Stupas

At present there are two stupas at the Monastery, next to each other on top of a hill. The first dates back to the late 1970s, prior to the arrival of our two resident Lamas. The Venerable Lama Karma Thinley Rinpoche left a picture of the stupa he suggested we build after his visit in 1977. After a year or so of working weekends, the construction was more or less finished.

The second stupa was closely supervised by the resident Lamas and once finished, these two stupas completely filled the available space. Undeterred, the Lamas announced a plan to build six more! Money had been donated to hire a large machine, so we hired a digger in during summer, whilst also doing work on the Maitreya Administration Building. We shifted quite a bit of clay to prepare three more platforms, each like the first one, big enough to hold two stupas.

Each platform is one meter below the last, so you climb seven steps between each platform. However, the land ran out so the last platform finished in space! This meant a retaining wall and a little filling, just for the last circunambulatory path. The full moon in July (mid winter here) happened to be the day several people were available to do a little work on this wall.

We are now ready to start the other stupas and if you wish to donate funds to this project please contact the manager.

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The Stupas, with the Gompa in the background.