A BLOCK off Grant Avenue in San Francisco's Chinatown -- beyond the well-worn path tourists take past souvenir shops, restaurants and a dive saloon called the Buddha Bar -- begins a historical tour of a more spiritual nature. Duck into a nondescript doorway at 125 Waverly Place, ascend five narrow flights and step into the first and oldest Buddhist temple in the United States. At the Tien Hau Temple, before an intricately carved gilded wooden shrine and ornate Buddha statues, under dozens of paper lanterns, Buddhists in the Chinese tradition still burn pungent incense and leave offerings to the goddess Tien Hau in return for the...
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