Friends from our Diamond Way Buddhist centers are always welcome for courses and other events at Karma Berchen Ling. By tradition, our program spreads over three seasons with three main events: the prostration retreat, the summer course and the 8th Karmapa retreat.

8th Karmapa Retreat 

4 – 10 April  2025

We warmly invite you to a meditation course on the 8th Karmapa with Robi Szilagyi from Hungary. The course will take place in April, a month during which the Czech sangha has been caring for KBL for many years.

 

We expect at least four meditation sessions per day and an evening lecture or questions and answers.

If the weather is nice, meditation by the stupa will also be an option.

This course is organized for the international sangha and will be in English.

Participants will take part in running the course and meal preparations.

Please mind that the course is for students of Lama Ole Nydahl only, practising in his Diamondway Centers.

If you are planning to arrive, please register at the link:

8th Karmapa

8th Karmapa Retreat & Ngondro

14.04. – 20.04. 2025

Dearest friends!

We warmly invite you to a meditation course on the 8th Karmapa & Ngondro with Patricia Schaffrick from Germany. The course will take place in April, a month during which the Czech sangha has been caring for KBL for many years.

 

There will be a change during our planned 8 Karmapa course with Patricia Schaffrick (April 14–20) in Karma Berchen Ling this year. Since many friends will be attending with partners who are not practising 8 Karmapa, and we will also have families joining us, we have decided to make the course more open and flexible. Additionally, as Greek Easter falls during the same time, we may have Greek friends visiting KBL for a shorter period.

To meet these circumstances, we will have 8 Karmapa and Ngondro course, allowing everyone present to participate. There will be a common 8th Karmapa meditation in the morning and a common 16th Karmapa meditation in the evening. The program and lectures can be planned together with Patricia on-site, and we will still aim to have at least four meditation sessions each day.

 
 

The second retreat will be open to families with children. However, the number of families is limited. Please contact us in advance at julu108@gmail.com to confirm availability before purchasing tickets. Parents are kindly asked to ensure that children are not disturbing during meditation sessions.

Please mind that the course is for students of Lama Ole Nydahl only, practising in his Diamondway Centers.

If you are planning to arrive, please register at the link:

8th Karmapa

72h Prostration Retreat

01.05. – 04.05. 2025

“A wise man may avoid blood and tears on his way to enlightenment, but there is no way around the sweat. Only conscious and one-pointed meditation creates the cracks in the fortifications of our egos that make the mind’s timeless essence shine through. Hard work is unavoidable, especially with prostrations. This practice creates the good impressions necessary for our growth and changes our body from a difficult master to a useful servant.”

Lama Ole Nydahl

We would like to invite you to the 72-hour retreat on the practice of Taking Refuge and Developing an Enlightened Attitude, which occurs every spring at Karma Berchen Ling Retreat Center in south Greece.

Thursday 01.05:

19:00 Explanations on the way we keep the mediation going for 72 hours, retreat and place rules – Big Gompa 

20:00 Start of the Retreat in the Big Gompa

Friday and Saturday lectures :

20:00 Friday

Refuge and Q&A on the practice

20:00 Saturday 

Enlightened attitude and Q&A on the practice

Sunday 04.05

20:00 End of the Retreat 

20:30 Dinner and dancing

Thursday Dinner will be @ 18:00

Breakfasts @ 09:00 

Lunches @ 13:00

Dinners @ 19:00

Karma Berchen Ling is located remotely in the mountains of Peloponnese, a place where one can go deep in the practice in the field of the 9 Stupas.

This year, we are happy that we will be able to host the meditation in the new big Gompa while still allowing everyone to have space to sleep in the houses, small Gompa, and the new dormitory above the new kitchen.

We will be able to squeeze everybody under a roof, so you need to bring a sleeping bag only. At this time of the year, it is possible to sleep in a tent but can be rather cold during the night.

Please mind that the course is for students of Lama Ole Nydahl only, practising in his Diamondway Centers.

If you are planning to arrive, please register at the link:

For any questions and support, please write to Yavor.monev@gmail.com.

All the best,
yours KBL Team

72h Prostration Retreat in KBL

Meditation Course

11.05. – 17.05. 2025

Dear Friends,

We warmly invite you to visit KBL for the meditation course with Karol Sleczek. During this time, the Polish KBL sangha will be hosting the center. We would love to spend time with you in this powerful place, meditating, enjoying the presence of friends from different countries, and supporting the centre’s activities.

 

  • The course with Karol will take place from May 11th (Sunday, evening session, 9 PM) to May 17th (Saturday, morning session, 8 AM), 2025.
  • The course program includes four daily group meditation sessions (8 AM, 11 AM, 4 PM, 8 PM), lectures, and Q&A sessions after the evening meditation.
  • The course is open to students of Lama Ole practising in Diamond Way Centers.

Meditation sessions and lectures will be held in English (with possible translation into Polish).

Please mind that the course is for students of Lama Ole Nydahl only, practising in his Diamondway Centers.

If you are planning to arrive, please register at the link:

If you want to help by preparing or during the course with Karol Ślęczek or have any questions regarding the course, please contact us at: agnieszkakadziela@o2.pl

Karol Sleczek (born in 1956) is a graduate of the Faculty of Philosophy at Jagiellonian University in Kraków. He has been involved with Diamond Way Buddhism since 1978. He is one of the founders and a longtime chairman of the Buddhist center in Kraków. Karol is a member of the Supervisory Board of the Diamond Way Buddhist Association of the Karma Kagyu Lineage in Poland. Since 1988, he has been teaching Buddhist philosophy at universities in Europe, the Americas, and Australia. He has travelled extensively with Lama Ole around the world. He currently lives in Kraków.

We look forward to sharing this wonderful time with you in the beautiful and wild nature of the Greek mountains.

Yours,
KBL Team

72h Prostration Retreat in KBL

Summer Course

18 – 24 August  2025

 

Dear friends

As every year, we are happy to announce our KBL  summer course. It will take place from August 18-24. Travel teachers, Heike and Gerhard Bucher from Austria, will be with us.

  • The course with Heike and Gerhard Bucher will take place from August 18 to August 24, 2025.
  • The course program:

Monday, 18th of August – evening lecture “Meditation”
Tue-Sun morning meditation – 16th Karmapa Meditation 
Tue-Sat 11:00 (30 minutes lectures – every day one of the Four Basic Thoughts…) then individual practice 
Tuesday after lunch, parallel explanations 1st and 3rd. Preliminary Practices (if needed, short refuge 11.30)
Tuesday – Saturday 16:00 individual practice 
Tuesday evening lecture “Ngöndro”
Wednesday 14:00 explanations about the 2nd and 4th Preliminary Practices
Wednesday evening lecture about “Compassion and Wisdom”
Thursday 14:00 Explanations about the 8th Karmapa Meditation 
Thursday evening lecture “Disturbing Emotions”
Friday 14:00 Q&A 
Friday evening lecture about “Love and Partnership”
Saturday, Celebrating 15 years of Kalachakra Stupa
Saturday 14:00 Q&A
Saturday evening lecture about “Teacher-Student relationship”
Sunday, 11:00 lecture about “Death and Rebirth”

  • Meditation sessions and lectures will be held in English

If you are planning to arrive, please register at the link:

If you want to help by preparing or during the course, or have any questions regarding the course, please contact us at: BerchenLing@diamondway-center.org

Heike was born in 1964 in Judenburg, Austria and took refuge with Lama Ole Nydahl, together with her husband in 1995, and since that time, they have been his students. Gerhard was born in 1959, and LamaOle asked them both to teach in 2007.

They started a Diamondway Buddhist Group in 2002, and out of this two new Diamondway Centers in Judenburg and Murau came into life.

Heike studied medicine, worked in a hospital, and was also self-employed in acupuncture.

Gerhard studied music and worked as a teacher in a music school. Since 2024, they have both retired and use the acquired time for more meditation, travelling, sports and other activities.

Nedo Kuchung Rinpoche

8th Karmapa Retreat 

04.10 – 11.10. 2025

Dear friends

It has been a tradition for many years to have an autumn course on 8° Karmapa Retreat. This year, it will be guided by Michaela Fritzges from Germany. 

It starts on Saturday, 04.10.2025 evening and ends on Saturday, 11.10.2025 morning. In four sessions per day, there will be enough time for in-depth meditation and will be given explanations on the 8° Karmapa Meditation. The prerequisite for participation is to have completed the first Ngöndro.

Please mind that the course is for students of Lama Ole Nydahl only, practising in his Diamondway Centers.

If you are planning to arrive, please register at the link:

For any questions and support, please write to BerchenLing@diamondway-center.org 

All the best,
yours KBL Team

Born in Berlin, Germany, in 1959, I took Buddhist refuge in 1984 with my Buddhist teacher, Lama Ole Nydahl.
Since 1994, I have lived in Buddhist centers in northern Germany: Kiel, Laboe and now in the Retreatcenter in Nindorf. In 1994, Lama Ole sent me for the first time to teach in Peru. Since then, I have visited many Buddhist centers all over the world as a travelling teacher.

8th Karmapa