Zu Lai Temple
| Zu Lai (如來寺) | |
|---|---|
|
The Zu Lai Temple | |
| Basic information | |
| Geographic coordinates | 23°35′09″S 46°52′58″W / 23.5857°S 46.8829°WCoordinates: 23°35′09″S 46°52′58″W / 23.5857°S 46.8829°W |
| Affiliation | Zen, Mahāyāna |
| Country | Brazil |
| Website |
www |
The Zu Lai Temple (in Chinese, 如來寺, in Portuguese, "Templo Zu Lai") is a Buddhist temple in Cotia, Brazil. It is the biggest Buddhist temple in South America with 10,000 square meters of constructed area, inside an area of approximately 150,000 square meters.[1] It has a partnership with Fo Guang Shan, practicing the Mahāyāna branch of Buddhism. The Zu Lai Temple states as its main objective the cultural and religious dissemination of the Buddhist Tradition, whilst trying to reach to the highest number of people possible through the teachings of traditional buddhist education, culture and meditation.[2]
History
In 1992, the religious Buddhist Master Hsing Yun had arrived in Brazil, by an invitation of a local Buddhist Temple in Sao Paulo, for a ceremony. An accompanying monk, Jue Cheng, decided to stay in the country and begin a new project with the objective of disseminating the Buddhist tradition in the predominantly Catholic country. It started as a relatively small temple and had grown to great proportions as time went by and local interest for Buddhism had grown.