Here's a glance at some of the items that go into filling a statue. This doesn't include the mantras! 

Here Lama So Cho is helping Lisa place mantra rolls into her statue, while Christine shows Dawa what she's doing. The materials you see in the foreground are just a part of what goes inside the statues. They are all offerings, and chosen for specific qualities, especially fragrance, preciousness and medicinal substances. It is being exposed to this wide range of offerings that led us to our quest today. We drove around Rockville (never made it into D.C.) visiting Asian Markets, locating items we'll need. Fortunately for the gang, Chrisitine was taking detailed notes (see her notebook?), so we had some idea what we were after. Dawa and Christine head back to Arizona tomorrow, hopefully we'll have a chance to head out to the Nagpa Yeshe Dorje Stupa, the one that started it all, before they leave. Work on the Enlightenment Stupa will resume on Monday, with Ashby and myself gearing up to powerwash it (to clean all the residue from sandblasting) and get it ready for repairs! More tomorrow! 

Amitayus statue from upstate New York. This statue is larger than it looks, probably over 3 ft tall. There are 4 large statues on the main altar, but class started and I had to switch gears.... 

This is a photo of the Palyul Retreat Center's temple in upstate New York. This is where we received our training. Khenpo Norgye took some time out from an already extremely busy schedule to offer us instruction on filling statues and, as it turned out, Stupas. We had requested formal instruction, as we have (Dawa primarily) pieced together instructions received from many Lamas over the years, but never had a formal presentation on the subject in English. Khenpo's perfect English allowed us to hear the teachings directly from him, and ask questions, and he could refer to the actual texts. We were pretty busy while up there, but it was, of course, awesome... 

Here's a shot Norbu took of the main altar of the temple, you can see His Holiness Penor Rinpoche's throne in the center... 

Lama So Cho on the left, was our practical instructor. He doesn't speak English, but fortunately, Khenpo Norgye, on the right here, speaks fluent English. Khenpo was exceptionally patient with us, as we posed many questions to him. He was able to teach us from Tibetan texts (and a Bhutanese book based on Tibetan texts), translating into English for us. What an amazing blessing! Having the opportunity to learn this sacred practice from these authentic teachers! Long day today though (these photos are from this morning!) so I'll post more detailed photos of this whole trip tomorrow. We're headed to Chinatown in D.C. to try and find some of the offerings we were shown (items not common to western stores). Glad to be back on the p.c., rather than posting via phone (though it looked better than I thought it would...). Please do keep checking in! We hope to share lots of great stuff with you. You're getting a peek inside here, seeing what makes a sacred object sacred. It isn't how it looks on the outside alone. There is a detailed, profound practice that goes into the filling. Though we could never provide all the details here (this is a practice, with vows, and many precious substances and objects not available readily, so not a DIY kind of exercise). I share this only to help deepen your appreciation of what goes into images of the Buddhas... 

Here's a glance at the "final" stage, where we were actually filling statues ourselves...More tomorrow!

Lisa cleaning statue

Practice

Lunch

Here's my Stupa photo for the day. We didn't do any work on the Stupa itself today, but plans are in the process of being implemented. We've decided to go with gold leaf for the face of the gau (the area around the statue) and for the spire! It'll be a challenge, but heck, what hasn't been! : ) Once we're back from New York we'll be cleaning, repairing and then painting the majority of the Stupa. During that time I'll get the cost of the leaf, and we'll work on fund raising for an order. The vision is really starting to come together! The crew is getting comfortable tackling the unknown, and we're getting some great guidance first hand from some experienced Stupa builders! How amazing! : ) Be back to work out here on Sunday, but I'll post from the road the rest of this week. It's going to be statues rather than Stupas, but it will be a glimpse into the way the interior of these sacred structures are constructed. Statues are filled in a very similar way to stupas, so I'll try to give you a peek at the process.  

Ani Sherab was caught up finishing some work at her sister's house, so she was running late today. We did get out to Migyur Dorje to talk about artwork and how to care for it, but it was raining, and I didn't have my trusty PVC rainsuite with me, so I didn't venture out of the car...Before she arrived I decided to focus on the shed. We'd left it in pretty rough shape after the sandblasting ended (no one had the energy to keep things neat) and I wanted to get it together before we left if possible. So Sherab's hold up ended up my opportunity! Here's a glance at how we left it...We do share this shed with others who mow the lawn, build structures and repair things for the temple, so it was important to me to get our stuff out of their way... 

I started by making piles on the ground, sorting things into functional groups... 

Here is a look at how it was when I finished. Not perfect, but much better. A clear path at least...

Just in case you thought I might have just thrown everything onto the lawn... : ). By the time it was over I was happy, I'd organized our equipment, and cleared a path through the shed for the other temple folks. The Stupas are our focus, but there's always a lot of work going on out here, lawns to be cut, repairs to the buildings to be made, airconditioners to be placed...It felt good to get this done before leaving for New York! I'll be posting from the road tomorrow, so if the images are poor, just remember it might be coming from my camera phone. Call me a goof ball (you'd be right), but I just wanted to share this experience with you all as well. We're heading to New York to learn statue filling from Khenpo Norgye. It is an art very similar to filling Stupas, so we're all very excited. More than that, Dawa and Christine from Arizona will be joining us, so there'll be plenty of Stupa stories to pass the time as we travel. Just because we'll be gone don't think there's nothing to do on the Stupas though! Ani Rene and KT at the temple can help you get going if you want to work while we're gone! Or maybe it's a great chance to enjoy them while we won't be making a mess! : ) Tomorrow there will be some photos from the New York Retreat Center, so give us a visit! 

Technical work...

Below is a photo of the Yeshe Tsogyal mantra hanging on my wall. I posted it with my phone, as an experiment. I'm leaving it here for today (the first photo I posted disappeared) to be sure the technology is working itself out. But the great news is you'll get to see glimpses of the trip to New York in real (or almost) time! I'll post occasional photos of what we're up to (I won't interfere with Khenpo's teaching believe me) so you all can see what we're doing up there. : )

So do keep checking in! Forgive the poor resolution of the photos, but what do you want from a free phone? : )

I'll be back here tonight to post what Ani Sherab and I are able to get through today. : ) I'm really glad to be able to keep in touch with all of you while we're in New York! Maybe they'll have internet access and I won't have to use the phone, but in case I do, it's great to know I can. : )

May we never forget those with hopes of us!

May 29th Stories...

Time seems always to be unrelenting. We make plans, we have hopes, and the clock keeps ticking. We're heading to New York on Tuesday to learn statue filling from Khenpo Norgye. We know that. Dawa and Christine are arriving from Arizona tomorrow evening for the trip. We know that too. Ani Sherab is at her sister's house, fulfilling promises she made to her when she arrived several weeks ago. The terma needs to be repaired. She's going to do it. We here in Maryland want desperately to learn how to work with the Fortran, which was used to create the artwork on the Migyur Dorje Stupa, so we can repair any damage we discover now or in the future. So, with time being tight, we decide to go to Alexandria to film Sherab doing the repair! : )

It was a great opportunity to learn, but also to connect. What you can't see in all these photos is the exchange of experiences that happens when you spend time working on something like this. The Stupas are powerful, they change your life, and anyone who spends time working on them will experience this! So when you get time to work with and talk with folks you get to share stories about their abundant blessings. Ani Sherab has been working on them and studying them for over 15 years, and listening to her describe their meaning, and realizing what a blessing it is to be able to work on them really is amazing. Whether you've been doing this for years, or if you've never so much as touched a tool in your life, there's a way to connect with the Stupas here! It is my hope that by sharing this blog with you, that you can get a glimpse of the reality of it. These are real people, not some kind of contrived characters from a story. This is a real place, and the power of the Stupas is inevitable! Even a picture of the Stupa contains profound blessings (ask Gretchen! she shared her story with us today...), so just by following this blog you're accumulating merit, purifying your karma, and planting the seeds of enlightenment in your mind! That's not because of my awkward attempts to convey the experience, but because of the true nature of the sacred structures! It is the power of the Stupas!

If you want to come out and work with us, even for 5 minutes, we'll make sure you get a chance to contribute to this project! You'll surely end up with your own Stupa story to tell! It is our goal as a crew to open this opportunity to anyone and everyone who has even the slightest interest in getting involved. We promise not to gripe if you come and decide just to watch, and just because you come once doesn't mean you're branded for life. : ) You can retire at any time. : ) We just want you all to know we'd love to share this experience with you, and we'll do our best to give you an opportunity to participate if you wish to! Just let us know you're interested!

If you're nowhere near here, we'll still try and find a way for you to participate. Whether it's through watching this blog and sharing it with your friends, or if you'd like to work with us on developing an archive of stories or a long range plan for maintenance, there's lots to do (don't worry though, we're prepared to do it all ourselves, just willing to share if you are interested).


We are headed out of town on Tuesday, and I'm not sure of the internet situation in New York (it is a RETREAT center after all, I'm not sure we can expect a connection up there). If I can post from there I will, if not, I'll post as soon as I return. Ani Sherab, who you've seen working on these pages, has said she might post a thing or two while we're gone! That would be worth reading! She's got an awesome amount of knowledge and devotion.

Tomorrow we've got a lot to do before heading to the airport to pick up Dawa and Christine, so I'll post whatever we're able to get to!