Temple San Jose Logo

Events and Activities


Pchum Ben 2023

Khemararam Buddhist Temple 2751 Mervyns Way, San Jose, CA95127

The Pchum Ben Festival 2023 Schedule

Friday: October 13th, 2023. From: 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM, we invite monks to chant for our ancestors, one time for each group, and 10:00AM to 12:00 Noon, we conduct religious ceremony such as paying homage to the triple gem, observing precepts, inviting monks for alms-round in the campus of temple, offering food to the monks for chanting to dedicate merit to our ancestors and our departed relatives in seven generations, and inviting a monk to deliver sermon.

Saturday: October 14th, 2023. Programs are to be held the same as on Friday.

Sunday: October 15th, 2023. Programs are to be held the same as on Friday and Saturday, so in order increase our merit more and more, we invite monks for alms round deliver sermons on each day. Therefore, we would like to invite ladies and gentlemen as well as Buddhist followers near and far to join the festival and rejoice in merit individually according to one’s faith or moral conviction.


Festival date: 09-31-2023 to 10-15-2023.

Celebrate the big Pchum Ben days on Friday 13th Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th.

We have several events through out the year to help, grow & nourish Cambodian Buddhist culture. We celebrate our festivals and religious events. We do fundraising to support these events.

Pchum Ben (Khmer: បុណ្យភ្ជុំបិណ្ឌ; "Ancestors' Day") is a 15-day Cambodian religious festival, culminating in celebrations on the 15th day of the tenth month in the Khmer calendar, at the end of the Buddhist lent, Vassa.

The day is a time when many Cambodians pay their respects to deceased relatives of up to 7 generations.[4] Monks chant the suttas in Pali language overnight (continuously, without sleeping) in prelude to the gates of hell opening, an event that is presumed to occur once a year, and is linked to the cosmology of King Yama originating in the Pali Canon. During this period, the gates of hell are opened and ghosts of the dead (preta) are presumed to be especially active. In order to combat this, food-offerings are made to benefit them, some of these ghosts having the opportunity to end their period of purgation, whereas others are imagined to leave hell temporarily, to then return to endure more suffering; without much explanation, relatives who are not in hell (who are in heaven or otherwise reincarnated) are also generally imagined to benefit from the ceremonies.

We have several events through out the year to help, grow & nourish Cambodian Buddhist culture. We celebrate our festivals and religious events. We do fundraising to support these events.

We have several events through out the year to help, grow & nourish Cambodian Buddhist culture. We celebrate our festivals and religious events. We do fundraising to support these events.

Daily Activities

We have several events through out the year to help, grow & nourish Cambodian Buddhist culture. We celebrate our festivals and religious events. We do fundraising to support these events.

Upcoming Events

We have several events through out the year to help, grow & nourish Cambodian Buddhist culture. We celebrate our festivals and religious events. We do fundraising to support these events.

Special Activities

We have several events through out the year to help, grow & nourish Cambodian Buddhist culture. We celebrate our festivals and religious events. We do fundraising to support these events.

Monk Blessings

We have several events through out the year to help, grow & nourish Cambodian Buddhist culture. We celebrate our festivals and religious events. We do fundraising to support these events.