55 - Bhante Kassapa Bhikkhu

Bhante Kassapa  now is becoming a Buddhist monk at the Buu Mon Temple in Port Arthur. . He has lots of fun clips on YouTube. 

He served in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War. He then began his formal training in the Jesuit Associate Program in Houston. Eventually, Bhante Kassapa Bhikkhu joined the Franciscan order as a monk. When he left that order, he spent 16 years studying Buddhism while working in the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority in Tampa, Florida. He was ordained as a novice monk in October 2006 at Phat Phap Buddhist Temple in St. Petersburg, Florida. After one full year, he became a fully ordained bhikkhu at Buu Mon Buddhist Temple in Port Arthur, Texas.

Bhante Kassapa Bhikkhu is currently a resident monk at Buu Mon Buddhist Temple, a Theravada Vietnamese temple in Port Arthur, Texas. He is the chaplain to the Buddhist inmates at the minimum security federal correction facility in Beaumont, Texas. Since he took over the prison ministry from the previous chaplain, the attendance went from 7 inmates to 20 inmates and growing. He also runs a weekly meditation group that usually ranges from 20 to 40 people each week. He hopes to one day create an American-style Theravada Buddhist temple.

Averaging every six weeks, he also speaks at the Unity Church of Beaumont to their weekly meditation group. He gave one of the two keynote speeches at Oklahoma City University for the 10th Annual Oklahoma Buddhist Conference. Also, he spoke at the 2008 Human Rights Torch Relay Demonstration in Houston Texas, South East Texas World Peace Event in 2007, and a Lamar University World Religions course. Most recently, Bhante Kassapa Bhikkhu has appeared in a 3-minute special on the growth of Buddhism in America on the ABC affiliate, KTRK Channel 13, in Houston, Texas on November 16, 2008. He has also appeared on the live call in show, KFDM Listens, which aired on the CBS affiliate, KFDM Channel 6, in Beaumont, Texas. On October 20, 2009, he spoke to the Intercultural and Diversity class at McNeese University in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Bhante Kassapa has spoken numerous times to Lamar University in Beaumont Texas, and has been asked to lecture at McNeese University in Lake Charles LA.