June 4th Discovery...

Today I drove around Rockville with Christine and Dawa who are visiting from the Arizona sangha. Christine took extensive notes, and had an envelope with example items given to us by Khenpo and Lama So Cho in New York, to help us find what we need. Khenpo said he knew the Tibetan and Bhutanese names for the herbs and substances, but not always the English. We had a pretty successful tour!

All of this came about as a result of our trip to New York, to the Palyul Retreat Center, where Khenpo Norgye offered us instruction on how to fill statues according to traditional Tibetan texts. I can't go into all the details, but will mention that statues and Stupas are filled in the same way, only Stupas are so much larger generally that much more elaborate representations can be created and placed in them. Stupas also have specific prayers and rituals associated with filling each level, while this is not usually done with statues. In all these cases though, vows are taken by those who do the work of filling, vows which must be obtained for the first time from a qualified master. Norbu, the newest sangha member present, had never received them before, so on Friday morning everyone climbed out of bed early so Khenpo could give us all (including Norbu) the vows. That way Norbu can take them himself in the future, when he needs to fill statues!

The trip was really wonderful on many levels, not the least of which was the opportunity for a real mix of sangha to all work together as part of a team. Dawa and Christine flew in from Arizona for this trip, and Lisa, Norbu and myself all reside here in Maryland. There are those of us who've been practicing for many years, and Norbu whose only been with the sangha for less than a year, so we covered a wide range of experience levels and all worked together to make the experience as beneficial as possible. KPC is one sangha, but as we are in different geographic areas, we sometimes forget that we are all working for the same goal. It was really awesome to experience that reality in action! All of us, as is everyone on these pages, are engaging in all these activities in order to bring and end to suffering in the world. We are working to bring sources of blessings and peace into the world, into a form that anyone can see and benefit from. We all, interestingly, on this trip are Stupa people. Christine and Dawa were both intimately involved in the building of the most recent Stupa in Arizona, while you all know Norbu, Lisa and myself from here, where we're sharing our experience with working on the Maryland Stupas with all of you.

I'll end here by once again inviting all to come visit our Stupas! Whether you're in Maryland or Arizona, we have them for you! 24 hours a day, every day. It is my hope that by sharing some tiny glimpse of the complexity and ritual involved in the creation of these sacred structures, that your interest in them might be inspired, so that you might actually come on out and give them a try. Once you do, trust the benefit is real! Even if you can't come out to us physically, you can visit here as often as you wish. The blessings are conveyed through seeing the image, as well as touching the Stupas, or feeling the wind that blows over them, but even just seeing the photos on these pages, the blessings are conveyed! It is our sincerest hope that by sharing all of this with you that all of your greatest aspirations and wishes will be accomplished!