Published: October 31, 2008 12:15 pm      

Buddhist temple becomes ’Place of Peace’ in SC

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — The former Buddhist temple sits opposite a waterfall on the campus of Furman University, with vistas of the Blue Ridge Mountains when the trees are bare.

On dark winter mornings, students will be asked to sit on the hinoki wood floors and meditate for 90 minutes. A class called “Realizing Bodymind” will be taught there next semester.

The structure — donated by a Japanese family with roots in Greenville’s textile past and connections to a university professor — symbolizes an evolution for the private liberal arts school. Founded in 1826 by the South Carolina Baptist Convention, Furman is recasting itself as a regional center for Far Eastern studies.

“The temple project is part of a larger history and a broader vision,” said David Shaner, chairman of Furman’s philosophy department and the project’s catalyst. “It’s not like a temple was dropped out of the sky.”

Believed to be the only temple moved from Japan to the U.S., the so-called Place of Peace was shipped in 2,400 pieces and reassembled by 13 specialized temple artisans from Japan.

After three years of fundraising and 2 1/2 months of construction, the building is serving as a classroom and a centerpiece of an Asian studies program that graduated 60 students last spring — three times the number it did five years ago.