Born in Tübingen and raised in Stuttgart, Germany, I studied materials science at the University of Stuttgart, finishing with a degree in that field, followed by a doctorate at the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart. After this, I worked for several years at various companies in semiconductor development in the United States. In 2001 my professional career brought me to Dresden, where I was responsible for development and technology transfer for the largest German semiconductor manufacturer until 2005.
With the death of my father and the dementia of my mother, I needed to take over tasks in the family business in 2005. Through the death of my father, I had my first spiritual experience, namely that our consciousness does not end with death but continues. Dementia and the resulting care of my mother then brought the topics of aging and illness very vividly to my attention. All of this raised essential questions in me, to which I sought answers and finally found them in Buddhism.
From 2007 to 2014, I therefore studied Buddhist philosophy, ethics, and meditation at the Tibetan Centre in Hamburg. Afterwards, I worked as a tutor for younger students. Relatively soon, however, I realised that mere knowledge does not bring deeper, genuine insights, but that I need to meditate to do so. Fortunate circumstances meant that shortly afterwards I came into closer contact with Dr. B. Alan Wallace, whom I first met at a mindfulness congress in Hamburg in 2011. After my first attempt to do a meditation retreat with him in Phuket (Thailand) failed—my application was rejected—I was able to take part in the CEB teacher training program in Holy Isle (Scotland) in 2014, guided by him and Eve Ekman. This was followed by several 8-week retreats from 2017 to 2023 at the Lama Tsongkhapa Institute in Italy and in Crestone, Colorado, all under the guidance of Lama Alan, who then became my deeply revered, appreciated, and beloved teacher.
The reason for going into this Shamatha retreat and doing what my teacher called us to doafter each of the 8-week retreats is best explained by two quotes from Lord Buddha:
“So long as these five obscurations are not abandoned, one considers oneself as indebted, sick, in bonds, enslaved, and lost on a desert track…”
“All phenomena are preceded by mentation. When mentation is comprehended, all phenomena are comprehended. By bringing mentation under control, all things are brought under control.”
An ordinary, untrained mind is dominated by the five obscurations of hedonic fixations or sensual craving, malice or ill-will, laxity and dullness or sloth and torpor, excitation and
anxiety or restlessness and worry and finally afflictive uncertainty or skeptical doubt. With a trained mind, however, these obscurations are subdued and “all things are brought under control.”
For me, therefore, there is nothing more important and meaningful than getting my own mind under control and to reach the irreversible path, the fourth noble truth, in this lifetime and as swiftly as possible. And then mastering and exploring my mind so that it becomes a useful tool not only for myself, but—since I am living in dependence of an intricately entangled network with all other beings, human and non-human, and the inanimate world—for all sentient beings, for my environment and this world as a whole; and thus fully realizing my true potential.
“Fathom the mind. Heal the world.”
