EUROPE CENTER
For more than 10 years we have been looking for a location where we could host our teachers, give a home to our worldwide Buddhist friends and hold seminars and courses. All our wishes came true when we saw the breath-taking landscape and buildings of Gut Hochreute.
We had found the Europe Center.
The EC project wishes to preserve the living transmission of Diamond Way Buddhism, and be an international meeting point for all groups worldwide. Meditation courses, meetings and many other means of communication are and will happen at the site. The Europe Center is a place where our Buddhist practice will deepen, where friendships will grow and where the transmission of the highest teachings is ensured through family-like closeness.
The Place
The Europe Center lies at the foothills of the Southern Alps at an altitude of 850 m above sea level. The house faces a beautiful natural lake (der Grosse Alpen See). The nearest town is Immenstadt (approx. 4 km).
All the buildings were built between 1910-11 by the architect Karl Surber in Art Deco style, according to the wish of the family of Dr. Walter Martini. The Estate used to be self-sufficient, producing their own food – vegetables, milk and meat. It was a very contemporary building at the time, much discussed in art and architectural magazines. All the buildings are of excellent quality and remain in mostly good and their original condition; having survived two World Wars they have not been fundamentally modernized since being built. The internal features were created especially for the house, and remain in the same style to this day.
The estate is listed under monument protection, which means the buildings are of special architectural, historical and cultural significance and therefore have to be restored in keeping with the style of the place and various rules. Fortunately, we have experts in the restoration of furniture, textiles, paintings and wood working with us.
The Owners
Buddhists of the 600+ Diamond Way Buddhist centres and groups throughout the world, which are built on an international network of idealism and friendship, are the real owners of the Europe Center. However, the legal owner of the site is the Buddhist Foundation Diamond Way, formed in 1999. The goal of the Foundation is to make millennium-old Buddhist wisdom accessible to lay people of the modern world.
Our main teacher is Lama Ole Nydahl. The lineage holder of the Karma Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism to which we belong, is H.H. 17th Karmapa Thaye Dorje.
Fund Raising
After having found Gut Hochreute, inspired practitioners from all over the world started to raise money for its purchase. In only 3 months the Diamond Way centres raised the necessary money through various fundraising ideas and projects. Everybody who donated did so as they wanted to be a part of the unique purchasing process.
The goal of the donation project called I Grow EC! is to support the long-term development, maintenance and operation of the Europe Center.
Activities
The international network is created by various programs: daily meditation, basic and advanced Buddhist lectures, centre and teachers meetings, weekend courses, restoration and building activities, workshops, statue exhibitions, concerts and weddings. Once a year Gut Hochreute will host an international summer course, an intense meditation and teaching program taught by the highly qualified Lamas of the Karma Kagyu lineage.
As in all Diamond Way Centres everybody’s work and contributions are voluntary and based on individual surplus.
