is building is progressing quickly. Already, the bhumpa has been filled and sealed. To my recollection, this is much speedier than we had first planned. The project was originally planned for completion in 2008, in time for His Holiness’ visit. At this time, we appear to be appreciably ahead of schedule. I’ve taken some photos of the stages of construction and thought I’d share them with you. During the Spring Retreat the members of TMC contributed to the filling of the base of the stupa. The ceremony and blessing of the materials placed in the stupa was lead by Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche.

At the Spring Retreat some of the members of TMC bought molds to cast tsa-tsa, small plaster statues of Buddhas and other enlightened deities. To fill the section just under the bhumpa, we needed thousands. On most Sundays throughout the summer members and guests got together after morning practice to make tsa-tsa. The stupa also needed mantras, many thousands of mantras, which were prepared and made into rolls. These would be tied in their appropriate place along the Life-Pole. The Life-Pole is a 16 foot piece of cedar about 10 inches in diameter at the base and tapered to a point. It was painted red. Our retreat master, Drupon Thinley Ningpo, who with Lama Gyaltsen has done most of the work, (along with Dave Parker, Mike Campbell, Dave Griffin, Tom Graf and others) shaped the Life-Pole, painted it and applied the mantras. The syllables OM. AH HUNG were gilded with gold leaf.

By the Labor Day retreat, Drupon had completed the outside shell of the bhumpa and deemed the section below ready to fill. Luckily, many many tsa-tsa made in Wisconsin had arrived  by the (thank you, Linda !) and we were ready to begin.

First, the Life-Pole went in. A tricky feat. It was straightened. The bottom of the space was prepared and the tsa-tsa placement began. All of the tsa-tsa were placed into the stupa. A layer was set into place and fine sand was used to fill the space between the statues, then another layer was put in and the process repeated. There were many layers put in. At the end, a cover was devised and cement was poured to seal that section.

To fill the bhumpa, a chamber had to be made to hold the texts, mantra rolls, additional tsa-tsa, other statues and related offerings. The area between the outside shell of the bhumpa and the chamber was filled with rocks and cement. The chamber was filled one day at the end of September. The five of us working that day made a kata offering to the stupa. It was made ready for wet weather, and the following day it was sealed.

Since then, the footer for the lower level steps has been poured and some of the area around the site has been dug out in anticipation of the pathway to be built for circumambulation of the stupa.

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