Buddhist Temple in South Africa

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The Nan Hua Buddhist Temple complex is situated in the small town of Bronkhorstspruit, South Africa and considered the largest Buddhist temple in the Southern Hemisphere.

I thought TallyMan may be quite interested to see this.

Link:
http://www.gauteng.net/attractions/entr ... korspruit/

Curious, I didn't know there were many Buddhists in Africa (anywhere in Africa). I've booked a one-way plane ticket there.

When we were living near Johannesburg my friend and I went on two occasions for brief visits there to enjoy the tranquil atmosphere.

Many traditions of Buddhism in Africa going back some time

http://www.buddhanet.info/wbd/region.php?region_id=4

Very Cool.

There are people of all religions in South Africa. It's not just another African country, it's got many different cultures and has a unique history starting with the Dutch settlers in the 16th century.

There have been modern humans in South Africa for at least 100,000 years. You boers keep claiming falsely that you were the first people there when archeology has shown that this is obviously not the case. The first culture in South Africa was the Khoikhoi. The black, bantu speaking pastoral tribes, the largest being the Zulu, settled there some 3000 years ago.

What is a "boer?"

Very Fascinating I never knew Buddhists existed in South Africa at all!

First of all, I'm an English speaking South African, I'm not a "boer". Secondly, I never said that they were the modern humans to live there, there have been cave paintings and such in the area dating to about 10000 years old and and if you go to the Sterkfontein caves, there are fossils of hominids there dating to at least 2 million years old. What I'm saying is that Afrikaners are the only white Africans of European descent that have developed their own culture in Africa itself, unlike the colonists of other African countries (they don't belong anywhere else), and I was also simply saying that South Africa is highly multicultural as well. So, it's not surprising that you'll even find a large Buddhist temple here like the one spoken about at the beginning of this thread.

With regards to history and "who was there first", it depends on what region of South Africa you're talking about. At the time that the first Europeans set foot on the southern tip of the continent, it was really only Khoikhoi who occupied the Cape region. However, the ancestors of the modern Nguni peoples (Zulu's Khosa's etc.) settled in the Kwa-Zulu Natal region in about 500 AD. The Zulu' clan was only founded in 1709, but the ancestors of those tribes have been there for much longer. So yes, you are correct that the bantu speaking people have been here for a long time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantu_expansion#Colonisation

Last edited by Jono on 02 May 2014, 6:15 am, edited 3 times in total.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrikaner

Thanks for clearing that up.

Yep, I am also English speaking and not a "Boer" - I'm of English/Irish and German descent. I think the way Jono put his initial post was a bit subject to misinterpretation.
We are simply a nation trying to move ahead as one people with a huge mix of different cultures, traditions and peoples. In that respect we are a lot like the US.

The US was first inhabited by the different Native American groups, who have very little numbers or political power today. It's a sad chapter in US history how they were treated in the 19th century. I'm not trying to derail my own thread or change the topic, but I've read a bit of Dee Brown and find this very heavy stuff.

I guess most nations, and certainly our own, have had times in their history they would rather had never happened.

I'm not a Buddhist, but am intrigued by reading about the strength of mind achieved by meditating and also by their attitudes of peace and non-judgementalism.

I have seen a documentary about that temple and the buddhists there do loads of good things for the local population and there seems to be a mutual respect as well.

There are not a lot of african buddhists yet but I'm sure their number will be rising. It is a fact that more and more african americans have taken up an interest in buddhism allthoug it's a buddhist goal to convert people to buddhism. Why shouldn't people of african descent not be as interested in buddhism as asians and westerners are?

they also have a bunch of muslims. and their numbers rise through force, quite rapidly.

Sorry cannotthinkoff but I thought this was a thread about a buddhish temple in South Africa.
It's best to stick to the subject because that makes this forum less confusing.