Associated Press
Just off a state highway in New Jersey, one of the largest statues of the Buddha in the United States appears unexpectedly in the middle of a backyard. It rises 30 feet high from the woods in Franklin Township, near Princeton, where it was built a decade ago under the leadership of a Sri Lankan monk ordained in Theravada, one of the oldest forms of Buddhism. Today, the statue in the New Jersey Buddhist Vihara and Meditation Center has become a hub for interfaith efforts and a spiritual home for practicing Buddhists, Hindus and Christians, reflecting New Jersey’s diverse religious landscape.