Das Buddhistische Haus

• 1. Introduction

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  Das Buddhistische Haus stands in Frohnau, Berlin, a Sri Lankan-style temple complex rising behind an Elephant Door, 73 steps from the street to its main hall. It is considered the oldest and largest Theravada Buddhist center in Europe, and the German government has declared it a National Heritage site. How did a building designed by a German architect, completed in 1924, become a beacon of Sri Lankan Buddhist culture in the middle of northern Germany? And what brought it to the edge of demolition before a Sri Lankan reformer crossed the world to save it?

• 2. Paul Dahlke's Vision

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  Paul Dahlke was a German physician who made several journeys to Ceylon before the First World War and returned each time more deeply committed to the Theravada tradition. He commissioned the architect Max Meyer to design a building that would carry the mark of Sri Lankan, specifically Sinhalese, Buddhist architecture onto German soil. The main building was completed in 1924, and under Dahlke's direct leadership it grew into a recognized center of Buddhism in Germany. Dahlke also composed the inscription that still defines the place. It reads: "What we are doing, anybody shall be able to see. What we are saying, anybody shall be able to hear. What we are thinking, anybody shall be able to know." That commitment to radical transparency shaped the institution's character from the start. Dahlke died in 1928, and the building passed to his relatives.

• 3. Prohibition and Decline

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  By 1941, the Nazi government had formally prohibited both Buddhist meetings and Buddhist publications, and the Haus fell silent as a religious space. After the war, refugees moved into the quarters, and the building deteriorated to the point where demolition was being considered. The institution that Dahlke had built to embody openness had been shut down, emptied, and nearly erased. It was in this condition that Asoka Weeraratna, founder of the German Dharmaduta Society based in Sri Lanka, learned of the building's existence and its precarious fate.

• 4. Rescue from Sri Lanka

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  In December 1957, Asoka Weeraratna purchased the building from Dahlke's nephew, acting on behalf of the Trustees of the German Dharmaduta Society. The transfer meant that the Haus became the first Buddhist mission on German soil operated not by German practitioners but by Sri Lankan Sinhalese Buddhist monks. The society renovated the complex and sent missionary Dharmaduta monks, primarily from Sri Lanka, to take up residence there. Their purpose was to spread the teachings of the Buddha across Western Europe. The city of Nagoya added to the garden in 1959, donating a sculpture of Guanyin that stands there to this day.

• 5. The Temple Today

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  Visitors who enter through the Elephant Door climb 73 steps before reaching the main building, which holds a library and a meditation room. A separate structure on the grounds can accommodate overnight guests. The temple is open to the public; in 2006 alone, roughly 5,000 people passed through. Dahlke's inscription, carved into the building he designed with Max Meyer a century ago, still greets every one of them.