The light and peace celebration held at the Nan Hua Temple on Sunday 30th September 2012, was a wonderful and heartening ceremony in which families, friends and devotees were able to light a candle and express goodwill and peace for mankind.

Nan Hua Temple greeted the Lunar New Year with raucous celebrations where thousands of both Chinese and local South Africans geared up to welcome the Year of the Dragon on Sunday 22nd January 2012.

The celebration began with the Lunar New Year Light Offering Dharma Function attended by eight hundred people packed into the Main Temple. The Abbot of Nan Hua Temple, Venerable Hui-Fang, shared the message by Venerable Master Hsing Yun, founder of Fo Guang Shan Monastery, who dedicated his New Year blessing with the message “Heavenly Blessing and Protection”. The Grand Master encourages us to cultivate a mind that not only offers blessing and protection to oneself but also to one’s family and friends. We all should aim to develop a mind that serves others with benevolence and righteousness.

Landscape design students at the Department of Architecture of the University of Pretoria (UP) were tasked with redesigning the gardens at Chan Lin, Nan Hua Temple’s Zen garden. The project was integrated into their curricula and a basic guideline was supplied by their lecturer, Ida Breed.

The designs and ideas for the redesigning of the Zen garden to Venerable Masters Hui Fang, Abbot of Nan Hua Temple, Venerable Jue Kai and Lee Raath-Brownie, a volunteer at the Temple were presented in October 2011 by the students.