Support 10 Greeks in a Zen-retreat
Donation protected
Practice is to shine one corner of the world
—Shunryu Suzuki
Founder of San Francisco Zen Center
•We are raising Euro 5000 (app. $ 5500) to allow 10 Zen students of Zen Center Athens, Greece to participate in the first sesshin (retreat) that I am leading.
•If you can, please donate — and also inform your friends about this.
•All donors will receive an online diary about the event with personal statements from the participants.
•This is a non-profit event — nobody will make a profit from this retreat.
Read more:
Sometimes unusual situations need to be met with unusual actions. I want to help 10 men and women participate in a Zen retreat in Greece. These people have all been hit hard by the economic crisis there — which in fact is a humanitarian crisis. Many of them are in helping professions. If we can help them, I am sure they will, in turn, help many others to find balance and a clear mind in the midst of great instability.
My name is Bernd Bender. I am the resident teacher of a small Zen center in Berlin which I started with friends after having practiced at San Francisco Zen Center for 20 years. Here you can find more information about our center, Akazienzendo in Berlin: www.akazienzendo.de/en.
For two years I have also been helping a group in Athens, Greece, establish their own zendo, Zen Center Athens, which was conceived by Konstantinos Sgoumpopoulos, who opened it in the heart of the city. Here you can take a look: http://www.zencenterathens.com/en/
To do Zen practice in Athens is very special: Everyone I’ve met has been hit by the crisis. People lose their jobs, are not being paid, no longer receive medical treatment or cannot complete their education. Yet I am always deeply touched by the open, compassionate and creative minds of those who come to our retreats.
Now, in a second phase of bringing Zen to Greece, Kostantinos has begun transforming his family home on the island of Serifos into a rural Zen Center. With great effort and considerable financial commitment, he built a meditation hall this spring and renovated old farm houses for people to stay in and practice.
We are planning to have our first full sesshin (intense Zen meditation retreat) this October.
However, in the last few weeks the crisis in Greece has deepened. Konstantinos called me recently and spoke of a meeting with the group who comes to practice. Half of them are now out of work; the other half, as he put it, go to work in the morning but have no idea if they will still have a job in the evening. In this time of great uncertainty and fear, nobody is able to commit to participate in the retreat this fall.
This is where I would like to ask for your help. Precisely because times are so difficult, it would be deeply supportive if people could practice meditation. Five people will come from Germany; we all are able to pay. For another 10 people from Greece, we need EUR 5,000 (app. $5,500) to cover room and board as well as a boat trip from Athens – funds we would be very grateful to raise with your help.
Thank you very much for considering my request. If we manage to establish the Zen Center on the island of Serifos, we would all be very pleased to meditate there together with you in the future.
If your generosity raises more than our goal, the extra funds will be used for future scholarships for people from Greece.
—Shunryu Suzuki
Founder of San Francisco Zen Center
•We are raising Euro 5000 (app. $ 5500) to allow 10 Zen students of Zen Center Athens, Greece to participate in the first sesshin (retreat) that I am leading.
•If you can, please donate — and also inform your friends about this.
•All donors will receive an online diary about the event with personal statements from the participants.
•This is a non-profit event — nobody will make a profit from this retreat.
Read more:
Sometimes unusual situations need to be met with unusual actions. I want to help 10 men and women participate in a Zen retreat in Greece. These people have all been hit hard by the economic crisis there — which in fact is a humanitarian crisis. Many of them are in helping professions. If we can help them, I am sure they will, in turn, help many others to find balance and a clear mind in the midst of great instability.
My name is Bernd Bender. I am the resident teacher of a small Zen center in Berlin which I started with friends after having practiced at San Francisco Zen Center for 20 years. Here you can find more information about our center, Akazienzendo in Berlin: www.akazienzendo.de/en.
For two years I have also been helping a group in Athens, Greece, establish their own zendo, Zen Center Athens, which was conceived by Konstantinos Sgoumpopoulos, who opened it in the heart of the city. Here you can take a look: http://www.zencenterathens.com/en/
To do Zen practice in Athens is very special: Everyone I’ve met has been hit by the crisis. People lose their jobs, are not being paid, no longer receive medical treatment or cannot complete their education. Yet I am always deeply touched by the open, compassionate and creative minds of those who come to our retreats.
Now, in a second phase of bringing Zen to Greece, Kostantinos has begun transforming his family home on the island of Serifos into a rural Zen Center. With great effort and considerable financial commitment, he built a meditation hall this spring and renovated old farm houses for people to stay in and practice.
We are planning to have our first full sesshin (intense Zen meditation retreat) this October.
However, in the last few weeks the crisis in Greece has deepened. Konstantinos called me recently and spoke of a meeting with the group who comes to practice. Half of them are now out of work; the other half, as he put it, go to work in the morning but have no idea if they will still have a job in the evening. In this time of great uncertainty and fear, nobody is able to commit to participate in the retreat this fall.
This is where I would like to ask for your help. Precisely because times are so difficult, it would be deeply supportive if people could practice meditation. Five people will come from Germany; we all are able to pay. For another 10 people from Greece, we need EUR 5,000 (app. $5,500) to cover room and board as well as a boat trip from Athens – funds we would be very grateful to raise with your help.
Thank you very much for considering my request. If we manage to establish the Zen Center on the island of Serifos, we would all be very pleased to meditate there together with you in the future.
If your generosity raises more than our goal, the extra funds will be used for future scholarships for people from Greece.
Organizer
Bernd Bender
Organizer
Berlin
