News & Events

The BRC has embraced difficult and uncertain times before and we have found that with the help of the BRC family and friends we have always emerged with increased enthusiasm and confidence to continue to offer the Centre as a place for self-reflection and spiritual growth.

As has happened before, we are again facing challenging times and we need your help.

The BRC has not fully recovered from lockdown over Covid and the subsequent fallout from cancelled retreats, followed by the unrest in Natal two years ago. This - compounded by the low attendance of our retreats over the last 3 months - has resulted in the Centre being under serious financial constraint.

Being a non-profit organisation reliant solely on income from accommodation, we need to break even each month to cover our expenses. We are not doing that at the moment.

We are fervently appealing to you, our Friends and Supporters, who care deeply about the Centre, to help us keep the doors open.

Max Weier resides in Switzerland and has been studying and practising various Buddhist traditions - Taoist disciplines and Vedanta - for the past forty years. He has been teaching worldwide for the last twenty years. He is an author on the subjects of ch’i kung and Taoism.

He is conducting the following retreats at the BRC duing February and March:

Qigong From The Daoist Mountain Wudang: Energy - Vastness - Stillness
Tue 28 Feb - Thu 2 Mar 2023

Pathways To Dao: Qigong – Meditation – Wisdom
Tuesday 21 Mar - Thu 23 Mar

During February and March 2023, international teacher, Max Weier, will be offering two sessions of qigong and guided meditation practice, daily, for those who like to add some depth and flavour to their self retreats.

There is no better place to reboot and rejuvenate and to get in touch with nature than in the beautiful, tranquil spaces of the BRC. 

Day visitors are welcome by prior arrangement and by donation.

View full retreat schedule and details

pink seeding grasses
on the road to Ixopo
- another autumn

Late on a May afternoon driving the twisting R56 as it ascends the southern side of the Umkomaas valley the sinking sun backlights the autumn grasses growing by the roadside rendering their seed heads blush-pink. It’s a familiar sight at this time of the year for those on their way to the Buddhist Retreat Centre to attend the annual Wesak retreat held under the full moon of May (or the closest weekend thereto) to commemorate and celebrate the birth, enlightenment and death of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, ‘the awakened one’, 2500 years ago.

Generosity and Gratitude

In one of his teachings, the Buddha enumerated the most noble sentiments we should endeavour to develop in our life. The first and most important one is Dana or Generosity because from that springs forth all other beautiful characteristics such as kindness, forgiveness and virtue. We should therefore be alert to situations that arouse these qualities in us and provide us with an opportunity to express them towards others. They then become habitual, effortless and spontaneous.

As some of you know, I employed a wonderful Induna, Vikimpi Mbanjwa, who helped me build the Centre. I recall affectionately his question when he attended one of Godwin Samaratna’s meditation sessions: “Why are we encouraged to watch our breath when it comes so naturally?” Mbanjwa - as he liked to be called - and I became firm friends over the course of the 25 years he was in my employment - a wise, loyal man - and mentor. What a privilege it was to work side by side with him, building the Centre over those first arduous 10 years.

It is important for us to take time out  from the incessant demands and pressured pace of daily life.  The BRC gives you the space to do that. Join Stephen Coan on a silent Zen-style meditation retreat  in the tranquil environment of the BRC and give yourself the space and time to reconnect with your deepest self by simply being attentive, from moment to moment.

We are appealing to our friends and supporters to sponsor a square meter of thatch at R200 or more to help us to renew the deteriorated and leaking thatch roof over our studio. We need R110,000.00 to rethatch it to keep us high and dry over the summer rains.

Story and photo by Wanda Hennig • The Daily Maverick • 28 June 2019

Too many chefs. Zen food. Monkey thieves. Ensconced. Sangoma recipes. Kitchen wisdom. Adam’s sourdough. Only in KZN.

Tantric Tarts: crispy, zesty, intriguing. A Thriller with Vanilla: sublime, luscious, decadent. You’ll have guessed we’re talking food, this being TGIF. But what’s cooking? Who’s cooking? And where?
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The Institute for Mindfulness South Africa (IMISA) is offering the second SA-based Mindfulness Conference in March this year at the Cradle of Humankind. See their website for details: https://mindfulness.org.za/mindfulness-conference-2019/