Work started in the summer of 1999 on a stupa at Gampo
Abbey that contains relics of the Vidyadhara Chogyam
Trungpa Rinpoche. It is the first stupa to be built
in Nova Scotia. Ven. Thrangu Rinpoche, Abbot of Gampo
Abbey, requested in 1996 that the stupa be built.
He is truly delighted that construction has begun
and progressed so strongly. The project has the strong
support of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, and fulfills the
Vidyadhara's request that his relics be distributed
between RMSC, Karme Choling and Gampo Abbey.
According
to Rinpoche, a stupa traditionally represents the mind
of the Buddha and has the power to convey the mind transmission
to those who gaze at it. The stupa, he said, may be
dedicated to world peace, and will become a tourist
attraction that will bring many people to the spiritual
path. To symbolize the overcoming of aggression, Rinpoche
last year buried weapons in the ground below where the
stupa will be built, including a World War I rifle donated
by a Cape Breton neighbour of the Abbey, and he consecrated
the site.
Rinpoche
also asked that the Lojong slogans,
teaching the Bodhisattva practices of generosity,
patience, discipline, exertion, meditation and wisdom,
be inscribed around the stupa on terraced walls so
that they can be read while circumambulating. The
stupa project has opened an important dialogue between
the Abbey and the surrounding Pleasant Bay community,
which has high unemployment rates as a result of the
decline of the fisheries. That community is delighted
that the stupa may bring tourists to the area and
stimulate the local economy, in conjunction with a
whale-watching and interpretation centre planned for
Pleasant Bay. Rinpoche has expressed confidence that
the stupa can help bring prosperity and well-being
both to the Abbey and to the surrounding community.
Thrangu
Rinpoche has appointed Lama Tashi Tondrup, one of
his senior lamas, to supervise the elaborate ritual
details for construction of the mandalas inside the
stupa, including the lifeforce pole at its centre.
Accompanying him were two other lamas to assist in
the procedures-one from Nepal and one from China.
Gampo Abbey staff collected the prescribed substances
and materials, including precious stones, fruits and
flowers with which the lion throne is traditionally
packed. The stupa will be 24 feet high, and construction
is being supervised by sangha architect David Garrett
and sangha builder Don Beamish, both of whom collaborated
to construct the Abbey's three-year retreat centre
10 years ago. (They are now a little older and, of
course, even wiser!)
The
stupa also symbolizes the fact that the Buddhist community
and teachings have genuinely taken root in Nova Scotia.
Thrangu Rinpoche has stated that Gampo Abbey fulfills
a critical role in the Shambhala vision of creating
enlightened society in Nova Scotia, by preserving
the Buddhist teachings in their pure and unadulterated
form.
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