once you step into the front door, so wear good socks! There are two floors and the restroom is located in the lower level. I came here on Chinese New Year Day and there were free buffet «jai”/veggie food on the table for you to grab and eat. It was self serve so it different from other temples I been to, where they hand you a box of jai. This was around 12PM when they had food&soup. They were good, I have nothing to complain about when it’s free