Dharma Drum Mountain Holds Its First Seven-Day Chan Retreat in Brandenburg, Germany

From June 22 to July 7, Venerable Guo Xing (果醒法師), Vice Abbot of Dharma Drum Mountain (DDM), together with Venerable Yan Jin (演勁法師) and a delegation, traveled to Berlin and Brandenburg, Germany, to guide practitioners in Chan practice. During the visit, they also met with Shifu Simplicity (見銷法師) at Miao Fa Centre (Miao Fa Zentrum), a Chinese Buddhist monastery, engaging in a series of Dharma exchanges and discussions.

In addition to offering a public lecture and discussion on applying Chan to daily life in Berlin, DDM also held its first-ever seven-day Chan retreat in Brandenburg, Germany. Twenty participants from Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, Hungary, the United States, Taiwan, and Shanghai attended the retreat, while experiencing the compassion and wisdom of Chinese Chan practice. The event marked a significant milestone in DDM's efforts to spread the Buddhadharma in Germany.

During their stay in Berlin, Venerable Guo Xing was invited by Dr. Noack, President of the Buddhist Society Berlin (Buddhistische Gesellschaft Berlin, BGB) to deliver a lecture on Living Chan, where he used simple yet vivid analogies to help participants understand the nature of the mind. Venerable Guo Xing explained that thoughts themselves in our mind are not ultimately real: a previous thought has already disappeared before the next one arises, so one thought can never truly meet another. As such, distinctions of good and bad, self and others, or right and wrong have no inherent existence. Using the analogy of the ocean and its waves, Venerable Guo Xing further illustrated the relationship between Buddha-nature and phenomena, explaining that, although phenomena constantly change, they never depart from the fundamentally pure Buddha-nature. His presentation left a deep impression on those in attendance.

At a Dharma dialogue held at Impression Taiwan P60 Berlin, a Taiwanese bookstore in Berlin, Venerable Guo Xing engaged in an interdisciplinary conversation with Dr. Jörg Rasche, a professor of Jungian psychology. Together they explored topics such as archetypes, gender, death, and karma, sparking reflections on Buddhist teachings from different cultural perspectives. Audience members enthusiastically joined the discussion, sharing their own reflections and demonstrating the richness of Buddhist dialogue in a multicultural society.


From June 26 to July 3, DDM held its first seven-day Chan retreat in Germany at Karma Tengyal Ling, a Tibetan Buddhist retreat center in Brandenburg. Located within a protected forest and surrounded by wheat fields and lush woodland, the tranquil natural setting provided an ideal environment for participants to settle both body and mind.

Throughout the retreat, Venerable Yan Jin guided participants in sitting meditation, walking meditation, yoga, working meditation, and mindful eating, helping them integrate Chan practice into every aspect of daily life and gradually cultivate a calm, focused, and mindful awareness. Venerable Guo Xing introduced the two principal Chan methods of Silent Illumination and hua-tou practice. In his Dharma talks, he explained that the true nature of the mind is originally tranquil and unmoving. It is only because deluded thoughts arise and we become attached to them that the mind appears to be in constant flux. When we stop chasing after these wandering thoughts, we can directly experience the mind's inherent purity and freedom.

To help Western Chan practitioners establish a correct understanding of spiritual practice, Venerable Guo Xing emphasized a teaching of Master Sheng Yen: "Enlightenment is not something that can be attained through practice. Yet without practice, one would never realize that enlightenment is not achieved through practice." As the retreat progressed, participants became increasingly settled in both body and mind. Many of them shared that practicing Silent Illumination and hua-tou enabled them to recognize wandering thoughts more clearly and remain grounded in the present moment. They also came to understand that the key to Chan practice is neither to resist thoughts nor become attached to experiences, but to continually return to the method.

At the conclusion of the retreat, three participants formally took refuge in the Three Jewels. One of them shared that opportunities to encounter the Buddhadharma in Europe are rare, and that learning Chan practice and taking refuge under the guidance of DDM had long been a cherished aspiration for many years. Now that this wish had been fulfilled, they felt profound gratitude. Another participant from Switzerland recounted that her father had worked for China’s Office of Religious Affairs and had welcomed Chan Master Sheng Yen during his 2002 mission to escort the Buddha head of Akshobhya Buddha back to Shentong Temple in Shandong, China. More than twenty years later, she found it deeply meaningful to attend DDM's first seven-day Chan retreat in Germany, feeling the remarkable continuity of these karmic connections.

Before concluding the Dharma tour, the delegation visited several historical landmarks in Berlin, including the remains of the Berlin Wall. They also took a commemorative photograph at the very spot where Master Sheng Yen had once stood decades earlier, bearing witness to how the seeds of Chan that he planted continue to sprout, take root, and flourish across Europe.



Original text in Chinese by Venerable Yan Jin (釋演勁)
Translation: Patricia Yang 
Editing: Keith Brown