EC Blog News & Reports

The 3rd International Summer Course at the EC began three days ago.  Like last year, Lama Ole is giving a conscious dying practice (tib. Phowa) to hundreds of people from all over the world.  Phowa is a method through which we can consciously work with our mind in the last moment of our life.  Phowa is not just a preparation for the moment of death, but it also leads us to develop inner richness and a joyful life.

Keeping with summer course tradition, the nice and sunny days here have of course turned cold and rainy.  But we’re keeping warm with ginger tea and good jokes

Check the atmosphere of the course in the photos from Matt Balara.

By klara

Thanks to Matt from Australia we got some more pictures from the finishing of the course build-up that we could not possibly keep away from you.

So here’s a walk around the cafeteria tent with the “World’s Best” shop, the “Meet & Connect” area, coffee bar, the “I Grow EC” stand and Paul’s famous job center – as well as some impressions from the communication team meeting in our “Baucafe” and from the kitchen tent – with pretty much everything ready to go for the course!

By meike

Right on time for the summer course kick-off tonight – here’s some more shots taken during the last days of the build-up phase.

We’re very much looking forward to welcoming you here within the next days. However, if you cannot make it to Allgäu this time, you can still join in via live streaming from the lectures with Lama Ole during the Transmission Week and by watching the space on this blog, of course! We’ll keep you updated as well as we can.

By meike

For the last weeks we have been astonished every single day how much can be moved and done within a very short amount of time… and in what fine style and great mood, too!

Putting up the huge tents in just a few hours despite pouring rain, preparing and serving three delicious meals each day to a lot of very hard working and hungry friends, organizing and coordinating, shutteling people up and down the hill, doing laundry and making beds, driving ten-ton-trucks, forklifts and containers back and forth whereever they’re needed, keeping the houses in shape and running… there’s absolutely no way of mentioning all the activities going on during the course preparations. And above all, there is still enough time to meditate, listen to travel teachers’ lectures and celebrate together as well, of course.

So we will just try to give you an idea of the fantastic atmosphere by posting some miscellaneous pictures taken during the last weeks… more to come during the next days! To all the helpers who have been here, are here at the moment and will be here during and after the course – thank you so much for your amazing support!

By meike

Last Friday morning a van full of strong men, and a couple of trucks loaded with metal rods and plastic sheets, parked at the highest plateau on our land. Five hours of well coordinated work and pouring rain later, the plateau was covered by a tent that will be the gompa for the 3rd International Summer Course. How did this happen? Watch this video to find out!

By meike

Shortly before the 3rd International Summer Course, we would like to take you on a virtual tour through our beautiful EC Villa…

Our resident conservator Beate and a team of diligent and skilled helpers put great effort into the preservation of the almost 100 years old, monument-protected building all year around. It’s their everyday challenge to restore the art nouveau building according to both our needs as an International Buddhist center and the monument protection laws. The original antique furniture combines somewhat naturally with our statues and thangkas, and the “Inner Beauty” team has come up with amazing ways of finding inexpensive fabrics and interior pieces to brush up the looks of the house.

When you come to the Europe Center for the first time, please ask one of the residents to take you on a tour, we would be very happy to show you around. The house will be open during the summer course and we will organize guided tours to make sure everyone interested gets a chance to see our beautiful EC home anyway!

For now, here’s the photographic tour through the villa – welcome home!

By meike

Last week started with a three day visit by Lama Ole at the EC.  An inspiring sangha meeting with him on Tuesday gave us a wonderful opportunity to get answers to questions and challenges arising in daily Europe Center life.

Around 200 friends e.g. from the Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland, Finland, Australia and Germany came for the 2nd Summer Course Build-up Weekend. Pretty close to the speed of light, they built up both the kitchen and the cafeteria tent. On Saturday, a downpour of app. 20l per squaremeter in 15 minutes only started when the tents already had their roof – so the installation of the wooden floor could continue despite the very wet conditions. When the sun was back on Sunday, we enjoyed breakfast and lunch on the terrace and went on with the work both on the 2nd House’s roof and the Summer Course areal after a long evening with an inspiring lecture on Buddhism by Kerstin, meditating together and enjoying a great party at the Baucafé.

The 3rd International EC Summer Course is getting very close – kicking of 03 August. Please remember to register online in time – and of course you’re more than welcome to join our build-up phase whenever and for how long you wish! Just send a mail in advance to join@europe-center.org to let us know about your stay.

By meike

The sun was shining all through last sunday’s 3rd Classical Music Matinée under the art nouveau arcades of Gut Hochreute. Six great artists took us on a musical journey to the “New World” with their virtuoso performances, inspired by the 4th of July – American Independence Day.

The four stringplayers of the “Rossini Streichquartett”, pianist Fabio Ceroni of the Munich State Opera house and stunning mezzosoprano Sibylle Wolf gave sweeping performances of e.g. Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” or Gershwin’s famous “Rapsody in Blue”.

The matinée has become a wonderful EC tradition of winding up the statue exhibition with a cultural highlight for the region. We celebrated both with lots of homemade cake and coffee afterwards and are already looking forward to next year’s exhibiton and matinée. Many thanks to all the friends who made this such a joy and big success!

By meike

The summer sun is back at the EC after a very rainy period. And so Achim, Edwin and the boys are again hard at work on the roof – or rather what will soon be the brandnew roof of the EC’s “Second House”. We’ve learned quite a bit from our skilled experts about roofing with the traditional bavarian beavertail tiles by now. And we are very close to envying them for the breathtaking view of the Villa and the Great Alpsee lake they have from up there. So here’s the view for you – enjoy!

Our cook Fernando and his team take good care that our hard-working guys get nutricious and very tasty Italian food and cappuccino afterwards, and a bit of stretching in the evening does the rest to keep them fit for the next day on the roof. In time for the 3rd International Summer Course, the Second House will have a roof that surely is going to last for a very long time!

By meike

Over the last weekend, the second keypeople meeting of the year took place at the EC. “EC Keypeople” are those who have a function to bring the EC vision and project to life in their own countries, and the focus of the weekend was on exactly this.

With over a dozen countries represented (including distant places like Australia, New Zealand, and the Americas), the thorough conversations proved to be stimulating and fruitful. The crew of about 40 received latest updates, identified important themes to further develop, clarified questions, exchanged ideas about how to connect friends back home to the EC on deeper levels, discussed ways how to encourage support for the renovation and expansion project, and most importantly offered to carry out various tasks ranging from communication to renovation. Perhaps most important was the strengthening and deepening of friendship bonds which reach across the vast expanse of the globe.

By klara