Source: Whittier Daily News

On July 27, 2003 the Whittier Daily News reported that "Louvenia Ortega came to the Hsi Lai Temple [CA] for a one-week monastic retreat to learn more about Buddhism... She started out by getting mad and failing as a group leader. She discovered that is a good way to learn... Everybody wanted to tell her what to do, so she lost her temper, the Hacienda Heights resident said... They came from as far as Taiwan, Hong Kong and Vancouver and as close as Monrovia and Whittier, each paying an $80 registration fee. The retreat is open to everyone, no matter what their religion or whether they are temple members... The temple, the largest Buddhist place of worship in the Western Hemisphere, has held the Short-Term Monastic Retreat annually for about 10 years."