News & Events

We are looking for a mature man - a non-smoker - to help supervise the estate and who has elementary building and maintenance skills.

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.

Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, the BRC is in trouble - if we don’t have any income soon, we may have to close permanently.
Because we are a non-profit organisation, we rely entirely on revenue from accommodation to pay wages, stipends and other running costs.

We can avoid closing with your help:
1. Leave your existing deposits to be used once retreats resume
2. Book for retreats ahead
3. Become a Paid Up Yogi (buy credits towards retreats in the future)
4. If you are a Paid Up Yogi, top up your contribution
5. Make a donation as a Sangha Friend
6. Buy our books. Quiet Food and Plentiful: The Big Book Of Buddha Food are available in the shop and can be posted to you once we are able to do so (please contact the BRC office)

To thank you for your support, Paid Up Yogis will receive an extra day to be added to the beginning or end of a retreat.

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/

"Happiness is really simple: it's what you get when you give up attachment and the other neuroses.”

Australian ex-political activist and feminist, Robina Courtin, has been a Buddhist nun since 1978. Teaching Buddhism around the world, Robina shatters the stereotype of a Buddhist nun, her intense and direct style leaving an indelible impression on everyone she meets.