New Brunswick's first Buddhist centre will open in Moncton this weekend.

City officials, Buddhist masters, and monks from across North America and Europe will gather to inaugurate the Moncton Buddhist Centre on Saturday.

The centre is modest, located in a converted office space in the basement of a nail salon.

Dinh Vo-Ngoc is the president of Moncton’s Buddhist Centre, an informal group of about 15 practising Buddhists. He was busy Thursday getting the temple ready for its big opening – unpacking boxes of bells, scrolls and gold statues of Buddha.

Vo-Ngoc has been working for years to establish a formal place of worship.

"You don’t open a centre just to close it, you know. So, the challenge is to have, as often as possible, different teaching activity from different masters," he said.

A Buddhist master will be in town this weekend for a special ceremony taking place at the Moncton Lions Community Centre.

Vo-Ngoc is hoping that once Moncton’s centre is officially open, it will encourage more people to come in to learn about the religion.

"If they feel comfortable to come, then we absolutely welcome them," he said.

"Of course, you know, Buddhism is not very popular yet in Moncton or in New Brunswick or in Canada, in general. But, slowly, I think, more people might be interested in this."

The next step for Moncton would be attracting a resident Buddhist master, Vo-Ngoc said.

According to the 2001 census, there were 545 Buddhists living in New Brunswick.