Buddhists Serve Community at Westford Meditation Center

Set off among the trees at the dead end of Milot Road in Westford, Wat Buddhahavana is easy to miss at first at first glance, though a visit is well worth the search.

Six monks from Southeast Asia and one monk born in Massachusetts live at this Buddhist meditation center on the site of a former horse farm. Today, these beautiful and peaceful surroundings provide a center of spiritual life for Laotian and other Southeast Asian Buddhists living in Westford and surrounding communities.

The resident monks gather regularly with members of the extended Buddhist community for evening meditation, Sunday services, a children’s summer culture camp and other community activities.

“I am so blessed to be here in Westford,” said the Venerable Mangkone Sananilone, Wat Buddhahavana‘s 41 year old head monk or abbot, as he walked among the greenery, gardens, lily and lotus ponds of the center grounds.  “Lowell was too urbanized and not peaceful.”

He remembered looking through the real estate ads, when the farm for sale in Westford caught his eye.

“When I came and saw the (Old Stone Arch Bridge) there, I said, this is my home,” the monk said. “When I saw (the bridge), it was like a monument, calling to me.”

That was in 2004 and Sananilone has been in Westford ever since.

With the community support, the congregation has built a temple with a main meditation hall that can seat up to 100 people. They continue to work on the property and are busy constructing a vestibule for the meditation hall, as well as planting vegetable and flower gardens, among other projects.

There are also a wide array of activities the meditation center offers in addition to Sunday services: there’s a Wednesday evening meditation class for young people from Westford Academy, a monthly religious service and potluck event that draws up to 200 people from as far away as Worcester and Providence and a summer Laotian Cultural Camp from age six and up which will begin on Monday, July 11 and run through mid August.

Since its inception, the Buddhist Meditation center has developed strong ties to the community.  With the assistance of town boards in Westford, the meditation center was re-zoned as a church and also received nonprofit status.

Ven. Sananilone said that he is “blessed and grateful” for the support he has received from the people and town of Westford, especially the Westford Building Department.

“When we first came, we thought people would be closed minded and scared,” he said. “But the town of Westford is very open minded and really helpful.”  In turn, Sananilone said he and his congregation try to give back to Westford and other area cities and towns, and today he serves as a volunteer for the Littleton Rotary Club and will also be delivering the invocation for the Start of the Littleton Appleman Triathlon in July.

Sananilone and a fellow monk, Venerable David Chutiko, originally from Malden, MA, are also active in prison ministry at Fort Devens and The Norfolk Correction Center, where they teach meditation and chanting .

However, perhaps one of the most important aspects of life at the Wat Buddhahavana according to Sananilone is the opportunity for him and his congregation to practice Buddhism among the natural serenity of Westford.