At least once a week you go to the supermarket and buy some food. Then you pay the price printed on the receipt. When you have your car repaired or your hair cut, you pay according to the price list. The world has become a market place these days – we only give as much as we take. That is how the system works, that is how our world is built and we assume this is correct and fair.
Can you imagine a world functioning by other principles? Yes, maybe in a parallel universe this could be possible. But could it work now and here, in the civilised world where consumption is everything? Yes.
The Buddhist centre in Essen, Germany is situated in the heart of a city which is home to 13 of the 100 largest German corporations, and yet, there is nothing corporate about it. There you can attend various courses, seminars and meditation practices. But do you know what the prices of these activities are? There is no such thing. No price list, no strict requirements. You pay as much as you would like to. Unbelievable as it may seem, this is actually working. An enterprise without sustained income is financially sustainable. At first it was hard to establish this system of payment but it has been functioning for 2 years now.
The explanation is to be found in buddhists’ philosophy. Although you cannot sum up all these teachings, beliefs and traditions with one word, it all comes down to freedom. Freedom of choice, freedom of existence, unconditional freedom, aspiration to be free of suffering, hatred, delusions, freedom in its pure essence. The freedom to give without expecting anything in return.
Does one have to be insane to afford this freedom? No, and you don’t really have to be a buddhist, either. There are many people of different religions all over the world who do voluntary work. Yet, those who work in the Buddhist Centre are not like any other volunteers that take part in a project for a year or so. For example, Vidyagita – a woman from Germany who I talked to in the centre, has been there for 16 years. And she says this is not her job, this is her life.
You don’t really have to get onto the plane to Tibet or lead an asthetic life in a cabin in order to get enlightened. But it is comforting to know that in the heart of the urban jungle you can feel what it is like to live in a world free of wanting and full of giving.
