Next stage: Zen Buddhistisches Zentrum Schwarzwald

First of all let me thank you for all of your nice replies and reactions to my first blog post. I am so happy to hear that you liked it. And please, keep answering because then I know that you read and enjoy it. And for me this is really a means to stay connected with you.

Also I noticed that a couple of you have signed up for my newsletter. That means, whenever I make a new blogpost you will receive it automatically. Thank you so much for doing this, I was really surprised. The thing is, I cannot see the details of who has signed up, so just send me a short note and I will remove you from my e-mail distribution list.

As I mentioned in my earlier post I left my parents home on the 19th of June. Thank you for hosting me Ma & Pa! You have a nice house, I enjoyed it a lot!

So, my next destination would be the "Johanneshof" of the Zen Buddhistisches Zentrum Schwarzwald (Opens in a new window). It is so far in the South of Germany that you have to take the train to Basel in Switzerland and then have to travel back to Bad Säckingen in Germany and then take the bus, which is another 1 hour drive (this is the best connection). And because they wanted me to arrive between 15.00 and 16.30 I just split the journey into half because I would not be able to make it on time from my parents home.

Luckily I was able to stay at the Dharmahaus Euskirchen (Opens in a new window) with Jigen roshi. It was the first time for me to see her "new" place and I enjoyed it a lot. During that time there also was another Sangha member from Rotterdam, Anne. We have been working in the garden a lot and I was able to speak Dutch for the first time in weeks!

This was the view from my window, a beautiful mix of classic Mid-German Houses with Tibetan Prayer flags. When I arrived in the Breitestrasse from the station, these flags were the first thing to catch my eye and I instantly knew where I had to go.

Of course there was also time for meditation, chanting and samu (workpractice). I very much enjoyed the time there and promised Jigen to come back soon.

On the morning of the 21st of June I joined for a last zazen and then left the Dharmahaus at about 8.00 and stepped back onto the train, first direction Cologne:

You only step out of the station and there this monster is sitting, for centuries already. Unimaginable....

And then I stepped onto the ICE to Basel. At some point we hit the 250 km/h. When you slow down again and see the landscape passing by and then check the speed again, it is still 100 km/h and it feels as if you are going for a walk.

We arrived at Basel Bad perfectly on time and I caught my connection to Bad Säckingen, which is a beautiful town as it turned out later.

At Bad Säckingen I had to wait for the bus for about half an hour and I spent my time not too far from the bus stop. I sat there observing some people also waiting. Among others a young girl with a big suitcase. Hmm. And then we stepped onto the same bus... and off again in the middle of nowhere.

This is how I got to know Friederike, who also joined the program for volunteers at the Johanneshof. And we even share a room.

Our dormitory (the blue room) at the Johanneshof.

After being introduced to the ways things go at the Johanneshof we went to listen to a talk Nicole Baden roshi gave on the very first evening. It was very nice for me to hear my first dharma talk in my native language :).

"The way things go" means by the way getting up at 5.00, starting meditation at 5.30 until 7.00, then a service that is finishing at 7.30. Then there is time for excercise or whatever and at 8.45 there is breakfast. At 10.00 meeting for work, at 13.00 lunch, then doing dishes, at 15.30 meeting for work. At 18.00 dinner and dishes. At 19.55 meditation until 21.00. And then crawling into one's bed...

The first week of our stay would be "daily life" as there were no groups or programmes. I did the usual stuff, bathrooms, laundry, garden and kitchen.

Especially kitchen: at some point I found myself baking 50 pancakes with two pans... And after only a week, Ingrid the cook, had to do grocery shopping and I was asked to cook the noon and evening meal for 25 people.

After that I decided to ask them to slow down with me a bit :).

This is the oryoki hall where we have breakfast during daily life and seminars. During sesshins they have the oryoki meals in the zendo.

View from the oryoki hall into the garden.

During the lunch break I had some time to spend in the garden and going for walks. The landscape and nature are just amazingly beautiful here. But just look for yourself:

What is it that you see?

More of these than Buddhas around here...

The village of Großherrischwand.

The Mondays are off by the way, and the Tuesdays have a very relaxed schedule. So those days are the weekends here, and that is fixed. The seminars and courses are scheduled around these days which is very comfortable. On our first Monday the whole bunch of volunteers got a lift from a guest to Bad Säckingen. Once we got off the car we split up and spread out over the town.

It was hot, so I went down to the Rhine river and I spotted a very interesting bridge there:

But first I had to cool down a little and so I stepped into the river, carefully of course, because the stream is really really strong.

The water is really crystal clear, you could even spot tiny fish on the bottom. Not on the picture unfortunately.

So I went further along the riverbanks towards that bridge.

Once inside you could smell the wood and by that smell you could also tell that this wood is really really old.

For those who can read German :).

This line marks the border between Germany and Switzerland in the middle of the Rhine river.

Swiss customs house!

View from the bridge at the old tower.

Then I went back into town and did a tiny bit of shopping: I bought a comb. Because my hair is getting that long again now that I sometimes want to get it into a bit of some sort of shape. But it turned out that the comb was not really much of a help here... ;)

After that I went back by bus because it was so hot in the little town. Up in the mountains it is quite a bit cooler.

On Thursday the 29th of June two seminars were starting and the guests were arriving. The house was full, all rooms occupied and there were 63 seats in the zendo. So we really had to work hard which was not a problem luckily because our group of volunteers worked together pretty well.

So I was in the kitchen a lot, helping to prepare all the food and it was very exhausting. Friederike and I were very happy when the guests left on Sunday, partially because one of the guests that shared our room was snoring heavily :)

Sunday we were cleaning up and after that we were off.

On Monday I woke up at six and went for a short run. Then we were having breakfast together and after cleaning up I went to our room in order to relax a bit. But I was feeling restless and wanted to go out. So I put on my hiking shoes and went into the forests and the mountains.

I decided to walk to Todtmoos, just 10k from our place. And the funny thing is, I had been there before, almost exactly 20 years ago during the time when I was into bike racing. In 2003 I joined the Deutschland Tour for amateurs and Todtmoos was the destination of one stage and the starting place of the next, the "mountain" stage. From there we took an 80k climb onto the Feldberg. It was hell :)

So I was very curious if I would recognize anything about this town, because I had no memory of it.

But first I had to get there and I decided to walk and take the bus back.

On the edge of our village...

On this kind of trails I was walking.

Of course I had my cell phone with me but sometimes there was no connection. So I had to guess which direction to take, because there were a lot of crossings and of course no signs (like in the Netherlands where there are signs all over the place...). Eventually the whole trip took me more than 2 hours and it was very tiring because of all the climbing, especially when you think you are being smart and taking a shortcut and you find yourself back on an even steeper climb. I only did this once. :) But in the end it turned out that I took the correct path, except from that one shortcut.

Some spots were very steep, you cannot really see it on the pics.

Piece of art by nature.

Those are two species of orchids that grow in Germany.

At about two I walked into Todtmoos and when I walked past the Kulturzentrum / Bürgerhaus I thought: "I have been here before!" That was the place where we had our accommodation for sleeping and eating and the spot where the race started was also very close by. I also recognized the tower of the church. It really is a nice village, even if it is a bit dead on a summer Monday around noon time.

I got myself some food and went to the bus station. The bus took me back to Grossherrischwand in only 15 Minutes! And I had been hiking for more than two hours...

On Tuesday I took some time to relax and just took a short walk to the glass craft workshop in town. They make beautiful things there!

Wednesday was a regular practice day with all preparations for the next day, because then the whole circus would start all over again. And it did ;)

It was really working hard all day and we were all quite relieved when the programmes were over and the guests had left on Sunday afternoon. Then we had to check the rooms, because on Thursday... :)

But during the lunchbreak I found the energy to hike to the "Gugelturm" (no, not "Google" :) ) and the view was really breathtakingly beautiful. Just a couple more pics:

On a clear Winter's day you would be able to see the Swiss Alps. Now the air is too moist unfortunately.

Großherrischwand.

I did not stay very long on the "Google Tower". I am not very fond of high places and as you can tell by the construction it was not very stable. I could even feel the top moving while being up there, so I did not stay very long. :)

On Monday we were off again and all of my fellow volunteers (4 by now) went to France on a trip. I decided to stay here.

Instead I went for another hike into the forests and mountains to see the "Ödlandkapelle" (Chapel of the Wastelands).

Ant hill.

It was a 5k walk to the chapel and it led me through the woods and over the mountains with very beautiful views. And suddenly, there it was:

Inside the chapel I burned some candles for you.

In front of the chapel I could spot the Gugelturm, where I had been the day before. See the circle (my most perfect enso).

When I took this picture I was almost back at the Zen Center, just 15 minutes away from it on a mountain. As I turned around I was able to spot the chapel (see the circle).

I returned after three hours to the "JoHo" (Johanneshof) and I went to have some rest. After one hour or so I started packing my backpack because on Wednesday morning I would be leaving this beautiful place.

So, today is Tuesday and I am at the end of my stay here and also at the end of my blogpost. I will do some more preparations for Wednesday.

My next stage will be at the Zen Monestary Ryumonji in Ingwiller, France. I will let you know about my experiences as I will also be able to attend a sesshin at the main temple, the Gendronnière.

I am leaving the "JoHo" with mixed emotions, because I really liked it a lot here. It is very likely that I will return, maybe even soon for the Rohatsu maybe?

You will hear from me soon. Stay well and healthy!

Love,

Sandra Agetsu