EC Blog Archive for November, 2008

Philip and Mirjana with her daughter Elena moved to the EC as the first inhabitants in the year 2007. Philip is the man who found this beautiful place for all of us. He works as an architect and takes care also of the architectural plans in our property. Mirjana was born in Croatia and she is the one answering you all the work emails. Mirjana loves healthy food and Philip really enjoys badminton and sushi. This year they brought a big gift to the EC – Benno and Maxim – the first babies born here. On upcoming Saturday is the family moving away from the house, but not so far. They found a great flat down in Immenstadt, so they will stay close to us..

By klara

Friday evening the long awaited snow finally fell. Some of us were visiting Schwarzenberg where Zsuzsa gave a great lecture. Within a few hours more than 10cm had fallen and we “had” to stay there overnight. Even though we missed the EC of course very much, we very much enjoyed waking up with a magnificent view of the winter wonder land around our great neighbours’ place.

Saturday we managed to drive back over the slippery roads to prepare dinner and a party for the Immenstadt Sangha. The view of the snowy landscape at the EC was equally breathtaking. In the evening many friends came, bringing delicous contributions to the buffet, which we enjoyed after a meditation with Zsuzsa. She had hopped over to say hi. After the dinner we went down to the music and some very tasty cocktails made by Klara.

By lasse

Meet Tomi, the architect. Living in the Europe center since last winter.

Tamas is the first character on the blog from our new serial about the people living in the Europe center – EC family LIVE. We decided to introduce you step by step every hero of our project, because many people are all the time asking who is who in the EC.

Tomi is Hungarian (living in the Budapest center before), which means a lot of funny jokes, spicy humor and good mood all the time. His main job here is working with Philip on many architectural projects like planning the reconstruction and measurement of buildings. His job takes a lot of time and patience that is why he is constantly in his office behind the computer. Or you can see him outside helping on construction or dancing in the evenings or ordering his favourite pizza from Immenstadt.

Nowadays you can find him covered with blankets in the winter garden – his temporary cold architecture office, which we move very soon back to the grey room of the villa .

And remember: never miss another episode of the EC family LIVE!!!

By klara

When creating the programme we had the idea that essentially EC should be the center of transmission where people would come to inspire each other, motivate and inform of how Dharma and our centers around the world function and have functioned in the past. And that is why we are organizing the first from the series of weekends where we want to invite experienced teachers to share not only Dharma and common practices but also their experiences from times when the rest of us had not yet been in our centers.

Therefore you are warmly welcomed to join:

the FIRST “TRANSMISSION WEEKEND” right before Christmas (19-21.12.2008)

with several TT’s and special guest (you can maybe recognize them on pictures below:)) who will be meditating, teaching, telling the stories from “old times” and also share their experiences from their countries with all friends.

The program will start with the lecture on 19th of December at 20.00 and will continue until the Sunday afternoon. You can find more information as well as registration page here:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pOckw4iA6b_osiI3V-Q1qRQ

Please register soon as we can host only around 150 people in winter time.

We are also already planning to organize second transmission weekend with topic “building and living (in) our centers” next year. We will keep you informed.

Looking forward to see you soon in the EC.

EC team

By klara

Lama Ole left the EC for South America couple days ago and the time became more calm again. We had a chance to walk around and take the most amazing pictures from beautiful nature, breathtaking view, amazing mountains and the bright autumn colors. We could also admire skillful girls restaurating the statues in the Lama´s flat. Everything was shining and beautiful…But… then we decided to show you on our blog also the other side of our EC – the things waiting to be finished – all the mess around the yard, old and broken windows, barn and everything what is under construction at the moment. To give you a full experience, enjoy the pictures from the both sides of the EC.

By klara

Although it seems the Summer course 2008 is just over and the organizers enjoy lots of free time, the true is slightly different. The old course is gone – long live the new one! And not only that – it has to be prepared. That’s why all the team members came within this beautiful autumn weekend to EC to start with the preparations.

During the Summer course people had a chance to leave their comments and suggestions on the board located in the eating tent. These information were passed to particular teams and were discussed from all the possible sides all over again to improve the next course. We all wanted not only to keep the good style of the past but also fulfill as many new wishes as possible.

On Saturday evening we got an unexpected gift – a chance to enjoy a Questions & Answer session with Lama Ole, who came to EC for a book retreat. The next day Lama Ole and all friends coming for the course meeting joined their forces and worked on the site to prepare it for the next winter.

By klara

Quiet months are over and EC is gaining the proper speed again. On Thursday we started with a big „vision meeting“ for residents and people involved in the project. Guided by Michael Fuchs we all have discussed our insights from our life and work here. Friends talked about the structure and concrete plans for the future in many different levels. On the level of program we plan to prepare „transmission weekend“ with traveling teachers in December, weekend of traveling teachers with Lama Ole next year, public lecture of Lama Ole in Immenstadt in upcoming year, international project meetings, 8th Karmapa course next September and of course the Summercourse and everyday meditation program in the EC.

On the level of construction we wish to finish the second house and bathroom in the main villa. There is a plan for exhibition place to be finished and roof reconstructions. We also need to improve the infrastructure protection and kitchen in the house. In the forest we have to build a fence, protect the trees and plant new ones. Inside the houses we want take care of lamps, curtains, our pianos and lounge. We also want to improve the waste system and cooking structure. The finance group is dealing with bookkeeping for building site, forest, property management and catering. The IT group is designing a new website at the moment and provides people with better office in the main villa. We also need to work on the registration system, video&picture archive and the backup system.

On the level of communication we want to organize workshops in the EC, opening days, concert for Immenstadt public in the next summer and we have also started to think about the EC Buddhism Today magazine. So friends, in our Europe center there is so much going on in many different levels all the time…

By klara