Temple Update June, 2007

The last few months have been a flurry of activity,  preparing all the mantras and substances for the central Shakyamuni Buddha statue, while at the same time installing the final architectural details inside and outside the temple.

Many of us are also planning to go on the Tibet pilgrimage, so this has pushed us to wrap up a myriad of details before leaving. Lama Rigdzin has been an enormous help in preparing for and accomplishing the task of consecrating the Shakyamuni Buddha. We had no idea how big the task would be of filling a twelve foot high Buddha statue with mantras and an elaborate central channel, but Lama Rigdzin guided us through each step of the process and now we know.

He is very well qualified for the job, having worked on hundreds of stupas and statues throughout Bhutan and Tibet with his teacher Lama Sonam Zangpo.

With the diligent assistance of Christine Boedler, Lama prepared all the necessary mantras required for the statues as well as putting together the many relics given by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, Jigme Tulku Rinpoche, including many precious relics that he himself offered.

On the day the statue was filled, some sixty boxes of mantras and the central channel were carried in procession to the temple. While the whole sangha prayed  and made offerings, the central channel was placed in the statue and the mantras were carefully packed into the statue along with juniper powder, incense and many sacks of medicine from Bhutan.

The other four statues, Garab Dorje, Guru Rinpoche, Tara, and H.E. Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche have now been completed, and with the central channel in place, the artists can now finish the Buddha Shakyamuni statue.

Lama Norbu

Also read:

March 2007

October 2006

September 2006

July 2006