Klaus Wansleben

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Klaus Wansleben (born October 8, 1925 in Krefeld ) is a German engineer and Zen teacher.

Klaus Wansleben 2010

Life

Klaus Wansleben attended elementary school, secondary school, then the vocational school for construction in Krefeld and then did an apprenticeship as a bricklayer. He was then drafted into the military and was seriously wounded in the leg by bullets while working at the front in the Ukraine . All his life he could only walk with the help of a cane. At the end of the war he was taken prisoner by the English, from which he was released one year after the end of the war in 1946. He then attended the State Building School in Aachen , where he was dismissed as an engineer. He began his engineering work as a structural engineer in an office for building construction in Hagen . He then planned and built federal and country roads at the State Road Construction Office in Cologne . His responsibility also included the planning and construction of the first traffic lights and “green waves” in the building authority area. At the end of his career, he was department head for roads and bridges in the former Cologne district . He retired from professional life in 1985. His job ensured him the economic prerequisites for founding his family and charitable work.

Klaus Wansleben is married to Hildegard Wansleben b. Pesch. From this marriage three sons emerged, Norbert, Stephan and Martin , who has been managing director of the " German Chamber of Commerce and Industry " since 2001 . The Wansleben couple have eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

At the age of 50, Klaus Wansleben reoriented himself: He became a Zen student of the Zen master Hugo Makibi Enomiya-Lassalle , who is considered to be the pioneer of understanding between Zen Buddhism and Christianity . When he died after 12 years, he continued his Zen studies as a student of the Indian Zen master Ama Samy and finally switched to the Zen master Kyoun Roshi ( Willigis Jäger ). In 1998 Klaus Wansleben was appointed personal assistant teacher by Willigis Jäger, with the recommendation to incorporate his experience into the group work and the authorization to solve Zen- Koans with participants .

Act

Together with his wife, who was also a student of Zen master Father Ama Samy, on their visits to India they not only got to know the wealth of the country in spirituality and mysticism , but also the poverty of many people. In 1992 they founded the "Association for Contemplation, Meditation and Help in Life", which was recognized as charitable and charitable. With the help of the members and a corresponding donation, they and Indian partners were able to alleviate poverty, build schools and give children access to vocational training. The name of the association was later changed to "Brücke der Menschlichkeit eV". In 2013, the Wansleben couple had the association dissolved. They retired for reasons of age, left Bonn and now live near Berlin, where their sons live.

Two new foundations took place. Marie Therese Krautzberger founded the association "Bridge of Humanity eV" with friends (recognized as non-profit and benevolent). The "Weggemeinschaft Stille eV" was founded as the second association.

Before the above-mentioned association was founded, Klaus Wansleben offered Zen meditation from 1985 in the residence of the Jesuits in Stolzestrasse 1a in Cologne. 1991 came the request of the cath. University community Bonn to offer Zen meditation to Klaus Wansleben there. A group was opened. For decades, Klaus Wansleben was present several times a week in the groups in Cologne and Bonn, was approachable by many people and offered several-day Zen meditation courses every year. From 2014 the group in Bonn will be headed by Bruno Liesenfeld, the group in Cologne in Stolzestrasse was taken over by Jost Knobelspieß, Jörg Jakobs and Matthias Schenk.

Fonts

literature

  • Klaus Wansleben's Zen group in Bonn. In: Krischan Ostenrath and Wilhelm-Peter Schneemelcher (eds.): A matter of faith - religion in Bonn. Verlag Wissenschaftsladen, Bonn 2003, pp. 182–187.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.weggemeinschaft-stille.de/ursprung.htm
  2. ↑ https://www.weggemeinschaft-stille.de/ursprung.htm
  3. ↑ https://www.bridgeofhumanity.org/
  4. ↑ http://www.general-anzeiger-bonn.de/bonn/stadt-bonn/Damit-indische-M%C3%A4dchen-lernen-d%C3%BCrfen-article1521866.html
  5. ↑ https://www.weggemeinschaft-stille.de/ueberuns.htm
personal data
SURNAME Wansleben, Klaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German engineer and Zen teacher
DATE OF BIRTH October 8, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Krefeld