One of the reasons for building up the Europe Center is the wish to give our globe-travelling Lamas a place to come home to and retreat at in between meditation courses with thousands of students.

Therefore, we are very happy that  H.H. 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje stopped by the EC together with Lama Ole for a few quiet and private days during his European Summer Tour covering Spain, Lithuania, Hungary, the UK, Germany and France.

Gyalwa Karmapa met with a school class from the nearby town of Kempten during his stay. For two hours he answered their smart questions about Tibetan Buddhism and about himself, being considered a living Buddha and the lineage holder of the centuries-old Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.

Except for this, there was no official program scheduled and the Europe Center was closed to the public. However, the friends working at the EC to make Karmapa’s stay possible received an unexpected great gift. His Holiness guided a common meditation which focused on the development of compassion for all beings. Afterwards, he invited for a very special dinner together with him and Lama Ole. The “momos”, typically Tibetan dumplings, which were prepared together with the children from the EC Sangha.

One of the Lamas accompanying His Holiness, Tsultrim Namgyal, was already an assistant to the 16th Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje. He kindly shared his memories of the two Karmapas with us on two consecutive evenings in the Diamond Room.

We would like to thank Gyalwa Karmapa and Lama Ole for their visit and are much looking forward to welcoming them back very soon – together with thousands of friends for the 5th International Summer Course at the Europe Center!