Lisa Kosian, Boston Globe: Except for the statues of Buddha at the entrance, the Boston Buddha Vararam Wat in Bedford looks more like a New England home than a religious temple with its roots in Thailand.

The three arches in front are due for some adornment, said Rojana Laplume, a temple member; that is on the “to-do’’ list, along with finishing work on the monks’ living quarters upstairs.

To help with such work, as well as upkeep costs, the small community of Buddhists, predominantly from Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, is reaching out to a wider audience, with its first fund-raising dinner and concert …

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Kathleen Burge: The bronze face of the Buddha, always serene, gazes down at recent gifts from the pilgrims who have come to see him: two apples, dried sage, a bouquet of artificial flowers, a $20 bill.

This replica of the most revered Buddhist statue in Tibet, 8 feet tall and 600 pounds, sits inside a stucco rental house in Arlington, behind Johnnie’s Foodmaster.

Although there is no sign outside, Tibetan immigrants find their way to the Bartlett Avenue property to see the only version of the Jowo Rinpoche statue in the United States. Rinpoche is an honorific in Tibetan Buddhism, used for respected teachers.

Buddhists believe…

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Rebecca Hyman: Several years ago, one of the highest-level Buddhist monks in Thailand and an advisor to the king was driving around Boston looking for inspiration for a massive meditation center to be built in Raynham when he laid eyes on the Genzyme building on the Charles River and said, “This is the image of my temple.”

“He wanted East to meet West,” said Architect Been Wang, who designed Genzyme and the meditation center that broke ground on South Street East last week and will be the largest Thai Buddhist temple outside of Bangkok.

The royal temple, Wat Nawamintararachutis, also known as the…

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