vihara

(place) by whizkid Thu Aug 03 2000 at 22:16:26

Sanskrit/Pali word for dwelling.

In Theravada Buddhist countries the term is used to describe the house in which monks (bhikkus) live, that is to say a Buddhist "temple."

To the best of my knowledge, the oldest Theravada vihara in the US is Washington Buddhist Vihara, in Washington, DC, the dwelling of several bhikkus from Sri Lanka.

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