Nothing gives roots to a tradition like land. Just as the Tsurphu monastery in Tibet grounded the Karma Kagyu lineage for 900 years, the Europe Center (EC) is laying bedrock for Kagyu Buddhism in the West. The seeds of the EC trace back to the wishes of H.H. the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa to bring lay vajrayana—or “diamond way”—Buddhism to the West. In the spring of 2007, 26 years after his passing, the EC was established as the main seat of Diamond Way Buddhism—an organization of over 620 Karma Kagyu centers around the world founded by Lama Ole Nydahl and under the spiritual guidance of H.H. the 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje.
What exactly does western, lay vajrayana Buddhism look like? In short, we are learning by doing. Diamond Way Buddhism has evolved since the 1970s, when the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa asked the Danish couple Lama Ole and his late wife Hannah to bring Kagyu Buddhism to the West. And though the learning never ends, it seems we’ve found a fit for idealistic, free-thinking westerners. Above all, the Europe Center solidifies our collective wisdom gained over the past 40 years, and offers a foundation from which the Diamond Way can build.
Nestled in the Bavarian Alps of southern Germany on Swiss and Austrian borders, the Europe Center has been bustling for three and a half years. The center houses around 15 residents and a steady flow of long and short-term guests. Mealtimes and group meditations twice a day give a family feeling and shared focus. Everyone contributes on a voluntary basis on top of their normal work and home lives. There are cooks, architects, specialists in IT and communications, builders, foresters, mothers, babysitters, and countless other talents that make the center self-sufficient. Many residents work online, in nearby towns, or commute to larger cities for part of the week. The EC is completely international, making its role as a global center the natural extension of friendships in the house. The latest news from centers in South America or Australia, for example, comes up over breakfast chitchat.
The next layer of Europe Center activity lies in Immenstadt, a small town four kilometers away and home to around 50 members of the sangha, or Buddhist community. House residents and a group from Immenstadt make up the EC team, which takes care of every aspect of running the place. The EC’s natural spill-over into town connects it fluidly with the locals, who in turn have embraced the center as a cultural attraction in the area. Moreover, the past few years have built up traditions that bring the town to the EC doors. On top of regular open houses, there is a week-long exhibition of Buddhist art every summer, culminating with a matinee performance with professional musicians from the sangha. This extended community gives a thick feel to EC life—an evening weekday meditation in a snowstorm, for example, may still bring in a full house.
The buildings themselves are a time capsule of Bavarian high culture. Built in the Art Deco style in 1911, “the villa”—as residents call it—was the country hunting estate of the industrial Martini family. A second house lies adjacent and a two-story horse barn stands across the courtyard from the villa. Featured in art and architectural magazines, the estate was à la mode in its time and remains a protected historical monument. The grounds cover 50 hectares (125 acres), with three streams running through wooded gullies, and three tiers of plateaus positioned well for large tents during courses. At 850 meters above sea level, the houses face south over an alluring alpine lake surrounded by snowy peaks. Residents often joke that they live in a postcard.
For those involved since 1998, when the Europe Center was but a nascent idea, today’s success is a dream come true. The EC is among the most ambitious international Buddhist projects in history, with the mandate from the start to bring together Diamond Way Buddhists from over 40 countries. But a bit of reflection shows that everything has flowed from old Kagyu wisdom—to build from the bottom up from a surplus of energy, resources, and friendship.
To begin with, the beauty of the site was no fluke. The original search team sifted through countless properties until finding a match for the vision. Lama Ole inspired the team with the classic example of Milarepa, a famous 12th-century Tibetan meditation master. His teacher Marpa had him build, then destroy many small towers to clear out obstacles in his mind before receiving meditation instruction. Pushed to his wit’s end with the effort, Milarepa’s thirst for teachings grew so strong that upon finally receiving them from Marpa he reached enlightenment in one lifetime. As part of Milarepa’s lineage—Lama Ole reminded the team—we may build six or seven centers in our minds and on paper before completing one that lasts.
Following this diligent style, the €4.4 million price tag was paid up front in full, with €3.4 million raised from a global campaign in the final three months before closing. The property is owned by the Diamond Way Buddhist Foundation, which is the non-profit legal entity of Diamond Way Buddhism with a fully international advisory board. Donations came from over 40 countries with no single donation exceeding €70,000. “I Grow EC” is the membership program whose over 1,100 members pay an average of €10 per month to fund operating costs and continual development. The EC finances uphold a standard of style for the Diamond Way worldwide: to buy without debt whenever possible, and most importantly to build on small contributions from many. No debt means no pressure, letting growth flow from enthusiasm and surplus. And everyone who contributes with time and money—no matter how modestly—will feel at home in the place. Following these basic principles, we know our outer achievements will be lasting reflections of our inner maturity and strength.
That said, the first three years of the EC have been no fairy tale, and again the example of Milarepa’s diligence has been a useful beacon for residents and the Immenstadt sangha. Many speak of the first year or two as a tough period with many personal and group challenges. But today, most speak with a grin about past growing pains that laid the groundwork for a robust center. Though difficulties are inevitable—and even important for development—we can safely call mature friendships the core of the EC. And in 2009, upon his third visit, the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa gave his resounding approval of our progress: “This place is unifying everybody.”
The EC’s activity peaks every August at the annual Summer Course, which transforms the country villa into a Kagyu town of a few thousand for two weeks. The build-up for the course is demanding, bringing in a separate Summer Course Team and up to 200 people to help in the preceding weeks. Each of the first three Summer Courses was momentous. The EC has proven to be a key bridge between our work in the West and our roots in the East. The 2008 and 2009 courses featured initiations and teachings from the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa and Shamar Rinpoche, and 72-hour Loving Eyes meditations led by Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche.
The 2010 Summer Course, in turn, held the “Transmission Days” with Lama Ole—a landmark course for the Diamond Way. For an entire week, Lama Ole shared Diamond Way history, beginning with his and Hannah’s first contact with their Tibetan lamas in 1968. The old-timers sat in front, running slides and contributing their own memories as they came up. We got an up-close view of Lama Ole and Hannah’s role as lineage holders—how every move they made was built solely upon the wishes of the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, and checked and double-checked at each step with the 16th and 17th Gyalwa Karmapas, Kalu Rinpoche, Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche, and our other Tibetan forefathers.
The idea of the Transmission Days arose partly out of a running EC project called Transmission Weekends. Since 2008, the EC has held six such weekends featuring meditation, teachings, and storytelling of Diamond Way history. Special features of these weekends have included Pedro and Dorrit Gomez on the recognition of the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, and a tribute presentation from Maggie Lehnert on Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche, who was Lama Ole and Hannah’s first contact with Buddhism and mentored them closely until his passing in 2003. Known as the “oral transmission lineage,” Kagyus have always built their practice around a close personal connection to the teacher and the sangha. Through trust in the teacher and friends, we build trust in our own potential. And through learning about our history together, we gain inspiration for practice and a shared vision for the future. The EC is a unique home for these “transmission” events, where one feels to be learning about and making Buddhist history at the same time.
Over the past year, the intimacy of the Transmission Weekends has been complemented by the more boisterous Country Weekends. The idea here is that a country or group of countries runs an entire weekend program, inviting the rest of the world to share in the hosts’ unique flavor in both culture and dharma practice. “As we all know,” reported the EC blog, “a good tool on the way to enlightenment is to leave your own village and travel to break a lot of concepts. And if you cannot travel everywhere, just come to the EC—the whole world comes by here anyway!” The Country Weekends further spread the sense of EC ownership, constantly passing the reins to fresh hands. They also bring the EC to life in people’s local sanghas, as memories from the weekend naturally travel back home. This initiative is also catching on more broadly. Retreat centers in the USA and elsewhere have followed suit with what we might call “city weekends,” in which a city sangha takes over a retreat center program for the weekend.
As the Europe Center builds steam, its forward-looking purpose continues to evolve. Two “key-people” meetings have taken place so far, bringing friends from as far as Oceania and the Americas to discuss the role and future of the EC. As with all EC events, the key-people share the happenings with their home sanghas. The main agenda item at the moment is “Space for Activity,” the EC development plan in the works. A new residential building will add around 50 bedrooms, more than doubling our living space. And, of course, more rooms demand more space to meditate—the barn will be renovated into a 570 square-meter meditation room, or gompa, that will hold up to 1,000 people. The bottom floor of the gompa will have an industrial-size kitchen, a foyer and a dining hall, and another building will house a library, Diamond Way archives and perhaps even a permanent exhibition. The architects and engineers on the project have a durability goal of 100 years in both design and the selection of materials. Again, the idea is to lay roots.
The EC of the future will house around 40 residents and 60 long and short-term guests, but have the infrastructure to host a small army at a moment’s notice. The goal is to be large enough to feel vibrant, but small enough to foster close friendships and stay naturally connected with the town. And with a capacity to fit 1,000 in the gompa, medium-size events can be held year-round with no need for meeting tents. Caty Hartung and Gergö Porkoláb who sit on the board of directors of the Diamond Way Buddhist Foundation—have taken up residence at the EC and are key drivers of the Space for Activity project. At the first key-people meeting, Caty shared the timeline for our developments: “We dream that in 2013 everything is finished, and we can invite all our lamas and the whole world to initiate this place.” An international fundraising campaign will be launched in the summer of 2011 to raise €6 million, while another €2 million will come from the Diamond Way Foundation. The EC has already seen what’s possible with small contributions from many idealistic friends, and the plan is to do it again.
As the EC builds momentum, we see ever more clearly how our strength lies in international and inter-regional cooperation. Since 2000, EC fervor has partly produced and partly built upon a wave of cross-border initiatives. The Triangle Project now links the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland, while the Channel Project brings together France, Belgium, Holland and the UK. The North American sangha has also begun to organize as regions more than ever, with three retreat center projects in the West Coast, Midwest, and Northeast serving as the axis of our cooperation. Another fledgling initiative is the Americas Project, which aims to give stronger glue to our work from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. Harnessing this momentum, the 2011 EC Summer Course will host the first International Centers Meeting. Though the format of the meeting is still taking shape, we’ve seen time and again how the simple act of coming together brings great inspiration and wisdom by learning from each other’s challenges and successes.
The Europe Center faces an exciting mandate to hold both a family feeling and unified vision of the Diamond Way worldwide. All Diamond Way centers share the same practice and publications, and stay connected through live-streaming teachers and events online, but there is just no substitute for being together. Above all, Lama Ole reminds us, the EC is a place for people to find each other, “and these connections then blossom somewhere out there in the world on their own.” In summary, “it’s a living heart to all this work around the world.”
