How to make a living from as a Meditation Master in Switzerland revisited?

Last Updated on June 7, 2024 by pg@petergamma.org

We mentioned previously the example of Meditation Master Gesche Rinpoche

Gesche Rinpoche was one of the greatest Masters of Tibetan Buddhist Meditation in Switzerland. He came into Switzerland in 1970 an earned his living as factory worker there for 7 years. And only after 7 years he could work as a teacher in the Buddhist Center Zollikon starting from 1976:

The example of Meditation Master Loten Dahortsang

  • Loten Dahortsang came to Switzerland in 1982 into the Tibetan Monastry Rikon in Tösstal.
  • He was as the only monk student educated for 17 years from two great Tibetan Masters which where sent from his Holiness the Dalai Lama the 14th.
  • Loten Dahortsang teaches now in Switzerland and Europe.
  • His courses can be found on his website:
  • And next to that Loten Dahortsang has recorded CDs together with Tina Turner (Loten can be seen on the left site of the picture, Tina Tuner in the middle):

The example of Meditation Master Pema Wangyal

Pema Wangyal was the representative of the Kagyu School at the Tibet Institute Rikon Monastry Switzerland and worked there as a meditation master and yoga teacher for more than 16 years. He recently moved out of the Tibet Institute in Rikon and opened a meditation center:

Pensionskasse im Stadthaus Winterthur. Foto: Madeleine Schoder

https://zueriost.ch/gesellschaft/2023-10-30/er-wohnt-auf-sechs-quadratmetern

He lives now on a subsistence level, but is not afraid of failure.

Pema Wangyal sleeps behind a gray curtain in a corner of his meditation center – about six square meters. His bed: 90 by 200 centimeters. His wardrobe: a red hard-shell suitcase. His office: a printer and a bedside table with a computer screen, next to it a few prayer beads, a cell phone charging cable and the mail of the last few days.

The 47-year-old is a Tibetan Buddhist monk. In 2006 he came to Switzerland on behalf of the Tibetan government in exile and lived in the Tibet Institute in Rikon for almost 17 years. He moved out last spring. Since then, he has been making ends meet with meditation and yoga classes at his center near Kollbrunn train station and struggling with worldly life.

But Pema Wampal became also a paraglider on the mounain Rigi in Switzerland as shown on his YouTube channel «Yogtrack»:

The example of Peter Gamma from www.petergamma.org

Peter Gamma is not a Meditation Master, but his life in Switzerland is also difficult, as described here:

But in general the life satisfaction of the population aged 16 and over in Switzerland is high.

  • In 2022, 37.9% are very satisfied with their current life, with a score of 9 or 10 on a scale from 0 “not at all satisfied” to 10 “completely satisfied”):

https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/economic-social-situation-population/economic-and-social-situation-of-the-population/subjective-well-being-living-conditions/subjective-well-being-switzerland-europe.html