EC Blog Archive for the ‘EC Event’ Category

Only a week after Lama Ole finished a tour of the Nordic countries, many Danes, Finns, Norwegians, and Swedes made their way down to Bavaria to meet again – this time at the EC for the Nordic Country Weekend.

The weather could not have been more welcoming to the Vikings –  icy temperatures at night and warm sunshine with bright blue autumn skies all day long. The perfect setting for the Finnish “Outside adventure”, which saw brilliant performances in disciplines like wheelbarrow races.

For the sanghas of the North, it was a nice opportunity to come together, get to know each other, and focus on the exchange of experiences. Denmark is going to celebrate 40 years of Buddhism in the West next year – we learned a lot about the roots of Buddhism in Western Europe this weekend.

Following the wishes of their teacher, H.H. the 16th Karmapa, Lama Ole and his wife Hannah started one of the first Buddhist Centers in the West in their hometown of Copenhagen in the beginning of the 1970s, after returning from meditating and studying Buddhism for years in the East. Karmapa visited the North for the first time in 1974. Leif Andersen, a contemporary witness and international traveling teacher today, shared lots of inspiring memories and showed pictures from these times. Diamond Way Buddhism in the West started in Skandinavia and Graz – with over 600 centers around the world today.

Rounding up an evening of questions and answers with traveling teachers from all present Nordic countries, the Baucafé saw a very joyful party at night – viking style, of course! This did not stop anyone from showing very informative presentations and telling about the ongoings in their home sanghas on Sunday. Even the very young Icelandic sangha sent greetings and a portrait of their meditation group in Reykjavik via video.

It was certainly a weekend of many new friendships and connections – with lots of fun and tasty regional specialities in and in between the lectures and meetings. Inspired by this weekend, the next and from now on annual meeting of the Nordic sanghas was already fixed for next year in Sweden.

By meike

Last weekend we had a wonderful experience here at the Europe Center. It was a bit rainy and cold, so we were more than happy to stay inside for a weekend, eager to learn about the masters and mistresses of the Karma Kagyu lineage.

Manfred Seegers kicked off the weekend with the opening lecture. He explained buddhist terminology and told us that at the end of the packed weekend, we should understand what “Kagyu” means, and if not we would need to start again!

On Saturday morning Kerstin Seifert gave the first of two sessions entitled “Indian and Tibetan origins of our lineage”, and gave us an insight into many of the un-named great female masters of the lineage and of what it might have been like to be Buddhist at that time.

Manfred continued in the afternoon, taking us over the mountains from Indian to Tibet and into the time of the Karmapas. On Saturday evening Kerstin and Manfred were joined by Detlev Goebel from “Buddhism Today” for a question and answer session – with a brief interruption in proceedings for the EC to be connected to Poland, Latvia and other countries for a MoreEC evening via live streaming.

On Sunday the amazing duo concluded the weekend with explanations on the meaning of Guru Yoga practice on the 16th Karmapa and its use through our foundational practices. The perfect end to a wonderfully inspiring weekend!

By cristina

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, as they say…

Well, it was a few more than just one apple that we shook and picked from the trees in the courtyard today – it was literally raining apples! Turns out there were so many this year that we now have 200 liters of tasty, EC grown apple juice for you to enjoy here. Or take a 5 or 10 l pack home to your friends! Please just ask us before we run out.

By meike

28 degrees and bright sunshine provided the perfect setting for a very special occasion last Sunday. Or actually, two very special occasions!

Together with around 300 visitors from the Immenstadt region, we celebrated the founding of Gut Hochreute 100 years ago in 1911. The motto was “Past, Present and Future of Gut Hochreute”. In a special exhibition lots of pictures were shown from the times of the former owners,  the Martini and Herz families, as well as everyday items and rare documents from the last century in the precious Art Nouveau buildings which are today the Europe Center. If you would like to learn more about the history of this architectural jewel, please klick here.

It was also the yearly open house day of all Diamond Way Buddhist Centers in Bavaria – so guided tours of the historic exhibition and the villa were one option – another was listening to introductory talks and taking part in a short meditation. The visitors also had the opportunity to find out more about the plans of our future meditation hall and the new buildings north of the barn.

The atmosphere was relaxed and joyful. Amongst others, we enjoyed homemade cake and the Bavarian specialty Leberkässemmel in the garden, accompanied by live music from the equally traditional Bavarian brass band.

By meike

After he spent three weeks painting the two new pictures for the Villa’s yellow salon and opening the eyes of several Buddha statues, Thangka painting master Dawa from Nepal guided a course for those interested in learning the high art of thangka painting.

Thangka is a “scroll painting”; an ancient art form that primarily depicts images, such as Buddha aspects, or accomplished teachers from history. Tibetans are historically nomadic, and found it easy to transport artwork in a scroll form. A thangka is a complicated, composite three-dimensional object consisting of: a picture panel which is painted or embroidered, a textile mounting; and one or more of the following: a silk cover, leather corners, wooden dowels at the top and bottom and metal or wooden decorative knobs on the bottom dowel.

Dawa’s lecture about the different styles of thangka painting was the start of a whole week of diligent day and night practice in the villa’s dining room and winter garden, which were transformed into ateliers with a view for this purpose. The sky over Immenstadt provided some nice inspiration for the course – dramatic clouds and rainbows…

Below you can see some extracts of the precious paintings work in Karma Gadhri style that Dawa created on the walls of the meditation hall in Karma Guen, Spain.

Dawa was asked by H.H. Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje to teach his students in the West – so we would like to thank him for coming to the Europe Center in order to do this – and hope to welcome him again here very soon!

By meike

EC villa’s yellow room now shines even more than before – thanks to two new paintings by renowned thangka painter Dawa, Urken Lama from Kathmandu, Nepal.

For the last weeks, our winter-garden, the beautiful ground floor room overviewing the lake, became Dawa’s atelier. According to the wishes of H.H. 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje, Dawa painted two pictures with the auspicious motives of a dragon and a peacock for the oval frames above the doors connecting the yellow salon with the two neighboring rooms.

Dawa is a master of the Karma Gadri style of Tibetan art. He lives with his wife and daughters in Rumtek, Sikkim (India) and is a close student of 17th Karmapa Thaye Dorje. The Karmapa asked him to teach this style to students of Diamond Way Buddhism after finishing the project of painting the walls of the large meditation hall in Karma Guen, Spain.

Dawa also “opened” the eyes of several Buddha statues, like the one of Buddha Maitreya visible on the pictures. During the following week, Dawa will host the first thangka painting course at the Europe Center and we are honored to have him here as our guest for even some more days.

By meike

Three days of initiations into long life Buddha aspects, given by Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche, rounded up the 2011 Summer Course. On the first day we received the Buddha Amitayus (Tsepame) empowerment. Tsepame embodies the increasing activity of all Buddhas and increases vital energy and life-span.

The next day Rinpoche gave the empowerment into White Liberatrice (Skt. Tara), a female Buddha in joy-state for long life and will power. And on the very last day Rinpoche gave us the Namgyalma (the The Victorious One) initiation. This set of initiations will enable us to have a meaningful and long life with the wish to benefit all beings…

By klara

Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche, a highly respected Lama of the Kagyu lineage, arrived at the EC on Wednesday afternoon. The next day Rinpoche guided the 12 hour meditation on Loving Eyes together with Lama Ole. The meditation on the Buddha of compassion started at 9 o´clock in the morning and was enriched by explanations of the meaning of the Mani mantra as the essence of all mantras.

The evening was rounded up by questions and answers with Lama Ole and presentations of the centers worldwide. Everybody was even more looking forward the next days – a series of empowerments  into long life Buddha aspects.

By klara

For the second time our Transmission days took place at the EC starting after the Phowa course. All three days were held by Lama Ole, Caty and Tomek telling us all kinds of stories about how Diamond Way Buddhism has developed in the West since 1991 till 2000.

The conversations were supplemented by photographs and short films shown on two big screens. Lama Ole’s students in the audience commented the stories in order to give a colorful picture of the past. Many people were attending these days and learned about the history of Diamond Way Buddhism in the West.

Although the Transmission Days are over for this year, we are already looking forward to the next programm: a 12hr meditation on Loving Eyes and initiations into long life aspects with Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche.

By klara