Question

I often feel the need to leave my town in Germany because everything that I learn here seems not to be important to the people I work with and live with in Berlin. There's so little space there for Compassion and Lovingkindness. Should I take that crazy city as just another challenge to work with, or just be truthful, resolute and leave Berlin? Do you have a job for me? I'm pretty good at sweeping leaves!

Answer

You can apply to be an assistant if you wish. I just talked about the suitable conditions. We do have a sitting group in Berlin, so before you take the action of leaving perhaps you need to seek out some good friends and suitable conversation. So try to get in touch with other people who are in your city. You certainly can investigate jobs in other countries. We have a number of students who have moved to Asia for periods of time to strengthen their practice by being in more suitable conditions, closer to Dhamma friends. It really depends on how important the Dhamma becomes to you and whether you're lacking a lot in suitable conditions for the practice.

Sometimes when people become more involved in helping professions in their cities, they might change their friends and seek out people who are more interested in meditation. They might try to find jobs where they can get more time off so they can come and do more retreats. But certainly I left the West so I'm not going to say, "Don't". And other people have also, so it's a matter of how important the practice becomes and how much you want to be in a society which supports your practice. Some people have become assistants here and then gone back to the West, but not back to their normal lifestyle. They've helped in meditation centers, become managers, helped in non- profit organizations etc. It can be a matter of looking at your occupation, perhaps by changing your occupation you can get in touch with other people who are much more beneficial to the practice.

Our apologies if there are any errors in the above text. If anything seems to be wrong or confusing in any way, please feel free to contact the teachers for further clarification.