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Buddhist Retreat Korinthos, GREECE

Destructed Center

The Situation of Karma Berchen Ling

After the burning of Buddhist retreat Berchen Ling in winter this year, it looked like the Buddhist activity in Greece might be coming to a sad end.(see our article from April ´96) The hysterical press campaign launched by the local church was expanding out of control. The local Buddhists, accused of everything from satanic practices to luring innocent Greek farmers in order to convert them to their heathen creed, were on the defensive, fully intimidated by the fury of the attacks. Their jobs, their homes, their everyday lives were seriously threatened by the insolent assault. Raging, fanatical priests were levelling ever more ridiculous demands. To bring their threats closer home, a court in Tessaloniki sentenced Ms Hara Kalomeri to three months in jail for the “hideous crime” of running a Buddhist centre. (See the verdict in the Hara Kalomeri case in March ´96/Tessaloniki.). In its zeal to eradicate Buddhism from its country, the orthodox church went clearly overboard.

Slowly, however, a number of less frantic voices could be heard above the hateful clamour of the priesthood and their flock of blind supporters. A few conscious-stricken intellectuals timidly called for some amount of restraint and a measure of tolerance. At that point, the members of the Athens Buddhist group led by Lama Ole, decided to take matters into their own hands. First of all, our friends had to confront the nasty campaign the church was waging against Buddhism. With the help of good lawyers they try to establish a legal, solid base for the functioning of the Dharma in the country. This is a difficult task, since any non-orthodox religion is totally forbidden by an old decree signed by the dictator Metaxa in 1938. The medieval rule, in open challenge to the European Union laws, is still very much in force today and looms ominously over the heads of those who would jointly dare worship or practise anything other than the true faith of the Orthodox Christianity. If it hadn’t been for the ubiquitous Christian terminology, one might have mistaken today’s Greece with the Iran of the mullhas, which is the only other country where similar laws exist officially.

Such was the general climate when in May we left Athens to visit our destroyed retreat-place. Representing our friends from Germany who last summer helped to build the now burned down houses and in defiance of the hostile atmosphere against our work, we arrived at the desolate scene of what was once a growing, meditation centre. Here, away from the bustle of the more critical capital, we got an unexpected glimpse into the ways and dealings of the orthodox church and its “secret-police” methods.

A tip from the neighbours lead us to a priest in Korinthos. We clearly surprised him with our visit and taking advantage of the initial confusion, immediately demanded an end to the defaming rumours and slandering press campaign waged by the church against us. Overcoming a first shock, the outspoken cleric rushed with aplomb into a relentless attack on the foes of the church that he unmistakably saw within the rather thin and certainly far from bellicose ranks of Greek Buddhists. It turned out that he was also well informed about the different Buddhist groups in the country - he even produced a secret list with the names of people he considered sworn enemies of the orthodox hierarchy. Lama Ole Nydahl was prominently on the list. Defiant, he boldly declared that the church had been sending spies to our courses for years and that it was his personal mission to carry on with a crusade against Buddhism in Greece. Yet, in the end he tried to avoid a direct confrontation and „offered“ to leave us in peace if we just went on with our work on Berchen Ling, - “The Black Mountain“. How much, and if at all, we can trust his words, is of course an open question.

Although our closest neighbours encouraged us to come back and promised their support, this is not possible as long as the juristic situation in Greece is not cleared. Right now we could be easily stopped by legal means if the Metaxa laws were applied. The first step is to put pressure on the government, both from within and from outside Greece, to have the medieval laws, governing the religious freedom in the country, fully abolished.

In the end, despite the obvious obstacles, we decided to keep the beautiful place in the mountains open. Everybody is invited to go there to help and meditate. Still, the main activity will be reduced to summer courses. The original plan of a whole year retreat-centre is, for the time being, cancelled. But by keeping the place alive, we are fully determined to fight for some measure of religious freedom in Greece and bring the country in line with the XXth century laws of the European Union.

At this point we are glad to announce that there will be a Ngondro-course in Berchen Ling with Lama Ole Nydahl in June next year (July 13th to July 15th, 1997).

Any kind of help is most welcome!

Information: 101761.3504@compuserve.com
Patricia Schaffrick und Alexander Preß

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