Last Thursday (July 21, 2022) we dragged an interested friend to the introductory lecture in the center of Thadenstraße; oh my god, was that depressing! It reminded me of what used to be a great bar that you had been to years ago and now has a new tenant who just doesn't have what it takes.
Even the attempt by a teacher up there did not bring it anywhere near energetically what Buddhism, in particular the Diamond Way, could mean (tunnel vision, no plan or just technical idiocy?). In any case, affable banter is no substitute for the charisma of palpable penetration.
Maybe it's normal that the unfortunate absence of a visionary initiator always leaves a hole, which then fills up again with mediocre parrots and administrative staff.
Ok, I want to be fair - if the center can still offer meaningful stability to the numerous prayer and meditation participants who came afterwards, you just have to accept how things have turned out now.
And yet, if I'm lucky enough to see Ole again, I'll ask him questions about it.
(My wife just asked me: "What should he answer to that?")
And our interested friend said on the way back to Schwerin: "Well, the book by Ole Nydahl that you lent me is quite good, but I don't need to have that one in the center again."