The white-column-framed double doors open into a towering hall with a pond and a mossy wooden treehouse.
The artist and Buddhist leader is himself a mirage.
The captions on the wall tell a different story.
A follower claims the photo of Dorje Chang on the right was taken a day after the one on the left.UNITED INTERNATIONAL WORLD BUDDHISM ASSOCIATION HEADQUARTERS
The assertion by the tour guide was not a hyperbolic outlier.
To his followers, the accomplishments of H.H.
Dorje Chang Buddha III are the highest in the entire world, as one writer puts it.
Its a look that can best be described as Michael Jackson-esque.
Theyre hard to pin down and both take a certain suspension of disbelief.
One painting is worth nothing, and another is sold for millions.
One ancient tale is just a myth, and another is a text studied by believers for centuries.
The mystery became something like a scab at which I couldnt stop picking for nearly 10 years.
I was chasing three answers: Why did the third coming of the Buddha come to Pasadena?
What did he hope to achieve?
And how did the strange art play into it all?
Hes greeted at the airport by a marching band and swarms of admirers chanting, Hello, Master!
At one point, we watch as multiple officials prostrate themselves before Dorje Chang, becoming his disciples.
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They purchased a 6,800-square-foot home a few blocks from Pasadenas Wrigley Mansion for $1.8 million.
At the time, Dorje Chang was known by two other names Yi Yungao and Master Wan Ko Yee.
Zhaxi Zhouma spent time at Dorje Changs home with other devoted followers in the early 2000s.
We needed to be quite discreet.
The Buddha Master actually lived in several places at the time.
Soon, theyd begin to make an even more remarkable claim.
In a giant 557-page tome,H.H.
(Their proof has since been contested.)
As followers tell me, Dorje Changs Buddhism is not a sect; its the true Buddhism.
Reincarnation is a tenet of Tibetan Buddhism, and tracing lineage of Buddhist leaders is a common practice.
Thats not a thing.
Thats how rare it is.
The pope is more like a representative of god; Dorje Chang Buddha III is the God.
So, unsurprisingly, the third-coming claim has been a point of contention ever since.
As I returned to the links a couple of weeks later, both had been pulled from YouTube.
I found new versions, and quickly downloaded them.
In the other, a bespectacled monk explains, I humbly admit that I forged this letter of authentication.
These videos, too, were soon gone.
Dorje Chang Buddha III.
Of course, those figures are even harder to check.
Most I spoke with had never heard the name.
And the property holdings across California, Nevada, Georgia, and New York are staggering in scale.
Dorje Chang Buddha III.
His letter demanding a retraction helps demonstrate the scale of support for Dorje Changs movement by wealthy true believers.
Every time im in his presence, there is a feeling that I feel down to my bone.
He was divine, publicly lauded, but also seemingly shrouded in a fog.
When Id ask for an interview, his followers would explain that he was too modest to grant one.
Instead, I found myself trying to decipher the outlines of a divine figure as painted by true believers.
When I speak to the soft-spoken Gauvry, he moves the focus away from the supernatural.
Those who follow it do see things that are quite remarkable.
And I have seen them, too, he says.
But was that the reason that made me committed to this?
The answer is no.
I mean, its hard to explain.
You wouldnt be able to explain it.
You wouldnt be able to write about it.
Nobody would read it and feel it.
But the beliefs of the faithful live in an arena beyond a fact-check.
Thats what makes Dorje Changs art such a compelling wrinkle.
But hanging art on a wall and inviting the public in for free is a high-wire act.
What if, to them, the art looks unremarkable?
Who wants to be linked, even by proximity, to that?
But finally, one professor mentioned that a colleague had some interactions with the group and shared his contact.
(Wu did not respond to requests for comment.)
Building Credentials
In 2000, Auburn University shared news of a gift.
I have asked around about the couple you mention below, she wrote via email.
He remembers reading about a gift of original art at the time.
And thats about all.
I thought to myself, Isnt that odd?
And we dont know anything about it in the Department of Art?
He says Wang and Dorje Chang never taught in the Department of Art and Art History.
It never hung, he says of the painting.
It was never exhibited.
There was a $10,000 price tag still on it.
He grins, remembering the gift to his university in the Deep South.
Man, like, that is so good its not even funny.
As a professor at Auburn University, Master Yee is a well-renowned author, researcher, and philosopher.
(A representative for Lee declined to comment.)
This [artwork by Dorje Chang] is either way up here or its just cuckoo crazy.
Gray Davis named March 8, 2000, Master Wan Ko Yee Day.
(Brown and Menendez could not be reached for comment.)
Like the honorary professorship, the flood of congressional commendations appear to be a legitimizing tool for Dorje Chang.
The immediate answer was No, thats not possible.
Youve got to go through the regular channel, Wahlquist says.
So the idea was: Is there a way of recognizing this accomplishment in some fashion?
There was a distribution of members who were interested in actually accepting the book, Wahlquist says.
And then we arranged a short ceremony at the Library of Congress.
I ask Wahlquist if he was involved in Brown and Bradys resolution.
Ambassador David Wu, I think, did that directly with Congresswoman Brown and whoever else, he says.
The intangible stuff wasnt his concern.
I was told at the time that Dorje Chang Buddha was above the Dalai Lama.
Not everyone can check that out, he says.
What can I say?
A lot of people believe hes Dorje Chang Buddha III, and who am I to say hes not?
Intriguingly, so is the arts exorbitant value.
Four years later, the same auction house sold a painting by his wife for $1.27 million.
A price like this does not appear out of thin air.
Ive never heard of that auction house.
When I tell him Gianguan Auctions is in Manhattans SoHo district, hes incredulous.
Forget it, forget it, forget it, he says.
I mean, if its not Christies, Bonhams, or Sothebys, its of absolutely no consequence.
Nobody I know wants to talk about this guy in public.
Who wants to be linked to that?
However, Yi Yungao doesnt have the majority of that, she says.
Its just a very strange case.
Thats normally a good way to build a credential of an artist.
You cant just fabricate an auction and then theres nothing around to support it.
(All five museums confirmed that they do not have any art by Dorje Chang.)
When I reach back out this January, Im again rebuffed.
I then email Gina Kolbe, who used to do PR for the auction house.
She shares an email address for Mary Ann Lum, Gianguans director, but no one writes back.
One belongs to Lum.
She tries it: No response to the buzzer.
He feels offended by the whole operation.
Im an art professional, and I love the art of the Himalayas, he says.
I ask if he believes the auction prices could be legitimate.
It could happen, he says.
I mean, human beings are incredibly gullible.
So, if this guy is selling enlightenment, and you got $20 million, why not?
He tells me hes impressed by the scam.
This dude has an internet presence like crazy.
He has slimed the web with his stuff.
He is all over the place, Durham says.
I asked how theyre funding a museum in downtown San Francisco without charging admission.
He told me they accept donations, large and small.
Huang often brought up Dorje Changs rare artistic prowess throughout our conversation.
So, I asked why he believes people have disparaged him.
This is a very normal phenomenon, very normal, he says.
People also say that President Obama is not good.
People also say that Queen Elizabeth is not good.
When Shakyamuni Buddha was in the world over 2,000 years ago, people also slandered him.
Or even Jesus, IAMA Director of Museum Operations Loretta Huang, no relation to Vincent, offered.
Yeah, even Jesus, Vincent Helou Huang said.
The same is true with Jesus.
People said and do say a lot of bad things.
Loretta Huang suggested I read her memoir,A Diamond Necklace.
Huang told her friend to look up at the birds resting on a tree.
Dorje Chang, in earshot, responded, This is a bird city.
In a little while, you will see tens of thousands of birds come here.
Suddenly, the dusk sky filled with birds.
Theyd studied art and then moved to San Francisco desperate for a job.
Quickly, the strangeness of their new roles in the white-columned building on Market Street began to present itself.
Maggie Pryzant, hired to do marketing, felt stifled right away.
Shed float ideas for Instagram posts or partnerships with other museums and theyd go nowhere.
I was very confused because it didnt seem like they wanted to actually market the museum, she remembers.
To kill time, shed wander the collection, trying to familiarize herself with the paintings.
The works themselves are protected really aggressively under really thick glass.
And the works themselves dont look very real, she says.
Like he didnt actually create them with his physical; he created them with his mental.
A lot of people believe hes Dorje Chang Buddha III, and who am I to say hes not?
To the staff, she never acknowledged living there, always arriving first and leaving last.
When asked about her lodgings, Huang responded via email: Curious and Interesting Joey B-K!
A persons private life will not be revealed!
Another former staffer, who Ill call Eileen, was tasked with paying the museums rent.
And it says the lease states: This annual rental is substantially below the market rental.
Though admission was free, the cost to enter the Treasure Room was $600 per group of 10.
Sarah remembers days when busloads of followers would arrive, and Huang would tour them through the Treasure Room.
She was very serious.
Me and the other guy looking were like, Im pretty sure this is melted PVC piping.
This is just a bunch of crap thats melted and spray-painted.
Sarah and her co-worker became obsessed with understanding more about the art.
And we were like, Yeah, this is printer paper, she says.
I just assumed that they were a front for the cult.
But Loretta was like, Were here to show people free art, Eileen continues.
And I really think that Loretta believes that.
It said he died on Jan. 27, 2022, at the age of 58.
Soon, it was deleted.
This time, though, was different.
And what of those followers left behind?
Eventually, I found a death record for Dorje Chang but nothing for his wife.
If she is also now deceased, we have not received any notification.
It says that her date of death was 2/5/2022.
However, there is no copy of her death certificate.
We only have the death certificate for Dorje Chang Buddha III.
For this turkey to pretend that hes an artist, let alone a master, makes me nauseous.
In August, two and a half years after the deaths, the issue remained unresolved.
Now, the email response stretched to three paragraphs and the tone had changed.
the Assessors Office wrote.
It seemed they, too, had found themselves stuck within the strange mist surrounding Dorje Chang.
Zhaxi Zhouma emailed that she learned about the death in early February and was shocked.
I saw Him just before Christmas, and He was very healthy, she wrote.
By then, after so many years staring at a sideways world, everything had started to appear off-kilter.
I found myself wondering what, if any, of this was true.
Id heard devotional stories from followers and seen videos showing large groups praying to their Buddha master.
But then Id reach out to experts who had never heard Dorje Changs name.
The auction prices and the professorships and even the art hanging on the wall by now seemed illusory.
Yet, those claims supernatural and all-too-terrestrial still kept appearing atop search results like digital mantras.
So, it felt important to drive east to the Holy Miracle Temple.
The temples entrance sits between two buildings behind a wooden gate.
I walked up, but it was locked, so I pressed my ear against the wood.
And there it was: a rhythmic chant.
I was surprised by my feeling when I heard it.
The low hum was strangely grounding.
In the shadow world Id fallen into, it was hard to trust anything I saw or read.
But I knew I heard the sound.
On an overcast day this April, I again drive east to the Holy Miracle Temple.
I set off for Monterey Park, and park across from a two-story home.
The home is the listed address for the publisher of the book claiming Dorje Changs divine origins.
I ring the bell, and no one answers.
So, I write a note introducing myself, slide it through the mail slot, and drive away.
Finally, I head to the Dorje Chang family home.
I buzz and wait.
Finally, a man in his thirties, with head shaved, walks toward me.
I peek over the gate, introducing myself and telling him that Im a journalist writing about Dorje Chang.
Part of the lore of this person was some of his paintings were immaculately conceived.
He waves his hand, repeating, I dont know, I dont know.
Then, he walks away.
Maybe no one, hed said.
We were somewhat unique in that regard, in the sense that we were following the Buddha.
Anything short of that is not that.
Two years after the deaths, its still unclear from the outside who will ultimately steer the ship.
But the ship continues to sail.
I email Loretta Huang to ask for contact information for Dorje Changs children.
It is very hard to get to see them.
Regrets, I have no channel to recommend to you, she writes.
There was nobody to sign for my letter sent to Pui Chu Yees home in Las Vegas.)
Temples continue to flourish with devotees.
Stavros Anthony is quoted as saying, Great day for the state of Nevada.
Then I check my notes on the Holy Heavenly Lake.
