The artists have already started working
and Dzongsar Rinpoche blesses the Temple
The past month has seen some remarkable developments
for the Odsal Ling temple project. After many months of
work on the part of Christine Boedler dealing with visas
and paperwork in India, the artists have finally arrived
and are already making excellent progress on the main shrine
and roof details. The two Tibetan artists, Tenpa and Ugyen
are skilled in sculpting the architectural ornaments and
thangka painting, and the two Bhutanese artists, Kasang
and Urgyen are accomplished statue sculptors, working in
both mediums of clay and cement.
The last week in August, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche arrived
in Sao Paulo for the purpose of giving an evening teaching
on the Wheel of Life, and we were honored to receive him
at Refugio for the afternoon. Happily, he spontaneously
offered to do a blessing ceremony for the temple and it
was with great joy that we were able to discuss the artwork
plans with him and the artists afterwards. Currently the
plan is to do a large Shakyamuni statue as the central figure,
and to either side, statues of Guru Rinpoche, Red Tara,
Garab Dorje, and our beloved teacher, Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche.
We also received very welcome news about the funding for
the temple. Odsal Ling was recently selected to receive
a grant from a U.S. based private foundation to cover the
remaining construction costs of the temple. This allows
us to move forward more quickly on completing the structure
itself, and we gearing up for the big push. We will still
continue, however, with our fundraising efforts to support
the upcoming costs for the extensive artwork and peripheral
items such as the elevator, kitchen appliances, and so on
- so be assured that there are still many opportunities
for joining in the merit.
Lama Norbu - September, 2006
