Karma Berchen Ling

In early October, we finished the season with the 8th Karmapa Retreat. Practitioners from 7 different countries came together and meditated four sessions a day for one week in the power field of the stupa. The retreat was guided by the travel-teacher Maxi from Graz. It was just wonderful.

After this incredible initiation we had a wonderful mahamudra course with Lama Ole. Four days highest teachings and a lot of posture in order for questions and answers. Lama Ole also married several couples in front of the stupa. He left on 27th of August for the Balkantour.
Lama Chogdrup Dorje enjoyed a few more days in Berchen Ling togehter with his brother – holiday in the beautiful mountains of the Peloponnese.
After the course a lot of people stayed to enjoy the place and to help building down and preparing the site for winter. Everything happened so fast and smooth, in the evening we also had a lot of time to really meet each other.

On the night of August 14th we had a very unusual event – we had a video conference with Lama Ole in Europe Centre. So the friends in Allgäu could see us gathered around the stupa. For such a remote place where there is not even a phone line, it was very special.
We showed a presentation with the latest images from the stupa. At the beginning, pictures from Tsechu Rinpoche and Lama Ole were to be seen, because we could feel their presence all the time.
In this way, we also showed how the infrastructure looks like – we already enjoy the new kitchen and cafeteria.

Yesterday, the stupa became one level higher. There was also a blessing-ceremony to eliminate the obstacles. The stupa starts looking more and more like a stupa and… it is so beautiful.
Beside that activities, the gompa tent was set up. At the moment we are 160 people on site and everything is now waiting for all the people from all over the world.

The course preparations are running at full speed, right now. Today the kitchen will be set up (3 days in advance!). The water tanks are already waiting for the yogi bathrooms that are being installed. Also the dining tent is almost ready as well as the gompa tent.
Meanwhile, the stupa waits for the next filling that will happen on Friday 13th of August.
This gives us the whole next week to try out how well everything works.

As you all know, Karma Berchen Ling is one of our international Buddhist Centers. And as it is situated in Greece, also the Greek sangha (Athens and Thessaloniki) supports the place, especially in the long term run. For instance, they produced special magazines about the retreat place and the stupa. Different people come for weekends and join all actual tasks, like producing tsatsas and mantra rolls, cooking, and building. Read more...

Three years ago, we planed to build a house made by straw bales in KBL. But we never managed to do more than the foundation. Now, a group of strong and well organized Bulgarians builded the straw-bales-house in less than two weeks! It is not only great work, but also a really nice house…

In the middle of June a group of 15 Hungarians arrived in KBL. Within of ten days, they improved the water tank situation and builded the drainage around the Kalachakra Stupa. The wall of white stones, they builded in front of the stupa, had to be changed a few times, because KBL is just a Milarepa place…

Yesterday our new container arrived. It replaced the old one, often called “chicken house”. The new container is located between the Club House and the hut of “Jaquline”, the generator. It will give us the possibility to store bigger tools and materials for the course, like tents etc. Read more...

During the time, the stupa is drying we use the chance to continue with the preparation on site. Some people still producing tsa tsas, others finishing the shower house – now proudly is called the “Club House”. Our generator Jaqueline is working day and sometimes also in the night and the two new water tanks get some additional technique. Thanks to the diligent girls in the kitchen, everybody can enjoy delicious food.

At Sunday, May 23, we had a beautiful, sunny and clear day (since a long time)! At noon, Lama Choghdrub did a small puja to bless the new praying flags and people helped to tide them up. Now, one can see them from all over the mountains. Read more...

We arrived at Karma Berchen Ling in two steps: first Jutta, Lutz, Maria and Oli from Berlin went there – two days later the funky bunch was completed by Sidsel from Denmark, Mumchi from Bulgaria, Manu and Torsten also from Berlin. The place gave us a “warm welcome”: snowfall, strong winds and a 2cm layer of ice, which covered everything composite like e.g. the retreat-hut which one weren´t able to leave without help from outside. Read more...

The first week of March was the time when the Black Mountain tigers of Schwarzenberg (Germany) visited the Black Mountain dragons of Berchen Ling. 13 members of our Sangha went to Greece into a Tsatsa Retreat.
Perfectly organized by Carmen we arrived in time despite of Airline and several other strikes. The weather was gorgious and showed all kind of varieties. Of course our retreat finished on Friday the 5th of March with never ending rainbows all over the place for several hours. Before, we really worked hard (and joyful) on the Tsatsas, supported by a wonderful kitchen team. Producing tsatsas makes very hungry! But also another important event happened at the same time: Rudi and Angelika carved the stupa and the dorje into the life-tree. Now this very special “spine of the stupa” is ready.
But not only “spiritual work” was going on, also the work in our new “clubhouse”, former showerhouse, continued. Martin finished an amazing staircase. The “club” is really very cosy and we enjoyed meditating, working and sleeping there.
At the last weekend in February our friends from the Acropolis center in Athens celebrated the opening of the new center. It is beautiful, impressive and definetly worth visiting it. If you are next time in Athens you should go there for a meditation.
Our excursion was rounded up with a great meal at “Yorgos Taverna” in Evrostina and a good adrenalin push by jumping into the Isthmus (gulf of Corinths), where our friend Andi has a wonderful bungee place.
For sure we come back!!!! Kalimera, Kalinichta, Kalachakra!

We were 8 people from the winterly Berlin plus one brave Bavarien, making a Tsatsa-Retreat in Karma Berchen Ling.
Friday night we were warmly welcomed by the KBL team in a freshly painted Sangha-house. After that, we all crawled into our cold beds. The next morning the sunrise was glowing red from behind the snow-capped mountain peaks, the snowdrops and the almond trees were blooming and a gigantic scale of lemons and oranges that we bought on the street below, tasted blissfully juicy. While we were producing Tsatsas, we were full of enthusiasm and were pleased about the growing number of boxes filled with Tsatsas.
The cupboard in the Sangha-house is now very secure, thanks to Ronny, maybe even more secure than the Sangha-house itself …

Some members of the team were meeting at Schwarzenberg (Germany) last weekend, to work on the plans for the building of the Stupa and the course preperations. We had meetings with effective brainstorming and discussions that have actually led to a concrete timetable.
Saturday, even our stupa architect, Wojtek Koswoski from Darmstadt, joined our meeting and enriched everthing with his experience, concepts, sketches and stories of the twenty years of building stupas with Lopon Tsechou Rinpoche.
With Ouzo, Metaxa and beautiful images of our place, we enjoyed a Greek-eating out – deep in snow Karma Berchen Ling in Oy-Mittelberg, Germany. It was just fantastic.

Today the huge earthmover which should digg the hole for our second water tank hit the first one. All water was gone after a few hours…

But we took the chance and refurbished the old water tank, while it was empty. Furthermore we finally managed to build the two new (round) water tanks.

In one week a team of Czech workers isolated the roof of the shower house with mineral wool, incrusted with gipsum plasterboards and wooden finish-boards allmost all attic and part of the basement. They also finished the sheet-metall roof and isolated the retreat houses. And of course, they produced some hundreds of Tsatsas.

The work on the shower house is progressing and will hopefully be completed by the end of this week. Next, the house will be plastered and the ceiling will be made.
Now we have a big room for the tsa-tsa producing. Tomorrow the first group of people are going up to make tsa-tsas. Everybody is most welcome to help.

without words…