Hello from Germany

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Vardali
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Hello from Germany

Post by Vardali »

Hi everyone,

I have been directed to this board because I am leaning to the Theravada "style" in my beginning buddhist practice, so I hope to learn a lot here and find some help for my practice as well as help out as good as I can with what little experience I have gained in the matters of the dhamma :)

I am from Germany (the RP/NRW area, if anyone is familiar with the region) and have been reading up, listened and looked into Buddhist teachings for the past 2 years. I feel I am "getting" some of what I have read and found out, but I am definitely work in progress, as far as my Buddhist inclinations go. I have been able to relate best to the teachings I have read and listened to from the likes of Ajahn Brahm, Ajahn Munindom as well as Josef Goldstein; I am mostly following the BSWA and UK streams instead of any local German sangha.

One reason is that there seems a more widespread interest in Tibetan buddhism in Germany which Ifind less appealing in style (I seem to have an aversion against rituals, I guess). And the only Theravadin centers seem to be located in the South of Germany (which is quite a way from where I live).
But this is mostly logistics; more crucial is my seeming inability to relate to Buddhist teachings in German language. Stuff that seems intuitively understandable to me in English seems total incomprehensible to me if I try it in German. I have always suspected that I must have been some British native in a past life-time. So I always have to fall back to English sources.
:toast:

So, I will have to make use of modern technology to support my practices, I guess. Hopefully I will find a nice international community here that can relate to this :)

Hope to read, write and learn more here :namaste:
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retrofuturist
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Re: Hello from Germany

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings Vardali,

Thank you for the introduction and welcome to Dhamma Wheel.

:buddha1:

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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Dhammabodhi
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Re: Hello from Germany

Post by Dhammabodhi »

Hi!

Welcome to Dhammawheel! I'm a student in Paderborn, but currently in France. Where do u live in NRW?
May you be peaceful and happy!
Metta,
Dhammabodhi
"Take rest, take rest."-S.N.Goenka
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Vardali
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Re: Hello from Germany

Post by Vardali »

Thank you for your kind welcome :thanks:

I currently live somewhere between Köln and the Eifel, so it's pretty rural here (1 hrs drive to Köln and Düsseldorf, a bit less to Bonn).

I like it rural, though :) Cities tend to stress me out a bit.
:tongue:
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genkaku
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Re: Hello from Germany

Post by genkaku »

Welcome Vardali. Hope you find something useful here.
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Ben
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Re: Hello from Germany

Post by Ben »

Hi Vardali
Welcome to Dhamma Wheel!
Be sure to make contact with Bhikkhu Gavesako here on Dhamma Wheel as he also lives in Germany. He should be a good contact for you.
Metta

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

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Jechbi
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Re: Hello from Germany

Post by Jechbi »

Vardali wrote:I currently live somewhere between Köln and the Eifel, so it's pretty rural here (1 hrs drive to Köln and Düsseldorf, a bit less to Bonn).
A beautiful part of Germany. Welcome.
Rain soddens what is kept wrapped up,
But never soddens what is open;
Uncover, then, what is concealed,
Lest it be soddened by the rain.
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DNS
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Re: Hello from Germany

Post by DNS »

:hello:

Guten Tag!

Welcome to Dhamma Wheel!

:buddha2:
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puthujjana
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Re: Hello from Germany

Post by puthujjana »

Herzlich Willkommen und viele Grüße aus Norddeutschland! :hello:

:anjali:
"Once you understand anatta, then the burden of life is gone. You’ll be at peace with the world. When we see beyond self, we no longer cling to happiness and we can truly be happy."
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Moggalana
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Re: Hello from Germany

Post by Moggalana »

Von mir ein herzliches 'Servus' aus Bayern :smile:
Let it come. Let it be. Let it go.
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Vardali
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Re: Hello from Germany

Post by Vardali »

Oh, vielen Dank!

Greetings back and glad to be here :D

:thanks:
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Cittasanto
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Re: Hello from Germany

Post by Cittasanto »

Hi
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
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Rhino
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Re: Hello from Germany

Post by Rhino »

Auch von mir herzliche Grüsse. Willkommen/MoinMoin/welcome.
With best wishes

Only in a vertical view, straight down into the abyss of his own personal existence, is a man capable of apprehending the perilous insecurity of his situation; and only a man who does apprehend this is prepared to listen to the Buddha's Teaching.
Nanavira Thera - Notes on Dhamma
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gavesako
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Re: Hello from Germany

Post by gavesako »

Have a look at http://www.theravadablog.de" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; where you will find a link to Wat Lao not far from where you live (Wat Sibounheuang). There are some German people there who are also practising meditation and who you could connect with.
Bhikkhu Gavesako
Kiṃkusalagavesī anuttaraṃ santivarapadaṃ pariyesamāno... (MN 26)

Access to Insight - Theravada texts
Ancient Buddhist Texts - Translations and history of Pali texts
Dhammatalks.org - Sutta translations
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Dhammabodhi
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Re: Hello from Germany

Post by Dhammabodhi »

Hi Vardali!

Maybe when I go back to Paderborn we can meet up sometime! Meanwhile, let's practice diligently, so that if and when we meet we could learn a lot from each other!

Metta,
Dhammabodhi
"Take rest, take rest."-S.N.Goenka
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