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Dhammacari Vipassana Meditatioszentrum

Dhammacari Vipassanazentrum is one of the best retreat centers in Europe for mahasi-style practice. There is 15-days course for newcommers and a 10-days and, ocassionally, a 25-days retreat options. To be clear, this center does not teach mahasi-style per se, but an adaptation of it, which includes some new instructions with regards to sitting and walking meditation practices and also how many hours of sleep and where to practice at a given time during the retreat (towards the end, you start practicing more in your private room).

  • Location: Neufahrn in Lower Bayern, Germany.
  • Tradition: Ajahn Tong, Mahasi Sayadaw
  • Meditation Techniques: Dry insight: adaptation of the mahasi-style practice. The instructions grow in complexity as you progress in the retreat. In the beggining you'll be doing a simples exercice: a mindful prostration, 20 minutes of walking, 20 minutes of sitting, and a short metta practice followerd by a 20 minutes break. Each day, the walking and sitting meditation will increase in 5 minutes until it reaches 1 hour of walking and 1 hour of sitting. You you'll also receive new instructions with regards to the walking meditation (1 phase-step, 2 phase-step, ..., 6 phase-step) and to the sitting meditation (1, 2, ... 28 touching points).
  • Accommodations: The center is a medium to large house in which every meditator (usually) gets a private room (suite). There are (maybe) up to 8 rooms. The house is very comfortable and very well cared for.
  • Physical Setting: Rural area in souther Germany. No noises whatsoever apart from the ones originated in the center itself.
  • Daily schedule:
    • 6.30 a.m. Breakfast
    • 11.00 a.m. Lunch
    • 6.00 p.m. Milk pudding is offered.
    • 21:00 - 4:00 Rest.
    • Also: 1 hour work meditation at hourse or in the garden.
  • Cost: Dana-based
  • Language: German and English. Writen intructions are also available in spanish.
  • Some extra info/comments on:
    • Setting:
      • There are no group meditation sessions. Every one receives a timer and practices for a differente lenght of time. (This can cause the meditation hall to be eventually somewhat noisy with alarm clocks going off). You'll be encouraged to practice in your room towards the end of the retreat.
    • Rites/Rituals:
      • When there are too many new students, a opening cerimony takes place. And, on the last day, there is a closing talk with the teacher.
      • There will be a lot of bowing: at the beggining and end of each round of walking and sitting practice, at the beggining of each interview with the teacher.
  • Issues of Proper Dress:White or light colored cloth.
  • Teaching: Hildegard Huber. 
  • Exercices (Firm determination): In the 15-day course there is a firm determination exercise for those who reach the Equanimity-ñanna and are on the verge of Stream-Entry. This consist in 24h + 24h + (optionally) 24h of continuous practice (48 hrs or 72 hrs). This means you'll keep practicing in your room with no breaks (for showering, leaving the room, etc). During this time the teacher is available at any time of day and night for questions. Breakfast, luch and evenning pudin will be delivered to you in the room.
  • Worthy of recommendation on the Dharma Overground? It depends. Are you looking forward to waking up? If so, would you like to do it really fast in a hardcore mahasi-style dana-based insight-oriented meditation center? If so, this is the place for you. Work hard and follow instructions!
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The fact that it´s a house makes it very easy to maintain the continuity of practice during all your waking hours. If you´re looking to get stream-entry, go there and note like there´s no tomorow.
Definitely recommended. I've just come back from the 15-day course. It was my first ever serious meditation course/retreat. From a beginner's perspective, it was quite an experience that required strong determination to go through till the end, but was definitely worthwhile.
This place is perfect for anyone with lower travel costs to Germany than to Thailand. The teachers and methods used are exactly the same as in Chom Tong and affiliated places. The basic course is a one-size-fits-all method, but it is so robust that I bet it pushes forward everyone one way or the other.
Great organic vegetarian food, simple and perfectly clean and functional rooms, no noise from outside the house, nice garden and fields around for meditation in warmer months.
Get ready for a serious non-stop practice and enjoy the fruits after all is over.