Removing Stripper 3/25/05

As Norbu indicated yesterday, we did remove the stripper today. We are using a non-toxic, biodegradable product from Cathedral Stone. The product worked really well, especially considering the years of accumulated paint. We were able to strip 8 stupas, 6ft tall each, in 4 days. It may have taken only 2 days, but we're learning how to do this.

Norbu introduced us yesterday, but I'll introduce myself here briefly and give a little background about the project. This is Ani Sonam, blessed with the inconceivable good fortune to be a practitioner of Buddhism, a student of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo. We (Norbu and I are leading the project, but many of our sangha members have jumped in to contribute to this auspicious and meritorious effort) are working on restoring Stupas built by Jetsunma's students years ago, when the temple was being established. There are three primary Stupas, and many smaller ones located on the 65 acres of temple land. The current focus is what we call the Stupa Park, which has a Long Life Stupa for our teacher in the center, surrounded by the eight traditional Tibetan Stupa forms.

It has taken over a year just to research materials, as in the beginning I had no idea how complicated concrete can be. Over the coarse of this project I hope to include information in this blog that might benefit other centers with Stupas made of concrete, and who may be facing similar challenges with regard to maintenance. The short story can be summed up this way: I learned concrete must breath, that it is porous and therefore draws moisture up from the ground, and the resulting vapor needs to evaporate. Thus, when you place a non-permeable coating (like regular oil based or latex paints) on the concrete (thinking sealing it from water penetrating from the outside is good), you actually block this necessary process, causing the water vapors to get trapped beneath the paint, accelerating the deterioration of the substrate (concrete). We have found, finally, products that can remove the built up layers of oil based paint, repair the damage that has developed over the years, and a mineral based paint that will act like gortex, protecting the Stupas from water penetration from the outside, while allowing water vapor from within to evaporate. I cannot tell you how exciting it is to finally be getting to work! The Stupas are precious beyond our ordinary mind's ability to understand. Ask anyone, however, who has spent time around them, and they'll testify to the fact that although we may not be able to grasp the magnitude of their blessing, we can effortlessly bask in that blessing.

The logistics of the project were a challenge. The site is remote, accessible by a poorly maintained dirt road with ruts and drop offs to be careful of. It is also accessible by a beautiful walking path, which is how it was intended to be visited, but that didn't help us get equipment up there for this task. There is no water, and no electricity. Our solution was to use a generator for electric, which we used to power the sprayer for application of the stripping agent. Today, we used the generator to run a sump pump, which we used to pump water from 55 gallon barrels carted up by pick up truck, to our gas powered power washer.

I'm going to follow this text post with images, so you can see what we're doing.

Please keep in mind that all of us working on this project are devoting our bodies, our labor, our minds, hearts and practice to this in order to bring immeasurable blessing to all sentient beings without exception. The reason stupas are so precious to me as a practitioner, is that they exist only to bring benefit, to any being, human, non-human, any being whatsoever, whether you're Buddhist, or you hate Buddhists, these amazing manifestations of compassion offer only blessings, whether you know what they are or not, whether you love them or not, they generate benefit and blessings for you without ceasing. How amazing, to have an opportunity to be of service to these great structures!

We invite any of you who see this to come and visit our center, if the Buddhist thing doesn't work for you, no problem, come visit the stupas, enjoy our peace park. It is here for all beings seeking refuge, relief from suffering.