Belgian waffles, getting stuck in an elevator with 23 friends, an auction that raised almost EUR 4,000 and the Marmite Challenge, are all things that happened on the Brussels Roadshow. All in all, 13 Buddhist friends from London arrived at various times on the Friday evening. Long car journeys are such great fun and the trip on the ferry from Dover to Calais gave the sense that we were heading out together for a remarkable Roadshow adventure. Notably, there was something different about this particular journey. Previously, the London Roadshows had always been about generating awareness of a future project; a project that’s been in the minds of various friends for many years now. This time it was about sharing our first real-life experiences of our work on the Beaufoy Institute (our new London Diamond Way Buddhist centre in Lambeth) and inviting friends from Diamond Way centres in Belgium, France and Holland to stay with us at the Beaufoy, join in and get their hands dirty. All the anecdotes of the project, from the small challenges to the great milestones, gave our friends across the Channel the opportunity to really imagine themselves with us at the Beaufoy Institute. The reaction of the Belgian sangha was touching, both in terms of their generosity to support the Beaufoy project financially, as well as their interest, curiosity and wishes for its success. In terms of everyone’s excitement about the project, there seemed to be no separation between us and our Belgian friends. Restoring the Beaufoy Institute to its original splendor and creating a new London Buddhist centre seemed to be as much their project as it is ours.
The London Roadshow kicks off!
The London Roadshow has now made its way to 11 Diamond Way centres across Europe: Graz, Berlin, Zurich, Amden, Copenhagen, Vienna, Warsaw, Hamburg, Budapest, Brno and Brussels. The weekend in Brussels began with a warm and friendly meet & greet dinner and a viewing of the film “Winter Tour”; a documentary of Lama Ole’s annual journey through Siberia, alongside hundreds of his students. Then came a fully packed Saturday. After a delicious brunch, a lecture by Steven James, a lay Buddhist teacher we had handily brought with us from London, and a meditation, we met our first surprise; a Belgian waffle van parked outside the centre, organized by our Belgian friends. Delicious! That gave us the energy for a 3 hour tour of the city, which is far more beautiful than anyone had imagined. Along the way, as one does, we got stuck in an elevator…not due to some mechanical malfunction, but because, being Kagyus, we were inspired to see just how many of us 40 people could fit in an elevator meant for 10. It’s safe to say that the photos perfectly describe the exciting and hilarious scene. After 25 minutes in the elevator, a friendly mechanic came by and we continued our journey through Brussels.
23 Kagyus proving that “Space is Joy”
The weather was fine and the mood was great. Friends stopped here and there for the famous Belgian chips & mayo stands and some just couldn’t get enough of the Belgian waffles. When we returned to the Brussels Buddhist centre, there was a further meditation session on the 16th Karmapa and we heard the great news that our Belgian friends had now found a new and larger Buddhist centre! So we celebrated this with a delicious meal and a lecture on Buddhist Refuge by Steven James, as well as a presentation on the Beaufoy Institute and our experiences thus far.
Supporting the Beaufoy Institute renovation: let the games commence!
And then…came the games: Hero Pose, Damsel in Distress and The Marmite Challenge. Prizes included imported English delicacies such as PG Tips.
Charles Darwin and King Arthur of London begin the games in celebration of one month at the Beaufoy
For The Marmite Challenge there was a special prize: a tub of Marmite… Inspired by the games, we then moved on to the auction in support of the Beaufoy project, which came as the greatest was the biggest surprise, as we raised almost EUR 4,000 in one evening!
The final truly British addition to the weekend was a full English breakfast on Sunday morning…along with more Marmite. Our friends then bid us farewell and insisted that we wouldn’t leave the house on an empty stomach. It was a great idea, as the lunch was delicious, hearty and very healthy: salad and roast beef, which put a smile on our faces for the journey home. We now look forward to welcoming our Belgian friends in London, and it’s safe to say we’ll do it all again: Rousse (Bulgaria), here we come!
