Buddha Statue Brings Peace to an Oakland Neighborhood

OAKLAND, Calif.—Fed up with crime, rather than turning to despair, one Oakland resident remained hopeful. Through a small gesture, he sought to bring tranquility to his neighborhood by installing a Buddha statue. The story of the Oakland Buddha started in 2009, when Dan Stevenson and his wife, Lu, got tired of the drug dealing, prostitution, and garbage in their neighborhood. Wanting to change the negative energy of the neighborhood, they came up with the idea of placing a Buddha statue on the corner of 11th Avenue and 19th Street near their home. A street sign where the shrine is located on the corner of 11th Ave. and E 19th St. in Oakland, Calif., on Dec. 5, 2023. (Helen Billings/The Epoch Times) They bought a concrete Buddha statue from a local Ace Hardware store. To install it, Mr. Stevenson used a piece of steel rebar and epoxy to fasten the statue to a rock on the median strip on the corner....