Cape Town, South Africa — 30 August 2026
The Cape Town Meditation Centre marked its 4th Anniversary this year with a special gathering dedicated to meditation, gratitude, giving, and compassion.
The centre officially opened its doors on 27 August 2022, a date that holds special significance for the Dhammakaya Buddhist community around the world as Dhammachai Day, commemorating the ordination of its beloved teacher and founder, Luang Por Dhammajayo.
Four years ago, the centre began with a simple but sincere aspiration: to create a place where people in Cape Town could discover inner peace through meditation.
At the beginning, there was no permanent meditation hall. The first group of monks arriving in Cape Town moved from place to place, held meditation classes online, and relied on the kindness of local families who opened their homes to host meditation sessions.
Over time, through the dedication of monks, volunteers, supporters, and meditation practitioners, that small beginning gradually developed into a permanent spiritual home.
Today, the Cape Town Meditation Centre has become a place where people can come to pause from the busyness of daily life, sit quietly, and reconnect with peace within themselves.
Four Years of Meditation
The centre’s journey can also be seen through the number of hours spent in meditation.
By the third anniversary, the community had accumulated more than 2,037 hours of collective meditation.
Today, that number has grown to an impressive 3,205.83 hours.
Behind this number are thousands of moments of stillness—every person who sat on a meditation cushion, every volunteer who prepared the hall, and every individual who made time to turn inward.
Each moment may seem small, but together they form something much greater: a community practicing peace together.
The journey of the Cape Town Meditation Centre is also connected to a much larger vision that began decades ago in Thailand.
A Vision Born from a Pure Resolution
The seed of this journey was planted 57 years ago when Luang Por Dhammajayo entered the monkhood on 27 August 1969, at the age of 25.
His monastic name, Dhammajayo, means “He who wins through Dhamma.”
From a young age, he had already developed a strong aspiration to dedicate his life to the pursuit of Dhamma and world peace.
At the age of thirteen, he wrote about his desire to reach the highest goal of life. If he chose the worldly path, he wanted to reach the highest peak. But if he chose the path of Dhamma, he wanted to help bring peace to the entire world.
This aspiration eventually led him to his teacher, Master Nun KhunYai, in 1963, where he learned the practice of still meditation.
After his ordination, he embraced a simple philosophy:
“We must live to be a refuge for our religion, and not merely seek refuge in it.”
In 1970, together with his teacher and a small group of followers, he began building Wat Phra Dhammakaya on what was then a barren piece of land.
The temple was founded upon three principles: to build a temple to be a true temple, to train monks to be true monks, and to build people to be good people.
What began with very little has since developed into a worldwide spiritual network, with meditation centres and communities extending far beyond Thailand—including here in Cape Town.
Giving as a Foundation for Peace
One of the important principles supporting the monastic life is simplicity.
Monks dedicate their lives to spiritual practice, meditation, purification of the mind, and sharing the Dhamma. They depend on the generosity of laypeople for the basic necessities of life, including food, robes, shelter, and medicine.
For this reason, giving is not simply about providing material things. It is an opportunity for us to cultivate generosity and compassion within our own hearts.
This principle was reflected once again at the Cape Town Meditation Centre on 30 August 2026.
Offering Medicine and Sharing Compassion
As part of the centre’s 4th Anniversary activities, the community came together to make a medicine offering to the monks at the Cape Town Meditation Centre.
The offering was made with gratitude and the wish to support the physical well-being of the monastics who dedicate their lives to meditation and sharing the Dhamma with the community.
But the spirit of giving did not stop there.
The remaining medicines will be donated as an act of charity to help people in need through St Luke’s Combined Hospices, extending the circle of compassion beyond the meditation centre and into the wider Cape Town community.
In this way, one act of generosity becomes an opportunity to benefit many people.
The community also recognizes that maintaining a meditation centre requires ongoing support. As the centre grows older, it needs regular care and maintenance so that it can continue to serve as an oasis of peace for everyone in Cape Town.
For the first three years, much of the centre’s foundation was supported by generous patrons from Thailand. As the centre enters its fourth year, the community warmly invites local supporters to help carry this vision forward.
Every contribution, no matter how large or small, can help sustain this place of peace and allow it to grow stronger for the benefit of the community.
From Giving to Virtue, and from Virtue to Meditation
Giving is the first step in softening the heart.
When we give, we gradually loosen the grip of selfishness and learn to think beyond ourselves.
Virtue then guides our thoughts, words, and actions so that they become more wholesome and harmless.
Together, Giving and Virtue create a strong foundation for meditation.
When the heart becomes lighter and the mind becomes cleaner, it becomes easier to sit still.
The Practice of Stillness
Luang Por Dhammajayo has emphasized the importance of meditation as the foundation of inner peace.
One of his teachings reminds us:
“Meditation is more important than the air we breathe.”
The practice itself can be simple.
We gently bring our attention to the Center of the Body, the seventh base of the mind, located approximately two finger-breadths above the navel.
There is no need to force the mind.
A useful way to understand meditation is to imagine a glass of muddy water.
If we keep shaking the glass, the water remains cloudy.
Our mind can be the same. When we constantly think, worry, plan, and react, the mind becomes restless and unclear.
But if we simply put the glass down and leave it still, the mud naturally settles.
The water becomes clear.
Meditation works in much the same way.
We do not need to fight our thoughts. We simply stop stirring the mind and allow it to become still.
When the mind becomes still, inner clarity and peace can naturally arise.
A Dedication of Merit
On this special occasion, the community dedicates the merits arising from meditation, generosity, medicine offerings, and acts of kindness to Luang Por Dhammajayo.
As he reaches the age of 82, we sincerely wish him good health, strength, and longevity, so that he may continue to guide and inspire people around the world on the path of inner peace for many years to come.
The medicine offering on 30 August is therefore more than a charitable activity.
It is an expression of gratitude.
It is an opportunity to practice generosity.
It is a way of caring for others.
And it is a reminder that peace begins when we cultivate goodness within ourselves.
World Peace through Inner Peace
Four years after opening its doors, the Cape Town Meditation Centre continues to carry a simple but profound vision:
World Peace through Inner Peace.
World peace may sound like a distant and difficult goal.
But it can begin with something very close to us.
It can begin with one person sitting quietly.
One breath.
One moment of stillness.
One act of generosity.
One kind word.
One decision to let go of anger.
When people cultivate peace within themselves, that peace naturally influences their families, communities, and the world around them.
The journey of the Cape Town Meditation Centre is still only beginning.
As the centre enters its fifth year, may this place continue to grow into a strong tree of peace—a place where people can come to learn meditation, cultivate goodness, share compassion, and discover the peaceful nature within.
Step by step.
Breath by breath.
From inner peace to world peace.
