EC Blog Archive for March, 2009

International travelling teachers meeting took place in the EC last weekend. Around 50 teachers came from all around the world to meet, get to know each other and talk about different topics such as thankfulness, sangha, EC and also how to meet more often and how to deepen the friendship.

Whole weekend was full of inspiring talks how different people became traveling teachers, stories about interesting lectures one gave or memories of those who met with 16. Karmapa.

That three days were covered in a very nice atmosphere and it seems that this international TTs winter gathering will become an annual tradition.

By klara

Question: How do we define blessing in the EC?

Answer: There are always right people at the right time on the right place…

When our roof collapsed one day ago our Czech friend arrived all of sudden and turned out to be an expert for the roof and tile work.

By klara

Last Thursday evening the EC villa filled up with many friends who spontaneously gathered to celebrate Lama Ole’s 68th birthday. After singing in the main hall when Ole came down the stairs we all shared a gigantic delicious cake. Everybody appreciated the chance to congratulate the Lama and receive a blessing before he returned back to the book retreat.

May you live longer, may all your wishes come true, may all your work grow and all your students develop for the benefit of all beings!

By klara

Almost two years ago a man named Niclas was asked to leave cold and snowy Sweden for cold and snowy Bavaria. Niclas had only one condition: „Ok, but I will cook meal two times a day for three years.“ It was heroic and hard promise, but he is still here: Niclas the head chef, who has been living in the EC since last winter.

He came with his famously unpredictable old Chevy car (which is now stuck somewhere in Spain), collection of 200 vinyl records (each one has a story and Niclas is always ready to share) and lots of ideas how to improve cooking system in the Europe Center.

Basically he is the one (of course with his team) who feeds us everyday and prepares very nice cheese and wine evenings. In his private time Niclas goes for a good coffee or his favorite furniture store. The reason is simple – the Swedish bread and sweet wine – as he likes to say: „Good we have IKEA everywhere, I can feel home in any place.“

By klara

From February 24th to March 1st, a small group of very talented friends from Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Germany came together for a wonderful thangka and statue painting course, guided by the painting master Tashi Gyaltsen of Dharamsala, and Silke Keller of Munich. Schwarzenberg’s resident statue painting group and Petra from Braunschweig also joined in.

The first step was to learn the measurement construction of a Buddha. Then the group started to draw Buddha faces using a special raster system. We then practiced drawing a Buddha’s hands, feet and robes. Finally we learned how to paint the faces of statues.

We enjoyed the course in a bright and lovely room, the EC’s winter garden. Outside, we had a view of a beautiful winter landscape. The snow and sunshine made it look like a fairy tale. Many thanks to the EC team for their warm hosting and tasty meals.

By ecteam

On the weekend of 21-22 February, representatives from the cities, nominated as European Capitals of Culture, came together at the EC. The international workshop was joined by Austrians, Hungarians, Lithuanians and Germans, who represented Linz, Pecs, Vilnius, Rurhgebiet and Liverpool. We worked on the common vision of this exciting project, shared the experiences from different countries and presented our plans for 2009 and 2010.

The sanghas from the different cities will organize statue and thangka exhibitions, courses, public lectures and meditations, Buddhism and Science groups, film festivals and many other events. The main task of this project is to take part in the cultural life of Europe and to present our timeless values to society.

Our purpose has changed from not only participating in European Capitals of Culture projects to generally participating in European culture. Lama Ole told us that we should definitely take part in the cultural life of Europe, because we have something to offer that nobody else has.

You don’t have to be from the city who is nominated as European Capital of Culture to join. If you are interested write to us: info@diamondway-culture.org .

While all of this was going on the first floor of the villa, in the main hall on the ground floor, a small team of residents and friends were on their hands and knees, carrying out the painstaking job of scrubbing the floor clean with small brushes and olive soap. This was done three times over the weekend and Monday. The immaculately clean floor was oiled on Wednesday and finally sealed on Thursday. We hope you will all enjoy the transformation.

By ecteam