Behind every successful man there is one (or more) exhausted woman. Ladies and gentleman, let me introduce our construction women heroes: Aleksa, Daniela, Katrin, Beate and of course many others who are coming and joining the heavy construction work. All of them are very skillful and talented, so in case you need to build a house, don´t just look for a man to help 
These ladies can do it all!
By klara
Only five weeks to go until the 2nd International Summer Course with H.H. 17th Karmapa Thaye Dorje, H.H. Shamar Rinpoche, Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche and Lama Ole Nydahl, things are getting up to full speed at the EC. The atmosphere is more relaxed than last year, but there is still plenty to do and both pro-craftsmen and helpers are needed. So, check out the ongoing activities and if you would like to come and join in, please contact us at: join@europe-center.org. Everybody is very welcome!
The construction team has been working rapidly for weeks building up the brand new “Baucafé” on the meadow next to the villa, over-viewing breathtakingly beautiful Alpsee lake. And although until now it “only” consists of wooden beams, windows and a roof, it’s already a wonderful place to spend an evening with friends from all over the world who have come to help — chilling out quite romantically in the straw after a day of meditating and working together.
But there’s a lot more fun and activities going on: the road is being fixed, wood is taken from the forest and being prepared and stored, the garden is getting more and more beautiful, the roofs and chimneys have to be repaired… and in the villa’s basement, the new “lounge” is being refurbished and should be ready for the Summer Course as well.
And if all this wasn’t already enough — the statue exhibition in the villa is a big success with the Immenstadt public. A lot of visitors from town and surroundings come every Sunday to take part in the guided tours and thereby make their own connection with Buddhism and the Europe Center.
This is, of course, all just besides the extensive building-up of kitchen, dining tent, gompa tent and the infrastructure for the Summer Course itself. So be spontaneous — just get a few of your Sangha friends into a car, onto a bus or train and come to support the build-up phase if you can. We’re looking forward to seeing you!
By admin
Beautiful, warm and sunny days made a great setting for the second transmission weekend. Many friends made their way to the EC on Friday to hear Matt Huddleston tell many interesting and exciting stories about the Karma Kagyu transmission lineage. With his English style he really brought the history to life.
Saturday, after an hour of Ngöndro practice, Pedro Gomez kept the gompa fully concentrated with stories of how H.H.the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa was found. Hardly anybody moved, not wanting to miss the beautiful descriptions and anecdotes Pedro shared with lots of humor.
In the evening Pedro and his wife Dorit illustrated the incredible stories with pictures and videos. Mäc (Matthias Weitbrecht) continued with more pictures and fact finding, complimented by Pedro, Michael van den Hoet and Caty. After the pictures the panel talked about how the 17th Karmapa controversy unrolled.
Then on Sunday, Michael van den Hoet shared his wealth of knowledge. Caty concluded the second transmission weekend with questions and answers and talked about how our modern and western style has been developing over the years.
Dear friends, even though this was only our second transmission weekend, it is clear we have established a strong EC tradition!
By lasse
After nearly two months (with some short breaks for a few small courses), Lama Ole and his team have finished the book retreat in the EC. This book project is almost over, and just a few friends like Caty still need to make some corrections to the text in order to publish the book as soon as possible. As you can imagine we all had an amazing time with the Lama working over our heads, and also with all of you who came to spend some days in his strong powerfield. Nevertheless, everything goes very fast, and at first light this morning the Lama gave a quick blessing and left, and in the evening the team will be already landing in New York city.
By klara
We all love it when a plan comes together, and it looks like the second International Summer Course is going to be great. As you can imagine, organizing a course for so many people is quite a challenge. At the last meeting before the course, 150 friends came together to put the finishing touches on the designs, plan some surprises, and make and enjoy strong friendships. It was impressive to see how the friends who showed their qualities last year, the old dogs, and the fresh new faces came together. Undoubtedly these joyful heroes will make the next course a great success. With our new EC motto “Come and join in” we warmly invite you to help before, during, and after the course.
Over the last weeks, an international group has been sweating hard in darkened rooms over hot keyboards to produce the new leaflet with all the information about the course, and a brand new registration form, which will both be out very soon. Stay tuned
By klara
Today Lama Ole officially inaugurated the statue exhibiton in the historic rooms of the main villa. Many small and big statues are now opened to public every Sunday afternoon until 26th of July. We are very happy that we can share with friends and visitors all these beautiful statues made according to buddhist precious art technics. Not just us, but everybody can enjoy the blessing and symbolism of aspects which open the deep levels in our minds. As all wonderful guests who came today, you are warmly welcome! If you need more information have a look at Events at EC webpage.
By klara
The big project called international preparation for filling the EC statues was assigned to us by the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa himself, during his last visit to the EC in summer 2008. Seeing so many beautiful, small and large Buddha statues, he expressed the wish that all of them would be filled before the international summer course in 2009. He told us: “Filling these precious statues will be like filling a stupa.”
Statue fillers actually started the preparation for this joyful event in the autumn of 2007 as soon as we got the EC property in Immenstadt. They rolled the mantras in Schwarzenberg once a month during 2008 and, of course, during the summer course at the EC.
After the first meeting of the international statue fillers on the last weekend of January 2009, this activity was spread to all friends worldwide, who have the special knowlege for rolling mantras. Our friends from Germany, Slovenia, Netherlands, USA, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Ireland, Hungary and Italy got the assignment of rolling various mantras. You can have a look at the pictures from different countries and places. Many friends took part by collecting precious things for filling and friends from Venezuela also felled a special tree on their property and donated this wood for the life-trees.
As Caty said: “The filling of the statues at the EC, the heart center of Diamond Way centers around the globe, will be accomplished by involving and drawing on the power and activity of every country”.
We are very touched by this inspiring activity and are happy about the special course in May, which will be the very first international statue filling course with international statue fillers (11. to 24. May)! We are happy to transmit our knowlege of this subject, have fun and enjoy your friendship!
All people who are interested are invited to take part!
By klara
Friends, there is no need to comment. Just enjoy the early mornings in the EC!
By klara
On the travel plan of Lama Ole you might find the word “retreat” since the middle of March. This project time is reserved for the book retreat and our Lama and his team are using these days to work intensively on a brand new book. Everybody is very focused and concentrated and we are all looking forward to the fresh “birth” of the Death and rebirth book. During this book retreat all friends coming to the EC are invited to use this precious chance together with the residents to meditate in our Lama’s powerfield.
By klara
Relaxing time, sun, shorts, T-shirts, out of the blue spring arrived. The snow is melting in front of our eyes, flowers shoot up and we are happily eating outside again. Our construction workers immediately started to prepare for the next building season and everybody is enjoying meditating in the Lama’s power field. Love is in the air, ta da di da.
By klara
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