Jeong Hye Sah — Bavarian Zen Temple & Working Farm

Jeong Hye Sah — ‘Temple of Pure Wisdom’ — is situated in the village of Attenhausen near Landau an der Isar, nestled amongst the rolling hills of Lower Bavaria. The historic 18th-century three-sided farmstead exudes the lived-in warmth of a Bavarian estate: heavy wooden beams, a stone courtyard, hand-planted kitchen gardens, a natural swimming pond and horses roaming freely across the farmstead at dusk. What sets Jeong Hye Sah apart from any other farmstead is its vibrant Zen community. Asian monks and nuns from Korea, Japan and across Asia practise here all year round — they rise before dawn to meditate and chant, and then work alongside guests in the fields, bake bread or stack firewood. The rhythm of temple life and farm life are one and the same. Groups who come here for a retreat, a workshop or simply to get away from it all find something rare: a place where Bavarian down-to-earthness and Asian contemplation truly coexist. Home-grown produce, fresh every day. Two saunas — a Finnish wood-fired sauna and a herbal steam bath. A fire burns in the evening. Tea is always ready.