EC Blog Archive for January, 2008

We have a whole day together with a small Sangha of Germany. Half the day transmission with Caty:
What is a Diamond Way group? Who decides about the programme?
The Lama.
Can’t we build a stupa on other people’s ground?
Of course not.
Why is it smart only to ask one teacher for advice and from the others to receive blessing?
Otherwise the group will be totally confused whose advice to follow.

After a long talk with tea, dinner and an other talk it’s time to work. The eight friends help us to prepare the villa for the evening. It’s Thursday evening and everything should shine for our open meditation at 20.30. So we reinstall the gompa after painting, clean everything, and carry things from A to B, prepare the rooms for the weekend, help cooking, make fire and welcome everybody. Fully inspired and with less question marks our friends leave again.

But somehow it’s transmission day. So Lisa, Klara and Roman sit together with Caty. At the end we are inclusively proud : it’s important we are here. We keep the vision of our Lama, represent Diamond Way Buddhism and therefore our style is possibly open and friendly. The Lama likes quality work, he likes things to be clean. We create our own mandala. We are the hosts and people should feel at home and leave again inspired. In this atmosphere one learns about mind. Nothing new but always good to hear again.
A long day is finishing. A wonderful one.

EC Team

By ecteam

Wednesday is after a long time a little bit calm day. House has been cleaned since the weekend and everything starts to be slowly prepared for the next working Saturday and Sunday. We again expect 50 or 60 people coming from everywhere doing all kinds of jobs: the architects, the forest workers, the builders, the cleaners etc. People from building companies come everyday with different kinds of samples of the stones, which we will use for the reconstruction of the road. The existing road would not be able to handle the heavy trucks bringing the tents for the summer course. That’s why yesterday Philip explained the details of the road project to everybody.

Today has also started the painting in the Gompa. Everything in the room is covered and ready to be paint in white colour. The big statue of Buddha is moved for a while to the small, but cosy room on the ground floor, where a temporary meditation room is established. We will try to uncover and clean the Gompa for the evening mediation on Thursday, because usually a lot of people come to meditate on that day.

Nice young man Gerrit came few days ago with a task to measure every room and space in both of our houses. He works quite hard on it, because the Villa and the second house have so many rooms, even a lot them were surprisingly undiscovered. As Gerrit says, you cannot image how many times the number 108 is appearing during the measurement. It looks like the house is always surprising us with something we already know.

Today is also a day when Karolina and Danas left the EC. They had to return to Lithuania for a while. Danas as a travel teacher has a tour in Russia for the next weeks. He will come back in the end of February. Karolina will come back from time to time, because she has to finish her studies. For sure we will miss her blog writing skills, beautiful face and excellent English. Before Danas left, he had given to Roman the transmission of Nicolas old Chevy car. In fact, the car is quite legendary, well-known in Polish Kuchary and now in the EC. Twice a week we encourage ourselves to sit in old seats, trying to find a seatbelt and the right direction to the local stores to buy the food for everybody. And we can tell you, it is an experience. You have to get used to the big size, unpredictable movements of the driver seat and strange noises of the engine. But anyway, we always manage to buy good, healthy, cheap supplies for the house.

Yours,
EC team

By klara

Tuesday evening at the EC, another calm day after a lovely and hard working weekend.. In was great to keep up with the fundamental objective of our center – to remain international, on all levels. So it was, when the previously mentioned crew from Hungary came, and some friends from Czech Republic, Austria and Slovakia! We just have to praise them for the amazing work filling in the little barn with wood and cleaning the water pipe, as well as for being so open and inspiring! And the group of tarzans – a couple of Austrians, one Czech and a Slovakian, who all did wonderful in the woods, cutting trees and burning probably the biggest fire for the day in the Allgau area.

Some more changes in our courtyard! Not only did most of the piles of old furniture and waste were taken away, but a recently brought stupa model, previously used in some exhibition, found its place in our center, too. Though being a sample stupa rather than a real blessed symbol of enlightened mind, it still gives more vitality to our courtyard until the actual thing takes its belonging place..

Inside there is also some great improvement – in the small house, where Libor works tooth and nail to install the new bathroom, which will very soon be of great use to the inhabitants of the house as well as frequent guests, at least 50 of which are expected for the next weekend again! And the painting works in the villa move to our gompa room, hence it is temporarily transfered to the yellow room, while Jentz is going to do his best to make it white as snow of the Alps around..

Last but not least Klara and Roman are back, which is a great joy to all of us! They are an amazing couple from Czech Republic, and live here since the beginning of January for at least one year on, travelling back to Czeck once in a while. Roman is our engine of ideas and Mr. Communication management of the EC, also legally able to teach about dharma as he is a travelling teacher. His wife Klara, so young, smart and beautiful, and already married! Mrs. Photographer and Writer of the blog and other means of information about the EC, and a true inspiration. Happy birthday, Klara, once more!

Everybody is a real family here..

Yours,
EC team

By blogtmp

It is Saturday evening, and all the helpers together with the EC residents are watching an action thriller in our home cinema, recently established next to the office. It really is a hard day’s night, as about 40 friends toiled the whole day, including some wonderful Austrians, Czechs and a full car of Hungarians, who spent 9 hours none stop driving to help us!

What a day! Since morning strange sounds come from the basement where in the dinnning room and kitchen more electricity is being installed. On the ground floor Ensel is cleaning some amazing old carpets with a proffesional machine, rented for the weekend. In the wintergarden Gerrit and Martina are working on architectural matters, and raising issues for the next weekend when architects meet again. As a matter of fact, it has already been approved by the town that we can widen the road, and the work starts in days, some of the machines are already here. On the first floor Heike is getting helpers for painting one of the rooms, and as soon as that is finished we continue and paint the gompa room!

Outside the house works melt in the heat of the almost spring sun. Sussane is back for a couple of days, and together with our great men clean the small barn. Fine guys clean up the piles of old peaces of wood and furniture, the leftovers from the previous weekend. Up the hill there is smoke, where our treasurious helpers sweat cutting trees and burning them in the inspiring suroundings of the Alps.. And in the kitchen the most precious team of cooks perform magic to feed us all, as well as fit us all in the hall, while the dinning room is being taken care of the electricians..

And it is only the first day of the weekend! If we continue as efficiently as today, the EC will soon radiate as a true diamond!

Yours,
EC team

By blogtmp

It is Wednesday in the EC, after spring alike days we finally have some snow – the lake down the hill has been all covered in whiteness, a never ending open space, which could not fit any better with the breathtaking mountains. Fortunatelly it was still easily possible to check the ground on the top of the EC hill and on the road, the work carried out by some well prepared friends and team members, and the results of which are expected in a short while. It is also inspiring to see the big excavating machines coming to the place, signaling of important changes, widening of the road to begin with.

Mirja dusting off the Gompa and all the other surfaces in the winter garden, dinning room, the yellow room, the museum.. Anja hoovering the entrance and the big hall.. And others rushing around to do a weekly cleaning with the joint troop from Immenstadt. So wonderful they decided to join us every Wednesday- while working together all the tasks melt as ice! And in other rooms other works move on, too..

Heike and Harald our new crew members, have started taking off the wallpapers and for the following days will continue repainting one by one all the rooms in the old villa. What colour shall we paint? That is out of question, as everything is well planned, and neither the colours, nor the kind of paint can be altered. Together with the brilliant Beate and some other helpers the EC is soon going to be revived and fresh.. And one more new helper – Gerrit, has joined us for some weeks to work with the architectural and logistic matters, another helping hand in the vast ocean of important tasks.

The office is becoming a real work-and-meet place, where quite a few people joined us tonight for a movie on the biggest screen we could find in the house! The movie is over and some continue chatting.. About the morning meeting, the snowy lake down the hill, the precious opportunity of us all being here..

Yours,
EC team

By blogtmp

Monday evening in the EC – the clearing out weekend is at last over.. We had almost 30 helpers from the closest centers for the weekend cleaning, when in an exceptionally short time people were gathered to make a grand purification.. As previously mentioned, all the furniture was moved from the garages in the small house to the attic in the old villa, and giant piles of garbage are still wainting to be brought away in the courtyard of the center. While the cleaning continued, it became even more unbelievable how much space we actually have here.. On Saturday evening we had some lovely guests from the Schwarzenberg center, who came both to support us and get some inspiration, which Caty did in the most delicate and inspiring way, by a means of questions and answers. And the amazing cakes brought by Schwarzenberg Sangha, where enjoyed tightly seated in the beautiful winter garden on the Sunday afternoon, watching the most beautiful scenary of sunshowered Alps and the radiant smiles of all our friends.

During the weekend we had also quite a few meetings, beginning the one with the five architects from Austria and Germany on Saturday morning. They all have been given a transmission from Caty on what has already been discussed with the previous architect from Munich, but formost the main function of the EC was underlined. It is definitely going to be the main seat of the Diamondway Buddhism in the West, just as Thsurpu and Rumtek used to be the main seats in the East. Then there was a meeting of the Summer Course Host service, whose main task is to take care of the accomodation of the special guests invited to the course by Lama Ole. And last but not least a usual EC team meeting on late Sunday evening, with issues on the next week and weekend, house cleaning matters, cooking for the weekends and in general, rent and helpers. The most inspiring thing to announce is that we are sending a letter on DWBN for all the people interested in helping with the EC matters, and hence we start making actual communication, with Gergo taking best care of making it possible through the key people of all the countries.

More happenings with new inspiring people even more often can only be possible because of space being information.. One of them was an open hearted man, willing to get a housekeeper‘s place before we might put an advertisment looking for a new one.. And then this lady, professional church painter, who took buddhist refuge 15 years ago, but could not remember from who, and who offered to do some painting works free of charge.

Our lama calls us from time to time and his satisfaction of the way things are done here gives us even more driving force to fullfil what is so important to us all.

Yours,
EC team

By blogtmp

This is my first try on this blog here we go!

Since Nicklas went to make his lectures in Eastern Europe, we have amazing, charming and I would say brave Lisa who cooks for all of us. In the name of EC team I want to thank her a lot Also, Susanne , Gurli, Livor and everybody. It is big joy.

By danas

Saturday in the EC – another day of big changes. Work does not stop as the small house is being cleaned from the old furniture and loads of waste, found in the deepest corners of it. Some of the places in the house are so well hidden, it took a while until a few days that some new rooms in the attic where discovered and the house appeared to be even more spacious than we thought.. Good news for future visitors, who would probably be able to stay there as helpers for organizing the EC, as this is a crucial matter for the work to continue, and our yesterday visitor architect from Munich gave some ideas excatly why.

The old villa is a precious old house and in order to have it work for us another hundred years it has to be well taken care off. The first issue is preserving the best it has, for example the amazing wooden floors, which as the architect noted have remained in a really good condition, but still must be revived. The second suggestion is interfering with the house as little as we can. That is, every little change may have its huge outcome, cause and effect obviously well works in architecture, too.. On the other hand, we should remain practical as well as creative and match the old treasuries of the place together with the benefits of modern style. Therefore, all the old pieces of furniture and other things will remain in the house for as long as they are usable, and there are loads of things. The inspiring idea is to make the rooms neat and comfortable and to get at least one peace of the original thing from the house in every room. Another idea is to try bring some unity into the rooms, even the one ones where the residents live, as the house is so big and the wish to make it cosy and home is really tempting..

Even though taking best care of the house it is still a big task, some really helpful people come to us in most unexpected places. Just like the man in the local electricity shop, who used to work as the electricion of the house since 1937, and is well familiar with every single detail of it. The EC is a well known place in the area and it is amazing how many local people brighten up knowing it is now open for the public, being closed for many years before. Just as always, openess and sharing is the way.

Yours,
EC Team

By blogtmp

It is late Thursday evening in the EC and all the guests, who showed up for the evening meditation are already heading home.. It has become a nice habit to invite people from the area and anywhere to join us for the Thursday meditation, but tonight was even more special! The EC team has some really wonderful traveling teachers who together with visiting teachers are now going to give introductory talks for beginners every Thursday, with Danas from Lithuania giving the talk today. In addition to that, Mondays are being planned to be open as well. Combined with the constantly growing library, which contains books and booklets in various languages, that is all we need now for spreading the Dharma in the EC. The rest of the time is for work..

The old villa is a castle of hidden treasuries. You may go on over the house again and again and you will always find some new peace of furniture, old, but in-style, cosy, but with character. Just the kind for our new office, where combined with some touch of modern convenience we managed to get the most wonderful ensemble. The hall on the first flour is not just a spacious place now – it has become the space where the most brilliant ideas of our wonderful people will flourish, where the group of five architects coming this weekend could work.. And visitors we still get every day, including the health inspection this morning as well as some special guest from the architecture background coming tomorrow.

Jurgen from Germany, one of the first inhabitants of the EC, got an amazing birthday cake today.. And as for the presents, what can be better than a helping hand of some friends, who have recently come to help for a while. Susanne – the most wonderful lady, whose cleaning procedures soon might well turn the EC into the pure land.. Livor – who came to help with the painting works and Lisa who has recently replaced our unbelievable cook Nicklas from Sweden, teaching at the moment in Eastern Europe, and is head-over-heals treating us in such a kitchen-wise way.. It is most kind thing to be helped, and, friends, we will definetly plan some more of it soon.

Yours,
EC team

By blogtmp

Another Tuesday came to the EC with amazing sunshine, even more exposing the inspiring nature of the area and the even more inspiring tasks to fullfil. It has been one week since the new inhabitants came and though so much has already been done, everyday we come up with new events taking place. First and foremost, there has recently been a meeting with the authorities of Immenstadt, concerning the finance, building works and logistics of the EC, and as the great work of our friends and good conditions came together the authorities have agreed with all our proposals, so we start the works as soon as possible. Another issue is the visit of some our great friends, working in the field of electric industry, who have recently came up with the most generous and kind proposal. The EC center has been offered to be presented with all needed electric equipment, both for the present houses as well as the premises to be built in the future. So that we can go on as radiant with light as always..

The EC team continues on with the meetings almost every evening, and as Caty is leaving for a couple of days, the last one has been really excessive and fruitful. Not only did the team thought over the planning of the rooms, including possible dormitories for the new inhabintants in a while, but have also discussed the circumstances of hosting guests in the nearest future possible. Who will come and where should they stay? Is the small house next to the villa less international than the old villa, and what do we do about it? Many questions. And where do we eat? At least once a day all together – well, you do not do any other way in a family..

Openess gives all the possibilites, hence we try to open up as much as we can. Go down to town and tame the places and the people. The totally wonderful Alpsee bar right next to the road to Gut Hochreute, where the EC is, has great beer, tempting food and an amazing cook, who has already made friends with the one from our EC team. And Phillip is the most inspiring example of going into contact, when stopping to greet the inhabintants of Immenstadt and exchange a nice word with them. It feels like spring in the Alps, and it reminds us even more that we should hurry on, because we start building the place in spring. So so soon.

Yours,
EC Team

By blogtmp