KALAPA CARE – Volunteering Week

REGISTER DIRECTLY at Dzokden Kalapa

Come join us to make merit and offer service to the community at Kalapa for a few days or for all of a volunteering period.

We invite you to come to Kalapa to volunteer for a wide variety of activities, ranging from deep cleaning, gardening, cooking, and driving, to painting, arts and crafts, decoration, care and maintenance of the stupa and temple, repairs and renovation, construction, and so forth. You can start with activities with which you feel most comfortable, and learn new ones over time.

Volunteering for the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha is a precious way of accumulating merit to support your spiritual progress. Rinpoché strongly encourages his followers to contribute in any form they feel inclined to, whether or not you are a specialist in any given activity. Your altruistic motivation is the most important.

In the evenings, free time is set aside for volunteers to rest and reflect or focus on individual meditation practice or Dharma study. Depending on the schedule for each Kalapa Care volunteering event and the wishes of the participants, we can also set aside some time to meditate together or practice guided yoga before breakfast, or to explore the beautiful surrounding natural environment. These additional activities are entirely optional.

If you have any difficulty in registering at the bottom of this web form, or if you have further questions, please email [email protected] or call us at +43 676 395 8898. We can currently answer questions in English, German, Portuguese, Hungarian, and French.

Accommodation and Food

Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, this year we are able to provide free accommodations and three complimentary vegetarian meals a day for all participants who commit to volunteer daily for seven to eight hours. We are able to host up to 8 volunteers in individual bedrooms. If more participants arrive, we can also host some volunteers in our shared dormitories as well. 

You do not necessarily need to stay overnight inside the retreat center. If you prefer to stay outside, please feel free to bring your own tent and enjoy camping near the Kalachakra Stupa. There are also some guest houses around the local area, which you can simply book yourself if you have access to a vehicle to reach the center.

We can also offer access to our internet for Dharma study or Dharma work purposes only. Owing to technical and time limitations, in general we are not able to pick up participants from the train station. However, transportation to the retreat center is relatively inexpensive; please see the information below.

Getting to Kalapa

Dzokden Kalapa, Garanas 41, Bad Schwanberg, zip code 8541, Austria, Südweststeiermark. Nearest airport is in Graz, Austria.

By train: To travel to Kalapa by train, start at the main train station in Graz. From there, take the S6 or S61 S-Bahn towards Wies-Eibiswald for about an hour to the Bad Schwanberg station. (timetable information)

To travel from the Bad Schwanberg train station to the retreat center, a relatively inexpensive taxi service supported by the government is available that will take you directly to the Retreat Center, which is referred to as “Buddhistisches Zentrum” by this taxi service. For more information, please visit the following website: Regio Mobil. The taxi must be ordered at least one hour in advance, but visitors are recommended to do so much earlier or on the day before you intend to arrive. On weekdays, this taxi service operates between the hours of 6.00 a.m. and 8.00 p.m. On weekends it does not operate during the evening. As the journey is quite long (about 20 minutes), the service should be scheduled at least half an hour before the closing hours provided above. For trips on Sundays or public holidays please schedule the taxi service by 5 p.m. on the day before you intend to arrive. To order: +43 (0)50 16 17 18 / Cost: €6.00 total regardless of how many people are taking the taxi.

By car: From the Graz-West motorway junction (A2/A9), get on the A2 towards Klagenfurt/Italy and take the Lieboch exit. Then, continue on Federal Road 76 towards Eibiswald. After about 30 km, you will reach Schwanberg. At the end of the main square in Schwanberg, turn left towards Garanas. After the bridge, turn right towards Garanas and follow the signs to “Kalachakra Kalapa Center” uphill for about 8 km to reach the center.