Dharma Bum Temple

The story begins in a monastery in Taiwan. In 2005, according to the temple's own history, a couple of young Western men met there and talked about a place in America where people could learn Buddhism and practice meditation while feeling comfortable in their own culture. They had met through Hsi-Fang Temple in San Diego in 2003 and spent time living at Fo Guang Shan's monastery in Taiwan. Back in San Diego in 2006, they were asked to open a Dharma Center in Golden Hills; it lasted seven months before funding ran out.

The Dharma Bum Temple itself opened at the end of 2006 in a downtown building the founders say was built in 1924 and, according to a local historian, once housed Chinese workers in what was then old Chinatown. It was first called the Dharma Bum Center. Three people started it, who by their own account liked Buddhism, Bob Dylan and Jack Kerouac. The official opening was New Year's Eve, December 31, 2006, with a meditation led by Eddie Santiago in the second-floor zendo. They had no sign, no flag and charged no money. Classes were in English, in what they describe as a cool downtown loft, with no pressure to bow, chant, light incense or wear robes. People showed up, and more classes were added.

The temple does not advocate one school of Buddhism. It focuses on the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path and the Six Paramitas, and its teaching is practical: speaking about Buddhism is not enough. The schedule includes Silent Meditation, Metta (Loving-Kindness) Meditation, Intro to Buddhism & Meditation, Tibetan Buddhism with Shamatha and Tonglen, Recovery Dharma and an Eightfold Path Recovery Group. A half-day silent retreat runs the first Saturday of each month from 8 to 12, with no registration. Seated and walking meditation and temple cleaning are all done in silence. An outdoor Japanese Zen Garden is on the grounds.

Service is part of the practice. Every Thursday, volunteers prepare food that would otherwise be thrown away and carry vegetarian meals to people living on downtown streets; the page says this has gone on for 16 years. Two eight-week programs, the Engaged Buddhist Training Program (limited to 18) and the Women's Buddhist Leadership Program (limited to 12), end with a formal Taking Refuge and Five Precept ceremony. Classes are free. Personal weekend retreats of two or three nights in a private room are offered at $108 per night.

The temple is at 4144 Campus Ave., San Diego, and as of late 2026 it is preparing to mark twenty years. Its year-end appeal says people have come to meditate, recover, serve, grieve and heal, at no cost.