Austria calling Triratna!
On Fri, 13 January, 2017 - 15:49
Triratna is now so large, it can be hard to remember that there are still many countries without any Triratna activities at all, even in Europe. In Vienna last September I got together with Thomas and Carina Rotter, Austrian Buddhists longing for someone to start Triratna activities there.
Triratna may well be one of the Buddhist movements making greatest use of online communications and, as you’ll see, they’ve certainly made determined use of it!
Thomas writes: “I found Triratna at the beginning of 2015, when I was searching for a modern Buddhist magazine. I had already given up the search for a modern Buddhist community or order.
But suddenly, there was the German website www.triratna-buddhismus.de, where I found further links, including, for example, The Buddhist Centre Online. I read through every single one of its pages about Triratna. At Free Buddhist Audio Carina and I spent hours and hours listening to lectures. Through VideoSangha we discovered Clear Vision’s YouTube channel, where we watched all the NewsByte videos and started to search for and watch the old FWBO Newsreels. Of course we are very excited about Buddhafield! We may take part in the family retreat this year, but definitely in the festival. Finally, we started online Dharma study with Suvarnagarbha via Skype, but we’ve had to take a break until our baby is able to give us a bit more spare time.
We live in the Austrian countryside. As a young and ecologically-minded family, we don’t want to travel around by air, so we’re taking every possible chance to get in contact with Triratna members in person. At the Vesakh celebrations in Vienna, we ran into Tibor Derdak, a Mitra and director of the Dr Ambedkar High School (Hungary) at the Vesakh celebrations in Vienna. Knowing Munisha would be attending meetings of the European Buddhist Union and Buddhist Teachers in Europe, we arranged another trip to Vienna to have lunch with her.
Through all this, and the experience of people presenting the Dharma in an open, modern and authentic manner, we think Triratna may be just the Buddhist tradition for us.
We so look forward to engaging with you. Please get in touch with us if you’d like to visit or talk about developing Triratna activities in Austria, or have other ideas.”
Email Thomas and Carina at thomas.rotter[@]posteo.at
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Responses
Hello Christine,
yeah, we also attended the buddhist centres nearby, and made a few wonderful spiritual friendships. But the historical lines didn’t totally fit. Some of the basic contradictoriness were always frustrating.
As we discovered the triratna way, it became so clear to accept that feeling, because it was not the Dharma, that didn’t fit to us, it was either the cultural transmission or the obvious contradictions between the earlier monastic life and the today’s life of the lay people within the historical traditions. I always found, the Dharma can help everyone in any situation. Not only in the next life or if you become a male monk.
Schöne Grüße und Metta
Thomas
Hi Thomas, I’ve just emailed you, a monk friend in Austria might need any help he can get!!!
Thanks
Satyin
A really lovely story. It’s made me smile ear to ear. Not least because so much of Triratna online is now funded by FutureDharma Fund, our new fund that helps you support Triratna’s amazing work around the world. You can find out more at www.futuredharma.org.
How lovely to read. I’m delighted that our online resources are so helpful and hope that you can feel connected and part of a community. Wishing you well and hope the baby is well and thriving.
with metta, Parami
Wonderful, thanks for sharing your experiences!
I had to respond because I discovered Buddhism while living in Austria, too! I was living in a Tyrollean alpine village (Reutte in Tirol), and basically taught myself to meditate through books. At some point, one of my best friends found out about a female priest who led Zen meditation every month in a village nearby (40 minutes by car), so we became regulars there.
After 9 months independent practice, I ended up in the UK, and have been spoilt for choice here. In a way, I suppose it is easy to take it all for granted, but I still come away blissed out on gratitude when I’ve been to the Buddhist Centre or spent time with sangha friends.
Alles Gute und Liebe Xxx