A “Chapel in the Form of a Stupa”
The Stupa in Karma Berchen Ling, Greece
1987 a group of Buddhists from the Athens centre was walking with Lama Ole in the mountains of Corinth on a road which was destroyed by the rain. We were looking for a place which was suitable for short meditation retreats. When we reached our goal, the inspiration from Lama Ole was the decisive factor to buy the place: Ole had a vision of the protector Mahakala, Black Coat. Together we sang the invocation of the protectors and gave the promise, that we would develop our activities for the best of all beings here in “Karma Berchen Ling”. (Footnote: The “Place of the protector Mahakala”, this name Lama Ole gave to the place). After our lineage had existed for already 15 years in Greece, it was a big step to want to build a place for retreat and a Stupa.
Up to this point our connection to Buddhism consisted of our trust in the teachings and the regular activities in the weekly program of our centre in Athens. Our biggest achievement, with which we could already test our abilities of building, was the renovation of a building in the Sonierou street 15a, from September 1984 until May 1985. The building had been given to us as a gift by the Mangari family.
The attitude of the indigenous population and of the church towards our plans was diverse. In the time to come it became clear that our problem would not be our abilities, but to adapt to the social situations. The word “Buddhism” either was completely unknown by most of the population, or was connected to unreliable and dangerous sects rather than recognised philosophies and religions.
In Greece, as well as in other European countries, Buddhism spread because there was a need for a probed philosophy and psychology for dealing with the daily and existential problems of modern human beings. Conservative groups in Greece though couldn’t see the need of Buddhism in a country with established philosophies and religious traditions. There were law suits between the group of Karma Berchen Ling and the orthodox diocese of Corinth, but it helped us to clarify our position and the relationship of both sides.
One year after the land had been brought, the construction work started in KBL with a manually driven machine for the production of bricks. Lama Ole had taken it for us from Columbia in 1989. The original plan was, after constructing the meditation place and the facilities for the activities of the centre, the growth of the place and finally to building a stupa. Lama Ole had repeatedly encouraged the building of the stupa in the most south-eastern point of Europe, to protect our freedom. Also the words of Tsechu Rinpoche had embedded themselves deeply into our minds: “The construction of a stupa leads to growing peace in the whole area. It protects the freedoms and the equality of the people. To build a stupa, positive outer and inner conditions need to appear; as well in the practitioners as in the society.”
The political activities within our lineage in the year 1992 though didn’t give good conditions for the construction of the stupa. Yannis, Dora and Yorgos even had to go to court, to make sure that our group could use the place again, after followers of the other Karmapa-candidate wanted to stop us from going there. 1994 a summer course took place there with Lama Ole Nydahl again. The court definitely placed the place of Karma Berchen Ling under the responsibility of the group lead by Lama Ole.
In January 1996 our unwatched facilities in the snow-covered mountains were burnt down, something that showed us how things really stood. Through this event the for Karma Berchen Ling responsible international team — with Patricia and Alex as main coordinators — realised, what the conditions in Greece at the time were like. Tsechu Rinpoche said that it would take ten years for the growth and the activities in KBL to continue again.
In the following summer we decided together with Lama Ole which steps to take next. In the following years we built new facilities and developed over the years a better exchange on a human level with the people in the area, so that a field of trust and security appeared. When we then got the permission to found and run our centre in Athens from the ministry for education and religion, and were furthermore invited to play a part in the Olympic Games in Athens, this gave us a strong basis of respect and acceptance in society. Since 2003 we tried to get the permission to build a stupa. Due to our prior experiences of conflicts with the church we strictly stuck to the legal way. But as there had been no creative precedent in Greece and the laws don’t support the growth of other religions, this became very difficult. A whole series of documents was sent back and forth between the different administrative agencies and our group in the effort to find an adequate way to grant us the permission. Making the situation more difficult was the fact that the term “religious construction” didn’t exist in the terminology of law of the ministry of education and religion. They only accepted the terms “Temple” or “Chapel”.
Our presence in the Olympic village (Footnote: See article from Sören Hechler in “Buddhismus Heute” magazine 39) enabled us to finally get the proper information from the ministry. The “soft pressure” exercised from our side started having an effect, the authorities saw the risk of the theme “freedom of religion” would come to the public at a very delicate time for Greece. A shortly before issued decree of the high court gave us the legal possibility to get what we wanted.
In summer 2005 the 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje visited us for the first time, the culmination for the work of many people over many years. He blessed the place, did a Mahakala-invocation, and mentioned in a speech that we would have a chance to develop and grow through the obstacles we encounter. We were especially fascinated when he said that he would like to do a retreat at KBL sometime in the future. During the course of Lama Ole a short tome after that many friends signed, below the hill we would like to build the stupa, an application that we would like to build and run a “chapel in the form of a stupa” there.
The bureaucratic hindrances were quickly overcome and the applications of Lama Ole and the members were handed to the ministry of education and religion. Two months of regular exchanges followed with the according authority, in which we could lay open our activities and where we had the possibility of having personal talks. On Wednesday the 30th of November 2005 the ministry decided to give us the permission for the construction of the first stupa in Greece, a great moment for our activity and generally for Buddhism at the most south-eastern end of Europe.
It really is remarkable: Exactly ten years, after our facilities had been burnt down, the premonitions of Lopön Tsechu Rinpoche were fulfilled, who had said that “It will take ten years for the growth and activities of KBL to go on again.”
To continue…
Author:
Yorgos Diakofotakis was born in 1963 in Athens, and took refuge in 1982 with Lama Ole. He is founding member of Karma Berchen Ling and representant of the diamondway to the authorities since 1991. Yorgos lives in Voula–Athens, is married and has two daughters. He works in the city hall in the department for the organisation of cultural events. yd@ath.forthnet.gr