Fo Guang Shan South Island New Zealand

NEW ZEALAND, South Island, Christchurch

The temple was formerly known as the South Island Buddhist Center. In 1991 members of Buddha’s Light International Association in New Zealand invited monastics from the Fo Guang Shan International Buddhist Order to teach the Dharma on the South Island. In 1992 a church building with a history of over 60 years was converted to the South Island Buddhist Center. It was officially opened in 1993 as the first Buddhist temple on the South Island. Due to the growing number of devotees and shortage of space, it was decided to build a new temple, which was opened in 2006. Its name was changed to Fo Guang Shan South Island New Zealand. In 2007 the temple won the Civic Trust Award and the New Zealand Institute of Architects Award.
The two-story temple occupies 2,000 sq m and consists of the Tatagatha Hall, Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery, tea house, dining hall, reception hall, conference rooms, library, and classrooms. The original concept was inspired by carvings of the Longmen Grottoes in China, where the statues of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas are placed on exterior walls. This superimposition of Oriental arts on European church architecture symbolizes the application of the contemplative practice on daily activities of walking, standing, sitting, and reclining. On the second story, a Burmese jade Buddha statue is enshrined in the Tatagatha Hall, which has small Buddha statues around the walls. In the collection of the Tatagatha Hall, there is a piece of pounamu (greenstone) donated by a Maori elder. The greenstone is regarded as a treasured artifact by the Maoris. The temple has inspired local enthusiasm in Buddhism and is a spiritual center for the development of local arts, culture, and religion.