EC Blog Archive for the ‘Site progress’ Category

Spring is definitely back – and so is a lot of action as well as the scaffolding around the EC Villa.

Many friends came to help with some thorough spring cleaning both inside and outside of the EC; Abel is working on the brand new interiors of our dormitories in the villa basement, and Edwin and his team started with the renewal of the front and left side of the villa’s roof, following on from the back and the right side already redone last year. We hope that they find the time to look around despite the work – to enjoy the lively colors of Allgäu in spring!

The dedicated work of the past summer months by the EC roof team is coming to an end – half of the new villa’s roof is almost finished and shining. For the other half, which is to be retiled in 2012, we need your wishes!

As you might know by now – it is not “just” a solid new roof. Our EC villa will be covered by your wishes for the benefit of all. All the wishes already made during and around the summer course are now on the roof – thanks to our professional roof expert Edwin and his team, not a single one of them broke in the tiling process. The wishes of our precious teachers like Shamar Rinpoche, Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche, Lama Toensang and Lama Ole Nydahl were already placed on the very top of the roof in the middle.

You can buy tiles to write your individual wishes or those of your home sangha directly at the EC when you come or you send them to us by mail and we write them on a tile in your name. All money is collected exclusively for moreEC.

A roof tile with your individual wishes:
suggested donation: 2 Euros or more

An edge roof tile for Diamond Way Buddhist Centers, groups and sanghas:
suggested donation: 108 Euros or more
Of course you can buy as many as you like individually or as a center/group.

It’s easy to place your roof tile order:
1) Write down your wishes
2) Send a mail with your group’s or center’s complete contact information, amount of tiles and your wishes to Frauke: moreroof@yahoo.de
2) Please transfer the money to the respective national accounts with the listed here and write only “Spende Europazentrum” as the reason for payment.

And last but not least  – please don’t forget to come as soon as you can to spend some time under a roof that is being built to last longer than 100 years and consists of your wishes.

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.

The renewal of the EC villa’s roof is well on the way – and it will be a very special roof: 14.000 tiles will cover the villa for at least a century – and we want every single one of them to have a wish for the benefit of all on it! So next time you come to the Europe Center, just “buy” as many roof tiles as you like – for whichever “price” you like – and write your wishes on them. All these donations will be used to support the new EC buildings.

You can also take your own piece of the house home or give it to a friend as a present – an old roof tile, sealed with the Diamond Way firewheel.
Diamond Way Buddhist Centers and Groups can pre-order a special rounded tile that will later go onto the top of the roof for 108 Euros by e-mail. The whole sangha can write their wishes on one – like the Hamburgers already did.

Lama Ole already wrote his wish on a sealed tile after returning from working in the forest this week – “For timeless growth of our Diamond Way!”. Lama Ole’s other wish that is going to be one of the thousands covering our EC villa:

“May all who stood here obtain every goal!”

Here comes the sun – after three days of monsoon-like rain, we finally dared to take a camera outside to show you the results of the hard work that has been going on regardless of the weather.

Many friends stayed to help after the 2nd build-up weekend, and we have never seen the big tents go up in such a short time. So many people having so much fun together despite being soaked to the bones while putting them up. We are truely amazed at the spirit in this year’s build-up phase and would like to thank everyone who came for their great support and diligence!

And then there was a very special supporter of the work – following a movie night together in the Diamond Room, Lama Ole joined the boys for some serious wood chipping behind the barn. Afterwards he returned to his desk to work on projects like an interview for “Buddhism Today” together with Caty and the team.

Still there is of course looots of work left until the course starts – so please come, put up your tent in the sunshine and join the fun!

On the pictures you can also see the new dishwashing machine for the course. No more bringing your own dishes and cleaning them yourself afterwards – just pick up plate and cutlery and enjoy the service! :)

The building up phase for the 4th International Summer Course at the Europe Center started last weekend. Many friends came from Russia, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands and other countries to join the kick-off.

In beautiful sunny summer weather, the pick-ups, trucks, and forklifts were constantly driven up and down the hill with tons of wooden bars for the kitchen floor. The hardworking friends putting them together on the course site were supplied with refreshments and sun protection by others whenever it was needed. Saturday night was relaxing time – chatting and dancing in the Baucafé after looking at the plans for the new EC building.

Step by step, the kitchen floor, stairways, and some security fences as protection at the steeper parts of the grounds are being built up. All over the place the familiar beeps of the walkie-talkies could be heard…  it feels like summer course a bit already! ;-) The course site is growing by the day – people are arriving,  staying to help and enjoying each other’s company.

We all loved the family-like atmosphere and and felt at home as alyways. Thanks to the EC team and everyone involved!

The EC-addicted North Sanghas

To give everyone a better idea what’s keeping us busy at the Europe Center everyday, we are going to introduce some of our ongoing long term projects and teams!

With the professional supervision of our resident restorator Beate, Leonie and Max are refurnishing the outer windows and window frames of the monument protected art noveau villa. They were originally painted with oil-based paint, but later a different kind of paint was put on top. This second layer is causing the first one to chip off bit by bit. Therefore all the wooden frames now need thorough treatment: after carefully scratching off the old layers of paint, the wooden parts are being restored – rotten parts are exchanged and cuts and cracks are glued. Afterwards the wood is painted again with oil paint as it was done originally.

When you come to visit the EC, you are very welcome to learn how to do this and join the window-painting task force! ;-) Just ask Beate, who has been taking care of beautifully restoring and preserving our buildings ever since Gut Hochreute became the Europe Center.

Sometimes one week at the Europe Center feels like a whole month. Like the last one. It’s not even over yet, still already it was full of nice little spontaneous events. It started on Sunday with a sangha brunch and easteregg hunt for the kids, followed by at least two BBQs during the week. Some of us worked or meditated outside, others enjoyed the garden with their children under blossoming apple trees.

Tuesday night was packed with presentations. A report about Lama Ole’s recent 4 week tour through Australia and New Zealand gave impressions not only of the breathtaking scenery but also on the different development stages of Buddhism there compared to Europe. Just as an example – a Mahamudra course with Lama Ole teaching about the nature of mind that would probably attract at least 1.000 people in Germany would hardly exceed a number of 250 listeners in Australia at this point in time. Also in Australia and New Zealand there is definitely a growing interest in the Buddha’s teachings and meditation. However due to different conditions historically, culturally and practically, Buddhism is not yet as much the focus of interest as on this side of the globe – but well on its way for sure!

Caty and our resident architect Támas introduced us to the plans for the renovation of the Shri Karma Raja Maha Vihar Monastery at Swayambuh, which is located right next to the world’s oldest stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal. To Diamond Way Buddhism, this is a very special and historical place – not only is it the main residence for H.H. the 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje when he is in Nepal, but it is the place where Hannah and Ole Nydahl met the 16th Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje for the very first time. A few years later, he asked them to bring Buddhism to the West and carry on his activity there…

… and today Buddhism in the West is so big that we need a new building for the Europe Center in order to accomodate more friends from all over the world! On paper, it is already taking on quite precise form. We got a peek at the architects’ updated plans during our center meeting. A blog with frequently updated information about the progress of the plans will be online soon.

On Friday evening we could hardly believe our eyes – a bright double rainbow stretched across the Alpsee lake for 15 minutes, right outside our windows. Afterwards, Pit Weigelt gave an inspiring lecture about the “Actions of Bodhisattvas”. A Bodhisattva is a fully realized being taking on rebirths in order to help others on their way to liberation and enlightenment – or someone with the wish to become enlightened for the benefit of all. A Bodhisattva works tirelessly out of active, respectful and loving compassion for everyone else’s well-being instead of his or her own.

“Doing the right thing in the right place at the right time for the maximum benefit of others – and therefore acting in a way that all people you meet will afterwards always feel it was worth their time that they met with you!”

Temperatures are already suitable for summer these days – some fearless ones are even considering to jump into the lake in order to cool down already… ;) However, for now we decided to stick to cake and coffee in the garden and lunch on the terrace overviewing the lake.

Spring in Allgäu is short but immensely colourful. The meadows are all green and yellow, the little cherry trees we planted last year around the parking space are in full bloom for the first time, and the kids are very busy making flower garlands.

Talk about the EC kids – our youngest resident Robin was born last week and went for his first walk in the sun with mommy Verena today. Judging from his name, he is determined to follow in his dad’s footsteps in taking good care of our forest! Well, okay… maybe we give him a few years to grow into them first! ;)

Congratulations and best wishes to Verena and Jürgen on their beautiful offspring!

Following a 100-year-old tradition of the Gut Hochreute (which is now the Europe Center), we had again the chance to process our own freshly cut wood. The team — Jürgen, Holger, Torsten, Michael, Alfons, Bea, Anja, Thies, Lotar & Berndt to name a few — has used a special wood-splitting machine to prepare quality firewood that we can use later for heating or even selling. The firewood is then placed in a newly built storage to dry properly.

To our great pleasure, the weather has substantially changed in the last days and hopefully left winter definitely behind us. Although, knowing the local proverb: “never trust a spring in Allgäu”, don’t take it as a malfunction if you see snowing on our live webcam soon again :). Until then we’ll be enjoying the sunny, beautiful days…