We are so pleased to share these photos of the stupa. The builders have gone home but Sonam will be back soon with the crest which is on it's way from the creators.

The Dhardo Rinpoche stupa at Aryaloka is rapidly taking shape. The base, or “lion throne” portion of the stupa was completed on Monday. Into it we placed a large sealed urn or vase, with contents representing things of samsara:

An old police service revolver and ammunition

A knife

Some coral

Gold chains

Silver and amber items

Dirt from the homes of wealthy people

Fur from horses and alpaca

A hammer

Garden tools

Other metal tools

A symbolic hatchet made of glass

Rice and other grains and beans

All of these items were packed tightly in fresh red cedar shavings collected from the making of the post that will stand in the center of the next levels of the stupa. When the stonemasons placed the urn in the stupa, the order members present chanted the Vajrasattva mantra. The crew chanted additional mantras in Tibetan and then filled the cavity around the vase with more cedar shavings. A flat stone was placed on top of the whole. The builders then invited the order members present to bring stones to fill the next layer inside the stupa. Mixed with cement, these seal the Lion’s Throne cavity.

In another week or so, the main drum of the stupa will be ready to receive all of the mantras sent from Triratna community members around the world. Along with the mantras, there will be copies of sutras from the three yanas, a puja book, and one or two writings by Bhante Sangharakshita, all to be sealed inside this upper section of the stupa.

We are close to completing fundraising to cover construction and related costs. Please consider making a contribution to this project through Aryaloka’s website.

SADHU!

And the stupa emerges...

The stupa is taking shape! The outline of the base is completed.

The base is almost complete.

Sonam and his crew arrived yesterday and started working immediately. By the end of the day a portion of the base had been completed.

This Sunday morning, July 6th, following our morning meditation that begins at 10, Viriyagita will be spending time in the center shrine room writing and preparing mantras for the stupa. She will be ritually engaging in this activity between 11 am - 1 pm and welcomes others to join her. Some writing materials will be provided, but feel free to bring your own paper, pens, ribbons. This will be an opportunity for giving our collective energy and intent to the stupa and building sangha.

On Wednesday the 25th of June a large truck arrived at Aryaloka bringing 22 tons of 'Goshen' stone, which will be the facing stone of the stupa soon to be built. Our stonemason, Sonam Lama, uses this particular stone for many of his projects. "Goshen stone is an unusual variably colored variety of mica schist found mostly in New England region of the United States", according to Wikipedia. This particular stone is named for the locale of Goshen, Massachusetts.

Schist, according to about.com," is a metamorphic rock that comes in almost infinite variety, but its main characteristic is hinted at in its name: schist comes from the ancient Greek for "split". Schist is a rock formed by dynamic metamorphism at high temperatures and high pressures that aligns the grains of mica, hornblende and other flat or elongated minerals into thin layers."

The stupa will be faced with the Goshen stone, while local 'rubble' or field stone will be used as fill. The rubble stone and sand to be used for mortar will come from approximately a mile away from Aryaloka. We had wanted to use local materials for the project, and it doesn't get much closer than that! Some field stones from the classic New England stone walls on our property will be incorporated as well, as Sonam appreciates the importance of linking a structure directly to its place.

The most recent stupa for Dhardo Rinpoche is on its way! From this hard material a beautiful form representing Bodhicitta will be built.

Sent this morning from our friend Neil, currently traveling in Wales:

"Today, writing mantras at the Cathedral of Saint David.

Will take proper photos of the results and send to you in the next 12 hours or so.

Gone beyond…"

Construction of the stupa is progressing.  In the last two weeks, Aryaloka friend Ralph Phipps dug the foundation hole, and mitra Rick Lee donated the materials and labor for pouring the cement. It took 14 cubic yards of cement. Now, on to the stonework!

Calling all members of the worldwide Triratna community! Here is an opportunity to have your personal expression of reverence for Dhardo Rinpoche included in a stupa that will “radiate love for thousands of years” (the words of the stonemason who will build the stupa). We need thousands of mantras to place in the drum of the bodhicitta stupa now under construction at Aryaloka. We invite you to write your favorite mantras – once or hundreds of times – and send them to content@thebuddhistcentre.com.

We will make sure that every one you write will make it into the stupa, the DEADLINE FOR SENDING MANTRAS IS JULY 6th.

Pictured here is a page of 108 Heart Sutra mantras sent by Neil Harvey, a sangha member in Portsmouth New Hampshire.

The best way to get your mantras to New Hampshire on time is to do what Neil did: scan or photograph your page(s) and attach them as a .pdf or .jpg file to an email sent to content@thebuddhistcentre.com with the subject heading “Stupa Mantras.” We will print, cut the pages (as appropriate), roll up the mantras and make sure they make it into the stupa.

Follow The Stupa Project in photos and blog posts on The Buddhist Centre Online.
Make a donation through Aryaloka Buddhist Center.

In just a few months, a new stupa dedicated to Dhardo Rinpoche will be built outside Aryaloka Buddhist Center in Newmarket, New Hampshire,USA.

This will be the sixth such stupa located in a Triratna Buddhist Center. All of the existing stupas – at Tiratanaloka and Padmaloka in the UK, Guhyaloka in Spain, Vimaladatu in Germany and Sudarshanaloka in New Zealand – contain either ashes or relics of the late Dhardo Rinpoche, and this one will be no exception.

“A stupa is a reminder of the person whose relics are enshrined in it,” said Nagabodhi in a recent Triratna Day talk at Aryaloka. “Dhardo was a teacher and friend of our teacher, Sangharakshita, during his years in Kalimpong. Bhante considered him to be a living Bodhisattva.” In his talk, Nagabodhi shared that Dhardo once said in an interview, “If I were younger I would love to come and join Sangharakshita and work in the West.” It was he who gave Bhante his Bodhisattva vow. If the founding of Triratna is seen as the fulfilment of that vow, our Movement could be said to owe its existence in no small part to Dhardo Rinpoche. In our movement and our stupas, Dhardo has come to the West.

The stupa project originated as the vision of a small group of order members at Aryaloka, who felt a special connection to Dhardo and were inspired to bring his presence closer to home. Since then, a number of auspicious developments have helped to move the project along. Through a series of synchronicities, the current tulku (reincarnation) of Dhardo Rinpoche was able to visit Aryaloka in June 2013 to bless the site for the stupa. Dhardo Tulku Rinpoche has committed to return to dedicate the finished stupa. The stupa kula has also found a Tibetanstonemason, Sonam Lama, trained in stupa building as a novice monk in Ganden Monastery in Tibet and now living in Massachusetts.

More than half the funds for the stupa are in hand, and construction will begin within the next two weeks.

Follow The Stupa Project in photos and blog posts on The Buddhist Centre Online.
Make a donation through Aryaloka Buddhist Center.

Written by Bettye Pruitt

The most important items to be placed in the stupa will be three small containers (tsa-tsas) holding ashes of the late Dhardo Rinpoche, who died in 1990. It will also contain two relics – a bone of Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelugpa order of Tibetan Buddhism, and the hair of a dakini. These two items were some of the late Dhardo’s most treasured personal belongings and were a gift of the current tulku (reincarnation) of Dhardo Rinpoche. Dhardo Tulku visited Aryaloka in June 2013, blessed the site of the future stupa and presented these possessions of his predecessor to the stupa kula. These special contents will help make the stupa a symbol of the continuity of teaching from the late Dhardo, through his friend and disciple Sangharakshita, and now through the current lineage holder, to our Triratna community in the West.

Serendipitously, the stonemason who will build the stupa, Sonam Lama, learned his craft as a novice monk at Ganden Monastery, near Lhasa, Tibet. (Tsongkhapa was the abbot of Ganden Monastery.) Sonam now lives and works in Deerfield, Massachusetts, a half-day drive from Aryaloka. He is guiding the stupa kula in determining what other items should go inside the stupa.

As the foundation is laid, we will bury old tools, a toy or real gun, and other weapons, as a symbol of burying anger. We will also bury special offerings against other negative emotions. All these will be enclosed and sealed in the cement of the stupa’s foundation.

Inside the stupa itself, there will be a cedar tree cut from the woods close to the stupa site. Before cutting the tree down, Viduma will mark it so it can be situated inside the stupa in the same orientation to north, south, east and west as it was when growing. Sonam will place written mantras of the Buddha on the tree at the appropriate height then wrap the whole tree in silk that has the eight auspicious signs on it. Inside the drum of the stupa we will place dry cedar needles and chips; dried sage; furs of animals such as sheep, goat, yak (buffalo) and horse; soil and stones from the property of wealthy persons; a metal or clay vase with bits of gold, silver, and jewels inside; as well as dharma books and prayer books.

Contribute your mantras to the stupa!

In addition, we will need thousands of mantras written on paper and rolled up, to fill the inside of the drum portion of the stupa. These can be all kinds of mantras, to Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, dakinis or gurus. They can be hand written or typed and printed.

We invite sangha members across the worldwide Triratna community to join us in creating these mantras to place in the stupa. Scan and send them electronically to info@ayraloka.org with the subject line For the Stupa. Or send them by snail mail to Aryaloka Buddhist Center, 14 Heartwood Circle, Newmarket NH 03857 USA.

You can also contribute to the stupa fund on Aryaloka’s web page:
http://www.aryaloka.org/get-involved/the-stupa-project/

Be part of this exciting project!