Notes from the Road

Nov202021

The Prayer Wheel: A story of Sanghas

Just before Dhagpo, like the rest of France, entered into a new lockdown, we were fortunate to receive the large prayer wheel that will stand in the pavilion of the meditation garden. Here is its story that stretches across Europe and two communities striving to...

Oct202029

Autumn Plantings | In pictures

Planting for the Meditation Garden began in mid-September. Close to one thousand plants of over forty different varieties will adorn the natural area behind the Institute. In some zones of the garden, newly seeded grass is already beginning to sprout. Albizia...

Oct202010

The Eight Stupas: Eight Steps in Shakyamuni Buddha’s Life

In Astamahasthanacaitya-stotras, the Indian master Nagarjuna associates the eight stupas with the four principle pilgrimage sites—the Buddha’s birth in Lumbini, his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, his first teaching in Sarnath, and his death in Kushinagar—and four...

Sep202015

Video – The meditation Garden – Filling the Bases

News from the Meditation Garden: A video showing the volunteers depositing the consecrated substances (mantra rolls and tsatsas) into the granite bases on which the eight stupas will be placed.

Aug202014

Video – The meditation Garden – The Consecrated Urns

News from the Meditation Garden: Lama Jigme Rinpoche carries out the meditation practices that precede installing the consecrated urns into the foundations of the eight stupas. A granite plaque adorned with the symbols of the five Buddhas seals the chamber.

Jul202019

Video – The meditation Garden – The Beginning

As we previously announced, the work on the Meditation Garden has intensified. We are happy to share the latest news with you. The following video shows the ritual led by Jigme Rinpoche in the presence of Gendun Rinchen and Trinlay Rinpoche before the beginning of the earthworks; the arrival of two other stupas at Dhagpo; the machines now working everyday, and the mantra roll creation workshop.

Jul20201

Karmapa – Meditation Garden

Ce jardin est un symbole. Le lieu idéal pour la méditation n’est rien qu’une idée abstraite. Cela peut être le siège dans un bus ou un train. Cela peut être le ventre d’une mère. Un lit de mort peut-être. Vous ne pouvez pas vraiment déterminer le lieu idéal ...

Jun202030

A Garden Springs from the Earth

The major construction on the Meditation Garden was paused during the Covid-19 confinement period to prioritize finishing the living room area—a space for everyone to relax and exchange. Nevertheless, the team has continued work on the detailed technical plans of...

Vue aérienne du projet de plantation de végétaux

Two Stupas Arrive at Dhagpo

During this summer’s visit from Trinley Thaye Dorje, His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, Gerard Guinot—the artisan behind the eight copper stupas—delivered two of them: The Reconciliation Stupa and The Parinirvana Stupa. Here is some information ...

Sep 19, 2019

Trees and Flowers

From April to October 2018; we began landscaping the area around the stupa with trees and flowers. Course participants and local volunteers of all ages made the most of the good weather, taking part in planting and get their hands dirty—all according to the precise indications given by Jigme Rinpoche, who took on the role of head gardener ...

Oct 10, 2018

The Eight Stupas’ Foundations

Volunteers from Dhagpo and others who live close by met up in mid-March to dig and pour the foundations for the eight stupas. They dug four rectangles and then poured concrete into them. In the center of the concrete pad, they left a cube of empty space, which will become ...

Apr 7, 2018

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