Milarepa Retreat Zentrum

In Schneverdingen, in the Lüneburg Heath, the Milarepa Retreat Zentrum calls itself the European seat of the Drikung Kagyü lineage. Its patrons are His Holiness Drikung Kyabgön Thinley Lhundup and His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche.

The idea behind the place is an old one. The Kagyü tradition is known as a practice lineage, and at Drikung Thil in Tibet, founded in 1179, a retreat centre has operated from the start. In a 2012 letter published by the centre, Thinley Lhundup writes that the lineage has begun building large retreat centres in the West, linked by name to the holy mountains Kailash, Lapchi and Tsari, so that solitary retreat can stay alive outside Tibet. The centre's retreat appeal adds the background: the lineage founder Kyobpa Jigten Sumgön sent practitioners to those three mountains until each had received more than 50,000 yogis.

That thread runs through the program today. Drubpön Rachel Dodds completed a traditional three-year retreat in Almora, India, from 2004 to 2008, and began her work here in 2016. In 2018 a second three-year retreat started under her guidance, with four participants from Canada, Romania, England and Israel. With Giorgio Savigliano she teaches an approach that begins with body, food, sleep, posture and breath before moving to Mahamudra and the Six Yogas of Naropa. A five-year yidam program follows the same logic: daily practice, a yearly week-long intensive and solo retreats of two to six weeks.

The grounds hold two light-filled seminar rooms of about 200 square metres each, three smaller group rooms and a dining hall for 60. Guests sleep in the Milarepa, Achi and Chenresig houses, a retreat pod, a sheep-wool-insulated shepherd's wagon, or on mattresses in the temple. Personal retreats are open to practitioners of any Buddhist tradition, and guests cook for themselves. In autumn 2026 the calendar lists a Vajrayogini retreat and a Shravasti/Anapanasati breath-meditation retreat. The Dharmadhara study program, launched in January 2024, runs alongside online classes.