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Buddhist Monastery Planned for South Savage
By Clare Kennedy, Shakopee Patch, May 7, 2013
Savage, Minnesota (USA) -- This week Savage Planning Commission will consider an application from Tay Phuong, an organization which hopes to convert a single family home into a Buddhist worship space and monastery.
Savage may soon be home to a Buddhist monastic community.
The city has received a request from an applicant to turn a single family home into the Tay Phuong Monastery. The house sits on a 29-acre site at the southwest corner of 150th Street and Scott County Road 27.
Once complete, the newly-revamped building would include a worship space for 70 people and permanent living accommodations for two monks. Officials with Savage city planning say that the monastery is a compatible use for the area, which is zoned for mixed development. The spot sits between single family homes to the west, townhouses to the north and a large swath of undeveloped property to the east.
"This will be a place for people to learn and practice Buddhism, as well as a place for monks and nuns to spread the dharma," wrote the Venerable Thich Hanh Duc on the organization's website.
Eventually, plans may include construction of a completely new facility, though no specific timeline has been set for future development of the site, city panners say. Thich Hanh Duc's note indicated that the organization hoped to build a Four-Gratitude tower as well, which would house relics of the Buddha and ancestors' ashes.