Place of Peace
Furman reconstructs a Buddhist temple in a setting designed to promote reflection, calmness and spiritual well-being.
For a slide show of construction from start to finish, click here.
On September 5 Furman dedicated the Place of Peace, a former Buddhist temple that was taken apart in Japan and reconstructed on the Furman campus.
David Shaner, Gordon Poteat Professor of Philosophy and Asian Studies at Furman, performed a special Buddhist ceremony blessing the temple, which serves as an educational tool for the university’s Department of Asian Studies and as a focal point of Furman’s commitment to sustainability.
The Place of Peace was formerly owned by the Tsuzuki family of Greenville. The structure was disassembled into 2,400 pieces in Nagoya, Japan, shipped in four containers across the Pacific Ocean, and reassembled by Japanese artisans on the Furman campus during the spring and summer of 2008.
The temple is located on a hill in a wooded area behind Furman’s Thomas Anderson Roe Art Building, overlooking the Asia (formerly Japanese) Garden. It faces the waterfall feature in the Asia Garden with a view of the lake and, in the distance, the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is therefore sited in harmony with the Earth, water and surrounding landscape.
The Place of Peace is built without nails, instead using intricate joinery that corresponds with Japanese philosophy. “Everything fits nicely, like a puzzle,” Shaner says. “The pillars and beams fit together so seamlessly that you don’t see the internal complexity.”
The reassembly, which was overseen by the Aichiken Co., involved bringing seven wood specialists, four tile specialists and two plaster specialists from Japan to Furman. “These people don’t cross-train,” Shaner says, which allows them to become masters of their individual crafts.
The entire structure was rebuilt in its original state except for some clay ceiling tiles, which were cracked when the building was disassembled. They were remade and shipped from Japan.
An overarching theme of “connection” resonates throughout the Place of Peace and its surroundings, says Shaner. Not only does the temple help visitors connect to other cultures, each other and themselves, but it facilitates a connection with nature by offering none of the creature comforts, such as heating and air conditioning, to which we are accustomed.
“When it’s dark outside, it’s dark inside. When it’s hot outside, it’s hot inside,” Shaner says. “The point is not to create artificial separation between you and your environment, but to connect with your surroundings.”
Compiled from reports by Vince Moore and Leigh Gauthier Savage ’94.
