Centre News

Although we had expected our new recipe book to be successful, we could never have foreseen the impact it has made.  The publishers, Jacana Media, were running out of copies and had to hurriedly order a reprint - barely a month after the books’ arrival in the country. Exclusive Books displayed it prominently on their Home Brew selections throughout the country and are running a lucky draw for their Fanatics Club offering an all-expenses paid retreat featuring Daniel Jardim’s cooking at the BRC.

The Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban launches attracted a crowd of 600 people, all eagerly buying the book, sometimes 4 or 5 at a time.

 Of course, The Cake is more than just another recipe book. This one is different in that it features the fine vegetarian food that has been served at the BRC for more than 30 years, honed to perfection by a succession of talented cooks, amongst them Daniel Jardim who worked there as our chef for two years.

 Because you cannot divorce the food from the place where it is eaten, the book features beautiful photographs taken of the BRC, poetry and haiku, stories and anecdotes inspired by the Centre.

 The book is also for sale at our BRC shop.

Although I have been involved in various forms of art since an early age, I had never undertaken any sculpting before I agreed to build this Buddha statue. True, I had intended to do so – one day…

When a visiting monk, Ajahn Anando, heard this he challenged me to do so – now. He said he would mix the mortar for me. Indeed, he helped in the early stages of its construction, welding together the armature around which the concrete and plaster were going to be modelled. Anando was a delight to work with but he left shortly afterwards, back to Chithurst Forest Monastery in England of which he was the Abbot.

I felt somewhat intimidated by the prospect of sculpting such a huge statue. So I asked Peter Schütz, a good friend of mine and an internationally renowned sculptor, to help me model it – well, at least the face. But he only offered to do the nose for me. Why only the nose, I never found out. You could never be sure you could take Peter seriously.

He was a busy man, lecturing at university and forever preparing pieces for exhibitions of his work. So I was left on my own. I had to complete the five meter high statue myself, including the face. And that nose.

Years later, the Buddha statue completed, Peter had a run of exhibitions in which he explored the many-layered interfaces between baroque saints and the symbolism of the “dumb waiter”. One day he turned up at my house, with his customary bottle of red wine in one hand and a parcel, wrapped in brown paper, in the other. He gave it to me with a shy smile.

It was a dumb waiter, offering the Buddha’s nose on a platter…

Louis