Bratislava Buddhist Center
Bratislava Buddhist Center
We bring Buddha’s practical teachings about mind and methods for everyday life to people living in modern society.
About us
Bratislava's center has currently 60 active members. It's the largest of the 13 centers and groups of Diamond Way Buddhism in Slovakia. On the center’s busiest weekday about 30 people come for the meditation. The center’s members are responsible for regular program consisting of common meditations, explanations for newcomers, lectures and weekend events with Buddhist teachers.
We also organize public lectures of lamas of the Karma Kagyu lineage in Bratislava and Slovakia and publish books and a magazine. We organized a Tibetan art exhibition under the name Space and Joy together with the Slovak National Museum in February 2015.
Our centers belong to more than 700 Diamond Way Buddhist Centers worldwide. Their founder and our main teacher is lama Ole Nydahl and the head of the lineage is H.H. 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje. The centers have open and transparent structure based on friendship, idealism and voluntary work. They make it possible for people to get access to Buddha’s timeless wisdom, learn to meditate, develop and share experiences. Find more information about us at www.buddhism.sk.
About the Bratislava Buddhist Center Project
The place
After years of searching for the right place for our activity, we managed to buy the building of a former sanatorium on Kyjevská st. in February 2015. It is a freestanding building in the wider center of the city. Total usable space after completion of the project (including the terraces on the 2nd floor) will be more than 1200 m2. As the place had been abandoned for many years, our current focus is to perform basic maintenance in order to start using it as soon as possible and offer its services to the public.
Architectonical study
Renovation of the place
We have started to renovate the building ourselves to a high level by our own volunteer activities. Later on, due to a big scale of necessary works, we have also involved several professionals and companies.
After 5 years of reconstruction the building has been approved for its oficial use in March 2020.
Already completed activities:
- project documentation
- demolitions
- sanitary (canalization, water system)
- electricity
- gas heating system (on the ground floor and the second floor)
- structured cabling (internet, security)
- new roof
- new plastic windows
- masonry work, plasterings
- concrete screed (on the ground floor and the second floor)
- plasterboard walls and ceilings
- tiling works - bathrooms, toilets
- wooden and laminate flooring
- lamps
- interior doors
- ventilation
- toilete and bathrooms equipement
- kitchen
- movable wall between the gompa and the social room
Planned activities:
- insulation of the attic
- renovation and insulation of the flat roofs over the corner rooms
- insulation of the outer shell of the building
Few impressions from the working activities
Finances
The purchase price of the building was € 600 000.
We have started gathering funds for our own Buddhist center back in 2008. With the help of one-time donations and regular payments of members and sympathizers of our association, we managed to raise two thirds of the purchase price. The last third was financed with the help of private loans. These are being paid off through the regular donations.
The total costs of renovation of the building has been calculated at the level of 450 000 € (out of which 225 000 € is for the renovation of the interior and 225 000 € is for the renovation of the exterior).
In order to be able to start using the place first of all we have to finish the interior. Total costs for its completion are 225 000 €. The international Diamond Way Foundation has supported us by a loan of 175 000 € and also Lama Ole Nydahl offered us a gift of 25 000 €. In 2016 he has also appointed the project of the new Bratislava Buddhist Center as one of the major international Diamond Way projects which can get international support worldwide.
Currently we need your help in collecting the missing finances for renovation of the flat roofs over the corner rooms and the insulation of the building as well as for paying off the existing loans.
Support us
Benefits for the public
- Development of human potential and responsibility for one's own life
- Well-rounded functioning of center's members in the center of society
- Positive influence of Buddhist meditation on human psychological well-being
- Preservation of the spiritual and humanistic values of Tibetan Buddhism
- A friendly environment where people of different generations share experiences and collaborate also on the international level
If you wish to support our project financially, you can do so by wiring your donation to our association's bank account:
- IBAN code: SK03 1100 0000 0026 2072 6856, SWIFT code: TATR SK BX
- Bank: Tatrabanka, name of account: Spoločnosť buddhizmu Diamantovej cesty
- Receiver note: NAME + PROJECT BRATISLAVA BUDDHIST CENTER
If you have any questions regarding the finances, please contact:
protected e-mail
0903 709 915 (Tomáš Kušnírik)
Every donation, even a small one, brings us closer to the goal. Thank you.
