When a great teacher passes away, his body is no more, but to indicate that his mind is dwelling forever in an unchanging way in the dharmakaya, one will erect a stupa as a symbol of the mind of the Buddhas. ~ H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
One of Rinpoche’s root teachers and major influences was his late father, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, one of the most respected Dzogchen masters to escape from Tibet. Traditionally, stupas can have eight major meanings, each with a corresponding design. Dedicated to Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, a stupa was built in the style of The Stupa of Enlightenment. In 2005, a preliminary consecration was held on the land. This ceremony was presided over by several Rinpoches and lamas and attended by hundreds of people.
Jangchub Chorten
Jangchub Chorten
The stupa was constructed to very precise specifications and filled in the traditional way with tens of thousands of tsa-tsas (a miniature replica of a stupa containing relics of the Buddha, and mantra scrolls). Relics of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and many other great masters were placed inside, along with sacred texts from the Buddhist canon. This beautiful stupa creates the opportunity to accumulate merit by making offerings and circumambulating the sacred site. Pervaded by blessings or spiritual influence, the environment around a stupa provides a particularly auspicious and peaceful place to meditate.
Shrine Hall/Tent
Shrine Hall on Yeshe Rangsal Land
Rinpoche’s Tibetan tent on Yeshe Rangsal land, August 2008
The Shrine Hall (which is currently in a seasonal tent) seats approximately 150 people and provides a place where students can gather together for intensive group practice, teachings and small seminars.
Students who wish to practice in an intensive, solitary retreat will eventually be able to use individual retreat cabins on the land. For this purpose, 10 individual retreat cabins will be built in the future. They will be financially sponsored by students wishing to deepen their practice in a blessed retreat setting. A prototype retreat cabin design is under way, and construction of a small, multi-purpose support building will be completed by mid-July, 2013.
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