African Food and Art

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African Buddhist Monk in Uganda

Buddhist temples are found throughout Africa. South Africa has the largest Buddhist population on the African continent.


African Buddhist Monk Venerable Bhante Buddharakkhita was born and raised in Uganda and plants Dharma seeds throughout Africa.

Uganda Buddhist Center was established on April 10, 2005, in Kawempe Uganda. Uganda Buddhist Center states "We consider the Buddha's Teachings to be a form of medicine that can end suffering and transform ordinary human beings into perfectly compassionate and perfectly wise beings." The center was founded by Venerable Bhante Buddharakkhita.

Abbott and founder president Bhante Buddharakkhita was born and raised in Uganda, he first encountered Buddhism in 1990 while in India. In June 2001, he began monastic training and in November 2002, he received higher ordination by his Preceptor the late Venerable U Sayadaw Silananda at Tathagata Meditation Center, California. He continued his meditation practice under the guidance of Bhante Henepola Gunaratana for eight years at the Bhavana Society, West Virginia.

African Buddhist Monk in AfricaAfrican Buddhist Monk in Africa's UgandaBorn in Uganda, Venerable Dhammakami became the first Ugandan Theravada Buddhist nun in November 2008.  After her ordination as a nun, she attended the Fifth World Buddhist Summit in Japan. Venerable Dhammakami is also the mother of Venerable Bhante Buddharakkhita.

The centers yoga teacher Venerable Sangha Rakkhita was born in Rwanda and ordained in Sri Lanka on November 1, 2015. He is a professor of T’ai chi, Chuan style Yang and Ashtanga Yoga.

Bhante Buddharakkhita teaches meditation in Brazil, Europe, Australia, Asia and the United States for more than a decade and he is the spiritual director of Flowering Lotus Meditation Center in Magnolia, Mississippi in the United States.

Bhante Buddharakkhita's book, Planting Dhamma Seeds: The Emergence of Buddhism in Africa tells the story of his religious and spiritual work in Africa. In Buddhism, dharma is the doctrine, the universal truth common to all individuals at all times, proclaimed by the Buddha. Dharma, the Buddha, and the sangha (community of believers) make up the Triratna, “Three Jewels,” to which Buddhists go for refuge.

"Speak well of others, not of their faults."

African Buddhist Monk in Africa's Uganda

Buddhist temples are found throughout Africa in the African countries of Algeria, Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, eSwatini formally Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. South Africa has the largest Buddhist population on the African continent.


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