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The subject of this paper is the design of a modern Buddhist retreat center in the West, which presents and unites both the traditional foundations of the Eastern Buddhist culture and the conditions of the modern Western world. The paper answers the question if it is possible to fully transmit through architecture and landscape design the essence of the Buddhist culture to the modern European surrounding, without losing the root of its ritual background. Because of the increasing popularity of Buddhism in the West, the number of Buddhist centers built within this area has expanded rapidly in the last century. The question that arises is how to apply philosophy of "emptiness" into architecture? How to allow the Zen aesthetic rules, summarized in 4 words-emptiness, brightness, luminosity, purity - to apply in the West? The research is based on a variety of methods. Collecting and describing main ideas about other western Buddhist center designs and comparing them with the rules concerning traditional, ritual Buddhist retreat centers. Other methods used for this research are my own observations gathered upon visiting and meditating in Buddhist centers and my own design experience within this field (8 European centers designs). The final statement of this research is the adaptation to different cultures with simultaneous preservation of deepest philosophical meaning of Buddhism in last 2500 years. Deprived only of cultural background of Asian societies, Buddha's teachings can be now understood by modern, educated and idealistic westerners. Zen aesthetics liberally transformed and freed from its rigid rules fits most fully to the conditions of Western Buddhist centers out of all Eastern Buddhist styles. My design of a contemporary Buddhist retreat center is located in an ideal, abstract location. It includes an architectural, interior and landscape proposal. Modern Buddhist centers are perfect examples of transforming and assimilating classical Buddhist patterns into the modern world. The Design foundations presented take into account the cultural, sociological and historical context as well as the climate and geographical conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the symbolic separation of retreat experiences from daily life.. I use data collected during my ongoing ethnography at a campus retreat center to address the distinction between the sacred and the profane (Durkheim1965), and liminal and structural state (Turner 1970). Using the insights of C.S. Peirce and D.H. Lawrence, I argue that the symbolic partition between sacred and profane is more ambiguous than Durkheim allows. Although the meaning of symbols is not completely whimsical, it is their complicity in multiple narratives that allows them to be appropriated into the retreat narrative, and threatens to pull participants into other life narrativesâ?”what Durkheim calls the "sacred contagion." ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As spiritual values have come to occupy a more central place in the analysis of American business organizations, so too have they come to be regarded as one of the most significant developments faced by work organizations in the United Kingdom. In this paper we seek to locate our understanding of workplace spirituality within the contemporary sociology of religion. We propose that the full significance of this organizational phenomenon may not be appreciated unless the wider societal development of spirituality is also acknowledged. From this discussion, we define two dimensions of organizational spirituality: first, the religious and spiritual, and second, the individual and collective, as the bases for further empirical investigation and analysis. We propose that workplace spirituality may be understood phenomenologically, by engaging with those who are involved in its practice. The paper then describes a participant observation study of two workshop retreats, held in an English Benedictine monastery, which focus on spirituality and the workplace. We conclude that the introduction of workplace spirituality relies on the development of shared meaning and collectively held spiritual values, as well as the examination of individual attitudes to work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]