Out Of Czech Farmland, a Buddhist Temple Grows

May 11, 2010

Author: Jacy Meyer

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/0511/Out-of-Czech-farmland-a-Buddhist-temple-grows

Since the fall of Communism, Czechs have been discovering the world through travel and the exploration of new ideas, including spiritual ones. One such exploration is taking the form of a budding Buddhist center, arising from an old farm in the Czech Republic’s southern countryside.

Monks in orange robes, chanting, the smell of incense – typical signs of a Buddhist center – can’t be found at this complex. Here, jeans and sweat shirts, work gloves and safety goggles are the uniform of the day. Volunteers are slowly transforming the farm, bought in 1999 through sponsors and donations, into a center for meditation, courses in Buddhism, and retreats. Currently six people live at the center, and one of them is Julius Grzyb, who has been practicing Buddhism for more than 10 years. Mr. Grzyb believes Czechs were ready to discover new things after 1989.