Introduction

The African Buddhist Seminary campus is situated in the heart of Bronkhorstspruit about 54Km east of Pretoria. The ABS was built from 1991 to 1994. Its aim is to train and teach young Africans Buddhism and also, to be self reliant so that they can spread Buddhism over the whole continent of Africa.

Classes

ABS has six classrooms. Three of these are on the first floor, and the other three are on the second floor. Each of these is air-conditioned and has comfortable tables and chairs.

Besides these classes, ABS has a big courtyard in which all novices gather for roll calls. It accommodates more than one hundred novices.

Hostels

The ABS hostels are situated behind the classrooms. There are two blocks for hostels and each block has two floors. Every floor consists of six rooms and they are well ventilated. Six novices can stay in each room, with a closet and study table for each. This implies that each block can accommodate seventy two students. Each block contains sixteen toilets and seventeen shower-rooms.

Just passed the entrance of the hostels is a common-room. Two rooms in the hostels are assigned especially for students to use as a shaving room and ironing room respectively. Beside the hostels is a tuck-shop that contains items that meet monk's needs. The laundry is situated to the northern part of the hostels. There are twenty sinks in all. Students are free to use the laundry at their convenience.

Staff room and Meeting room

The staff room is next to the meeting room. The staff room contains computers, peripherals, a photocopier, for administrative purposes. Students are allowed to use the photocopier at their convenience. The meeting room is used for students' and masters' meetings. It is also used for watching movies over the weekends.

Assembly Hall

ABS has a big assembly hall. Which has three floors. The first floor consists of seven administrative offices, a TV room, cafeteria and two toilets for males and females respectively. It is also accessible to the public at large.

The second floor comprises two offices, a conference room, two storerooms, a dressing room and a computer laboratory. The computer laboratory has more than 30 PCs and high-speed laser printing facilities available to students. All the PCs are connected to an intranet and run presentation software, spreadsheets and word processing software.

The whole of the third floor is the library. All ABS students automatically become members of the library for all the year(s) they have registered for the course. It has more than 6 000 books. Some are general interest publications like novels and books on science, though the majority are books related to religion and Buddhism.

Stores

There are almost four storerooms. These stores are divided according to the materials they contain, namely, clothes, stationary, equipment and electrical appliances. There are clothes stores for keeping monks'/monastics' attire and beddings.

Kitchen

The ABS kitchen is situated between the hostel blocks. It consists of a cold room, three store rooms and dish wash area. Beside the kitchen is the dining hall. Only vegetarian foods are served.

Buddha HallL

The Buddha hall is built opposite the staffroom. Inside, there is a Buddha's shrine and the Buddha statue. The Buddha hall is specially used by novice monks when conducting prayers. Its capacity is equal to the hostels' capacity.

Masters Residence

The masters' residence is behind the Buddha hall. It has six rooms of which two rooms are self contained. There are also two common toilets and shower-rooms. This residence also contains a kitchen, dining room and lounge.

Sports

Being a religious institution, and a monastery, there is no entertainment available. However, a number of sporting activities are done with the purpose of keeping the bodies healthy for effective spiritual practice and development. These include: Volleyball, Basketball, Football, Tennis, Gymnastics and Martial Arts, just to mention a few.

Wall

Having all these above stated facilities, the ABS is surrounded by a wall. The wall encloses every facility and, as well as protecting novices from being distracted by on going activities outside.