October 2024

Inspiring words

News from Dhamma Muditā

Many opportunities to serve

Who has a car for Dhamma Muditā?

Inspiring to read

Do you have questions regarding your practice?

Dates

Inspiring words

News from Dhamma Muditā

The addition of two new lobbies to the ‘garden hut’ was realised over the summer months with the help of a professional timber constructor and many meditators. However, there is still other important work to be completed in the ‘garden hut’, the future Dhamma hall, before regular courses can start at the end of May 2025. For example, the electrical installation must be completed before the wall panelling can be installed and then filled. The underfloor heating and flooring also need to be laid. Some of the windows and doors will be replaced, an access ramp for wheelchair users will be built – and many other smaller jobs are still to be done. The work on the Dhamma Hall should be completed by the end of March at the latest, so that we can then devote ourselves entirely to furnishing the new buildings and to finishing the outdoor areas.

The costs of the construction work for the first three new buildings (construction phase 1a), which will enable the start of 10-day courses in Dhamma Muditā, have largely been secured. However, funding is still lacking for the green roofs prescribed by the municipality and for the canopies over the entrances to the accommodation. The latter are intended to protect the meditators, the new buildings and the interior spaces from rain, snow and dirt.

• Green roofs on the accommodation buildings: approx. 48,000 euros
• Canopies on the accommodation buildings: approx. 80,000 euros

You can make a valuable contribution to the success of the project by helping to finance (donations or loans) these two necessary construction measures.

We would like to start sowing and planting the area this year in order to have a nice ambience and pleasant footpaths outside as well. The costs for this amount to 6,731.28 euros. This may not seem like a lot compared to the total project costs, but it was not included in this year’s budget and cannot be ‘diverted’ from any other budget at the moment. Meditators can help to finance the planting and landscaping of the footpaths separately now:

• 5 pcs. ecologically valuable herbs, grasses and perennials: 25 euros
• 1 ecologically valuable flowering shrub: 34 euros
• 100 m² flower meadow: 80 euros
• 1 large shady shrub/tree: 380 euros

All the plants mentioned and others as well are needed more than once. Please state ‘garden’ as the intended use of the donation.

Many opportunities to serve

1. on the last non-centre courses in Austria

The last two 10-day courses in Raabs an der Thaya will soon take place and the New Year’s course in St. Arbogast will also be organised by the Austrian association for the last time this year. There are still plenty of places available for course servers, especially in Raabs, and setting up and dismantling the courses is also very labour-intensive. Anyone who has the time and motivation to provide service on one of the courses or to help with set-up (5/6 November) or dismantling (29 November) is very welcome. Registration for course service is possible via the course programme; to help with the set-up or dismantling, please contact [email protected].

2. preparation of the course start in Dhamma Muditā

The construction work on the three new buildings is expected to be completed by the end of March. After that, there will only be two months to furnish the rooms and make them ready for future meditators. As there are no external storage facilities, the necessary furniture can only be purchased once the residential buildings have been completed. The up to 70 beds and shelves for clothes etc. for the courses must all be assembled on site. Many helping hands will be needed from the end of March to the end of May 2025 for this and for many other final jobs before the first courses can start. It would be great if many meditators could help to successfully master this challenge as relaxed as possible and with plenty of time for regular meditation. Anyone who has the opportunity and would like to take the chance to put the finishing touches to the centre is kindly asked to plan a few days, weekends or even several weeks for spring 2025.

If you have the appropriate manual skills and would like to help build shelves for storing clothes in the rooms, you could make these shelves yourself at home and bring or send them to the centre later (ready or to be assembled). For exact plans and measurements, please contact [email protected].

Being part of building a new centre is a very special opportunity! These are the dates for the next planned service periods at Dhamma Muditā:

• 31.10.24 – 03.11.24    service period – focus on expansion of the meditation hall
• 13.12.24 – 15.12.24    service period – focus on expansion of the meditation hall
• 19.12.24 – 22.12.24    service period – focus on expansion of the meditation hall
• 09.01.25 – 11.01.25    service period – focus on expansion of the meditation hall

• 13.12.24 – 21.03.25    expanding meditation hall (long-term servers needed – flex. participation possible)
• 21.03.25 – 28.05.25    furnishing accomm. buildings (long-term servers needed – flexible participation)

3. Open small duties (‘Patenschaften’)

We have packed many small but important service tasks into small duties (‘Patenschaften’ in German) that you can take on. Whether it’s checking the kitchen aprons once a year, regularly mowing the footpaths or checking the forest for bark beetle infestation – every task contributes to making our centre a place of peace and harmony where you can devote yourself intensively and undisturbed to the development of Dhamma.

Why take on a ‘Patenschaft’?

• Be part of the launch of a new centre: It is not often that you have the opportunity to be directly involved in the construction of a new centre.
• Meaningful activity: Make an active contribution to building and maintaining a place of meditation and peace.
• Flexibility: Choose a task that suits your skills and fits in with your schedule.

Please contact us at [email protected] and find out more about the various sponsorships. Every helping hand is welcome and valuable!

Who has a car for Dhamma Muditā?

Inspiring to read

The German book is available from the international Dhamma book distributor pariyatti.org, the German Vipassana book distributor ayana-book.com and also from Amazon. All original English books, talks and essays from Paul Fleischman are also available at pariyatti.org.

Do you have questions regarding your practice?

Then please do not hesitate to contact [email protected]. Please state in your e-mail when, where and with which teacher you attended your last course and provide your contact details. A teacher will get in touch with you.

Dates

For information on official group sittings and short courses in Dhamma Muditā (Upper Austria), Vienna, Graz, Innsbruck, Dornbirn and Bolzano (South Tyrol) please follow this link and register with oldstudent/behappy.