Bratislava
Since the Americas Adventure for this year was first planned, some exciting news appeared. Our friends in Slovakia managed the purchase of a beautiful center in Bratislava. It is basically on our route, and fits the theme of this year’s tour of visiting city centers in new stages of development. We will be stopping by for a couple hours to meditate together, learn about the center, and enjoy lunch before making our way on to Budapest.
Compared with many surrounding countries, Diamond Way Buddhism had gotten a slow start in Slovakia. The size of the sangha here is closer to that of countries in the Americas, so it serves as a direct example for us what is possible. Lama Ole's first visited the country back in 1996, and there are now 15 centers and groups with approximately 300 people. The country united to purchase the beautiful Mangútovo retreat center in 2005, and the effort to buy a center in the capital city began in 2008. Many different properties were taken into consideration and checked since then. On a beautiful spring day in March 2014, Lama Ole visited Bratislava and was shown a picture of yet another property. “Karma Dondrub Ling” he said after a minute – the Place of Accomplishment. Later that day, he visited the site with many friends and was very pleased. Finally, on 18th of February 2015, the contract was signed!
Since then, the Slovak sangha has been busy with repairs and renovations, and hosted several groups on tours of Diamond Way Buddhist Centers. They are thrilled that we are stopping by, and we’re very glad that it works out so easily to check out this latest European development.
Recently, a statue exhibition was held in town which over 9,000 people visited. You can read more about that at this link.
