Tết is a New Year celebration based on the Lunar calendar which is generally one month behind the conventional Solar one. This year, it falls on January 23 rd and is the Year of the Dragon. Tết is festively celebrated throughout Vietnam, Korea and China. Many traditional activities, stories and folklore have been woven into the fabric of Tết. At EIAB, we shall experience and enjoy Tết in both the old and new ways. Immersed in the practice of mindfulness, we shall together celebrate Tết in a joyful, lighthearted and mindful way.

You are invited to come participate in our preparations for Tet. The brothers and sisters of the Institute will prepare Earth Cakes, a sticky rice specialty that we eat only on the Lunar New Year. We will decorate and continue the New Year’s preparations. You are welcome to visit during our celebrations from sunday 22 to 29th. There will also be the opportunity to visit the monks and nuns in their own rooms on Saturday and Sunday—which only happens once a year. You can participate in the Tale of Kieu Oracle reading, a Plum Village Tet tradition. Brothers and sisters will interpret the meaning of a few lines of poetry taken from this classical Vietnamese poem, to help inspire your practice for this New Lunar Year.

No courses or retreats offered at this time. Daily practice times that we usually offer to the public will NOT be offered during these days.

Language: English with German translation

After leaving his family and spending six years on the quest to overcome suffering, the Buddha gained enlightenment and in his first lectures shared his insights with his five former companions. The question of how to overcome suffering was central to Buddha’s enlightenment and helped him to focus his metaphysical search on the specific nature of human life and suffering. Our first step will be an in-depth study of his first lecture and its implications for our happiness and suffering. We will then consider the parallels between the Buddha’s first lecture and the teaching of the Zen school in later periods with the goal of using these teachings for our own well-being in the here and now.

Language: English

Language: German

This course is offered in two parts: Part I: 5-8 January ;

Part II: 2-5 February

Example schedule:

Language: German and English

This course is for everybody who likes sitting meditation. Both beginners and advanced practitioners are welcome.

Language: German

Courses for Sitting Meditation:
August 24 - 28: Course on Sitting Meditation in German
October 20 - 23: Course on Sitting Meditation in Dutch
December 16 - 20: Course on Sitting Meditation in German

We live in a society that strongly encourages individualism. But we can develop symptoms of disease and depression if we feel cut off from our roots: our family, our country and our spiritual tradition. The suffering and the disappointments we have experienced in the past may have led us to reject our family, our religion or our society. Much of this suffering lies completely unprocessed in our store consciousness.

We will practice strengthening the positive aspects in us and transforming our suffering. When we lovingly and mindfully reconnect with our roots, we simultaneously strengthen our love for ourselves, which makes our interpersonal relationships more joyous. Dharma talks, meditations and exercises will support and help us on this journey.

Language: German

Buddhism and psychotherapy seem to be very similar. Both aim at reducing or transforming suffering and increasing or strengthening happiness. Are they really the same? Where do they differ and where do they overlap? How do they deal with emotions like anger? Can Buddhist practice and psychotherapy go together and be mutually supportive?

Language: English. Jan also speaks German.

Living in harmony – with ourselves and with the world – is our longing and our task as human beings. We need deep understanding to recognize the habitual thinking that creates division and to open up to our deep connection to all life. The experience of interbeing, the awareness of harmony that already exists, can bring us joy and healing.

Language: German

This course is designed for people, who have lost someone by death or separation. We practice mindfulness to become aware of our emotions without wanting to change them. In this way we can compassionately be in touch with our pain.

Accepting the loss, we can honor with love the person we have lost, instead of suppressing painful memories. Mourning is a lively and necessary process, which can put us in touch with the impermanence of all life, and also helps us to become stronger in the process.

Language: German and English

Nov 04 -25, 2011

The Buddha’s Enlightenment and its Contribution in the Development of Buddhist Psychology

Course 5B with Br. Phap An (3 weeks)

In this course, we will have a chance to deepen our understanding into the nature of the mind by following an historical development of metaphysical struggle which leads to the enlightenment of Sakyamuni, the historical Buddha. Zen Master Thuong Chieu of Vietnam in the 13^th centuries had said that our practice would become much easier once we’ve had a better understanding of the process of our mind.

In the first week, we will briefly investigate the philosophical atmosphere in the pre-Buddhist era in order to understand and fully appreciate the enlightenment of the Buddha. The metaphysical development and its religious implication will be discussed as we entered into the period of the birth of the Buddha.

In the second week, we will follow the search of the Buddha for a resolution to the spiritual difficulties which he faced during his period. Different spiritual movements in this period will be discussed and thus we will have a chance to understand deeply the nature of his enlightenment.

In the third week, we will study different models of consciousness as presented by the Buddha after his enlightenment for the purpose of transformation and healing, which formed the beginning of the development of Buddhist psychology. We will trace the historical development of Yogacara school which led to the teaching of Master Vasubandhu as given in Ch’eng Wei-Shih Lun. The key teaching of the 30 Verses will be discussed and applied to our daily difficulties of the modern life.

Throughout the course, the basic practices of sitting meditation, walking meditation, and other practices will form the core practices which help the practitioners to have a deeper understanding of the teaching given in the course and be able to apply these insights to their daily practice and issues. We will also have time for transforming our body through the practice of integral Tai-Chi as a foundation for a deeper mind body transformation. Any participant is invited to take part in any week of the course, but it will be best to follow the complete presentation if his or her time schedule permits.

course language : English

To have balance in our lives, we need four elements: spiritual practice, study, work and play. Too often in our society, the healing and transforming element of play is undernourished. In this course, we will come to understand and experience the liberating nature of mindful play through improvisation in music, writing, movement and in nature. The movement exercises and dance forms that we will practice help us to relax and re-awaken our vitality and life force. They rekindle our ability to feel, through integrating body, heart and mind in a form that is fun and encourages us to be present and fully alive.

Guided awareness activities (both alone and with the group) will help us experience what it means to be truly present to all of our experience by recognizing and releasing our habitual and often limiting responses to our life circumstances. This course is open to anyone who would like to ground their spiritual practice in delight, humor and coming home to themselves in open-hearted acceptance of what is.

Language: English with translation into German

Note: Sr. Jewel studied dance and improvisational movement extensively in her youth before ordaining. 

Acceptance is often misunderstood. We may think that we're being asked not to react to behavior that causes harm, regardless of our own needs. Or we may have the impression that if we're not happy all the time, we're doing something wrong in our practice. During this weekend, we will explore acceptance of our own reactions as a path of healing. Practicing gentle acceptance towards ourselves -- including accepting our inability to accept -- can lead to a wonderful exploration of our hearts.

Language: English

During the forty years of the teaching ministry of Shakyamuni Buddha and for the 2,500 years that have followed, The four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path have  formed the backbone of all Buddhist teachings.

The Buddha told his disciples on one occasion that he taught only one thing and that was ill-being and the end of ill-being. The teachings of the Buddha were not metaphysical or mystical in the usual sense of the word.

During this course students will use the text of the first teaching of the Buddha in order to learn how to:

• Accept suffering without running away from it
• Look into the roots of personal suffering and the suffering of the collective consciousness
• Balance the suffering and the happiness in our life
• Understand the roots of suffering in order to be able to transform it,
• See suffering as a necessary ingredient of our practice and our life.
• Establish a firm basis for the practice of the Five Mindfulness Trainings
• Practice diligently anywhere in any walk of life.
• Take good care of body, speech and mind.

If you are not able to come for the whole week, you can come for just the weekend, arriving on Friday evening and leaving on Sunday afternoon.

Course Text Book: The Heart of the Buddha’s Teachings Parallax Press