Dear friends!
Thank you all who supported the great Siberian Stupas project!
Your generocity made the miracle! Hooray!
If you have surpluse and want to make a connection with the wonderful Stupas — you still have the opportunity! We are still paying for the granite, which the Stupa of Complete Victory on Lake Baikal is made of, and for the Buddha statue. So, all donations are very much welcome!
You can contribute here.
Stupa Consecration: https://goo.gl/mF4jex
Smoke offerings: https://goo.gl/Pysvj3
Version for using on mobile devices without printing out: https://goo.gl/g2Nx1B
Regardless of the weather and temperature outside, we need to adhere to the dress code - look nice, neat and clean.
Please, do not come in camouflage (military) cloths. Men can be in T-shirts or shirts with short sleeves. Women are advised to avoid open shoulders, short skirts, deep decollete, transparent fabrics.
It's not at all necessary to put on a lot of jewelry, many blessing strings and use strong fragrances.
On June 17, after three days of preparatory pujas, tsa-tsas were laid in the Stupa of Enlightenment.
Everyone admired their perfect forms and colors! A lot of joy and happiness!
On June 12 in Krasnoyarsk Stupa of Enlightenment, Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche held a ceremony of laying the offering naga-vases and vases of well-being. Before that, vases, or bumps, were filled with valuable substances, such as flowers, etc. Then, within three days, the vases were consecrated with pujas held by Rinpoche.
The filling of the first Stupa chamber was successful. This is a very beautiful ceremony, which filled our hearts with joy. In the evening Sherab Gyaltsen gave a lecture.
Activity in Krasnoyarsk is growing!
Today we filled the bumpers. The stupa is also growing.
Today, bricklayers from Poland, Roger and Michal - father and son, arrived. They will work with setting up granite elements of the stupa.
In the backyard of the Bhuttist center there is a workshop for making tables and benches for the dining room.
The skeleton of the street gompa is covered with awning. We are preparing for many guests.
On June 3, Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche arrived to Krasnoyarsk, lunch with him was organized for all visitors.
Urraaa! Uraaa! Uraaa! - the last part of the concrete core in Krasnoyarsk has been done today!
Now the concrete has time to dry before it will be covered with the stone blocks.
Rinpoche, who will arrive here on the 3rd of June will prepare now Naga Bumpas and through the openings in the concrete bloc he will place them below the level of foundation. Like this we will save about 4 weeks of Rinpoches time and make possible construction of two, big Stupas nearly in the same time.
The last stage of the concrete work you can see on "Stupas of Siberia" - a small beautiful video captured this moment.
Team in Krasnoyarsk - you have done a great job! :=))
Wojtek Kossowski
It starts to be exciting...
Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche is on his way to Siberia, Stonemasons are packing their tools and already the second Truck carrying tonnes of granite is on the way..!
The First Truck - red line - after covering 2.340 km and passing Moscow, reached today small town Wjaziki in Russland.
The Second Truck - violet line - reached today Minsk in Belarus.
I cant still believe it - they are really on the way, crossing the half continent and making impossible possible!!!
All the best for them!
Wojtek Kossowski
The stone transport manageded a very important moment in the long travel - Polish - Belarus border. Everything went good.
At the evening of 26 of Mai the Truck was in Grodno, Belarus.
Good rest and a free way tomorrow!
Wojtek Kossowski
Dear Friends!
Time is passing and it was obvious, that that day will come...
Still it is something special - a piece of a mountain will be moved nearly 7.000 km from south Poland to Krasnoyarsk and Tankhoj in Siberia.
Yesterday the first of four trucks loaded with 24 tonnes of granite started this long journey. We will follow it on the way...
Good luck and free way!
Wojtek Kossowski
Wojtek Kossowski, the architect of the Siberian Stupas project, get now involved in the development of of a small park around the Stupa of Enlightenment in Krasnoyarsk. We attach his first sketches. Stupa will harmonize the surrounding area, and we hope that this place with a beautiful view of the city will become one of the most beloved place of the inhabitants of Krasnoyarsk.
On 13 and 14 of May, construction work was actively carried out in Tankhoi site. We began to lay down the electric cable to the house, where our Lamas will be living during the inauguration of the Stupa of the Complete Victory. A group of volunteers cut down dry trees around.
All tsatsa for our Stupa are already made and corrected, and half of them are painted now. During the breaks we swim in the Baikal lake, which was recently freed from ice.
The ninth of May – the ninth day of the construction of the Stupa – became special: the objects related to the Stupa protective functions were laid down to the Enlightenment Stupa’s foundation. Also we completed the first line of the basement. During the work large birds circled again around the construction sight, and through the clouds, as a precious gift, the sun sometimes glimpsed – and again disappeared to remind us about impermanence.
On Sunday, May 7th a subbotnik took place in Tankhoy. Buddhist friends from different cities of Russia - Ulan-Ude, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk and even so distant Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk - were cleaning and preparing the site for the Stupa of Perfect Victory on the shore of Baikal Lake. Preparation for the Stupa construction is in full swing!
On May 1st the groundbreaking ceremony for the Stupa of Enlightenment was held in Krasnoyarsk. The ceremony coincided with visit of Wojtek Kosowski, the architect of our project. Besides the ceremony, Wojtek participated in several meetings and discussed details on construction of the Stupa’s foundation, planning the landscape around the Stupa, as well as the metal top of the stupa, which is now in production in a neighbouring town Zheleznogorsk.
The groundbreaking ceremony began at 8 am with meditation on Loving Eyes, then we made traditional offerings to nagas. Simultaneously Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche conducted appropriate rituals and pujas in Kathmandu. That was a very joyful and festive ceremony, and we tried to comply with all of its details. Shortly after the offerings were made, eagles came and began circling the place of the future Stupa and the Buddhist Center, which is considered as a favorable sign. A lot of our friends from neighboring cities took part in the ceremony!
Dear friends, we must apologize, since the German bank account (Regensburg Buddhist Center), announced for donation collection for the Siberian Stupa 2017 project, did not work. According to their tax policy, they cannot collect money for a foreign project, so all your donations were sent back to you, as you may have noticed already.
Please, don’t use this account anymore, and if you want to re-reinvest your donation returned, please use our Polish bank account, or Paypal.
We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused by this.
Dear friends, our architect Wojtek Kossowski send us a plan for works on both stupas during the summer. The plan is already approved by Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche. Please, find details below!
Krasnoyarsk
1st May
—
ground-breaking ceremony, Rinpoche will make pujas simultaneously in Kathmandu.
1-4 May
—
digging foundation pit and preparing formwork.
4-18 May
—
making concrete basement for the stupa.
18 May — 2 June
—
time needed for the concrete to dry.
3 June
—
Rinpoche arrives to Krasnoyarsk, starting the stupa filling. Simultaneously experts from “Supergranit” company (Poland) start mounting the granite elements of the stupa.
30 June
—
the stupa assembling is finished. Rinpoche continues rituals.
9 July
—
the stupa inauguration in Krasnoyarsk with Lama Ole and Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche.
Tankhoj
1 June
—
Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche makes the ground-breaking ceremony on the place of the stupa of Complete Victory. Then Rinpoche departs to Krasnoyarsk.
1-4 June
—
digging foundation pit and preparing formwork.
4-18 June
—
making concrete basement for the stupa.
18 June — 1 July
—
time needed for concrete to dry.
1-27 July
—
start of the granite Stupa elements assembling by experts from “Supergranit” company.
10 July
—
Rinpoche returns to Tankhoj, beginning of the Stupa filling.
12-16 July
—
course in Ulan-Ude with Lama Ole and Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche. Rinpoche presents on the course 15-16 July.
27 July
—
Inauguration of the Stupa of Complete Victory on Baikal with Lama Ole and Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche.
We are getting many letters from friends offering their physical participation in the stupas construction. We are very inspired by your wish to help, and also gratitude for that! However, as you can see from the schedule above, all physical resources demanding works on ground and concrete must be finished by 18 May in Krasnoyarsk and by 18 June in Tankhoj. After that all work on the stupas construction will be done by experts from “Supergranit” company, which do not need help. So, during Rinpoche presence at the construction sites there will be no possibility to contribute to the stupas construction directly.
We are working now on more detailed work schedule and a list of vacancies for different periods of construction. Soon, we will publish it on this site or in news mailing list, so those who wants can find place and time where their participation would be most needed! For example, large amount of work related to the stupas filling preparation must be finished by 1 June.
More details about accommodation options and meals during the summer program will appear soon as well.
In Krasnoyarsk during the New Year vacations we had a tsa-tsa painting course with Leo and Katka. They are close students of Dawa Lhadipa, a well-known Buddhist painter from Nepal. Many friends from various cities – Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Achinsk, Abakan, Ulan-Ude, and Irkutsk – came to take part in the course. We also had special guests – travel teachers Alexander Vychugzhanin and Ludmila Inkina.
Leo and Katka showed us a presentation how Stupas are filled, and told us in details about Stupa building, so now we have a clear idea what we’ll need at next stages.
The January course finished, and our visitors went home, but tsa-tsa painting didn’t stop. Leo and Katka will stay in Krasnoyarsk until January 24, and all the time we’ll be preparing tsa-tsas for the Stupas. On January 21 and 22 Ilya Sandomirskiy, who actively participates in the Siberian Stupas propject, will join us. In Irkutsk people are also making tsa-tsas, and many cities are preparing mantra-rolls for the Baikal Stupa.
At the New Year Course in Sofia we used the opportunity to tell about our project to the international Sangha. We showed a film about Siberian Stupas, after that we invited everyone to come to Krasnoyarsk and Lake Baikal to the Stupas inauguration. We also gave to Lama Ole and Alexandra honey, sweets, and an album about the Stupas. Lama gave the blessing and told us “you’ll manage it anyway”.
There was some fundraising at the party. Everyone who gave a donation for the Stupas got a helium balloon for fastening a notice with a wish and sending the balloon up into the sky. On that New Year night about 50 balloons with wishes of our friends from all over the world went up into the sky. The connections are growing and strengthening!
A lot of friends have already started to collect everything you need to fill the Stupas of Siberia, and it's a lot! Next sparkling element is brocades from India. In December, many people come to India in Bodhgaya on Kagyu Monlam, and we're going to bring back the brocade, in which the most important objects will be wrapped when put into the stupas. This will be gold with red brocade, shining with beauty! We will need about 30 meters of fabric of the highest quality.
You can learn more details from Victoria Dubich victoria.dubich@gmail.com
We are preparing a list of all needed for the Siberian Stupas filling and inauguration. The list will include all details and pictures of the needed items. It will be finished out soon, so all who want can take part in buying or sponsoring of particular objects.
Please address your questions and suggestions to stupa-filling@googlegroups.com
In the beginning of January, Thangha painters Leo Grzyb and his wife Katka will visit Krasnoyarsk. We plan to organize a course on tsa-tsa painting and to invite all friends who want to take part in this process and to get connection.
A set of matra-rolls needed for one Stupa filling is nearly completed in Krasnoyarsk. In Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude work with rolling matras continues almost every day! Newly printed mantra-sheet are spread among several other towns. We plan, that the second mantra-roll set to be finished by spring 2017.
In Krasnoyarsk the main focus now on molding and corrections of tsa-tsas. We need around 2000 more to produce. Recently, the process of tsa-tsa production started in Irkutsk as well. All who want to help with tsa-tsas please come to Irkutsk or Krasnoyarsk - you will always get some job!
On October 23, the day of Parinirvana of the Eighth Karmapa Mikyo Dorje, friends from Irkutsk Buddhist Centre started moulding traditional relief sculptures called tsa-tsas to be put into the Stupa of Complete Victory.
Inner filling of a stupa is its important integral part although monolithic stone stupas also exist. Stupas built in accordance with Tibetan, Nepalese and Bhutanese traditions are filled with ritual implements such as statues, mandalas, Buddhist texts, rolled mantras, tsa-tsas, relics of realized teachers, etc.
Tsa-tsas are traditional relief images made of clay and plaster. Representing Buddha forms, stupas and other auspicious symbols, they symbolize enlightened qualities of mind and are used as means on the way to Enlightenment. Together with written or relief syllables, they represent Buddha’s body, speech and mind. Blessed rice kernels, rolled mantras or other relics can be dipped into soft plaster.
Creating a tsa-tsa is an act of highest devotion and spirituality connected to the wish to work for the benefit of all beings. Seen as a meditation object along with statues and thangkas, they help imagine Buddha aspects. Creating a tsa-tsa or looking at a Buddha aspect depicted on it brings good imprints in mind.
This information was taken from the web-site stupaman.org.
We continue building a guest house, creating utility systems and improving the plot of land for the Stupa in Tankhoi village.
Dear friends! Here is the draft programme of events in Siberia for you to plan your summer vacations in 2017.
Krasnoyarsk
July 09 (Sunday)
—
Inauguration of the Stupa of Enlightenment in Krasnoyarsk with Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche and Lama Ole Nydahl. According to the Tsurphu calendar, it will be the full moon.
Rinpoche says that the date for installation of the Life Tree into the Stupa will be clear in the process of building it. The installation will be held 1-3 days before the inauguration.
Ulan-Ude
July 12-16
—
the course with Lama Ole and Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche in Ulan-Ude.
July 15 (Saturday)
—
Chenrezig empowerment by Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche.
July 16 (Sunday)
—
public lecture by Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche.
Rinpoche will be present at the course in Ulan-Ude only on July 15-16.
Tankhoi, Lake Baikal
July 27 (Thursday)
—
Inauguration of the Stupa of Complete Victory in Tankhoi with Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche and Lama Ole Nydahl. According to Tsurphu calendar, it will be on the Day of the First Turning of the Dharma Wheel.
Rinpoche says that the date for installation of the Life Tree into the Stupa will be clear in the process of building it. The installation will be held 1-3 days before the inauguration.
During Russian summer course few meetings on the Stupas project were conducted and here below we summarized all news for you.
On meeting with Tomek Lehnert, the dates for Stupas inauguration were fixed during June-July 2017. Tomek will fix Lama Ole's plan accordingly. Very soon Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche will define two exact dates for the inaugurations, and then we can define all necessary steps in time.
Granite parts of both stupas will be made at «Piramida» company (Poland). The company worked on construction of most of our stupas in Europe built in last years. Metal parts of the stupas to be built in Russia.
The main activity now is collecting money and filling for the stupas construction, as well as collecting and drying of the flowers for the filling. For more information regarding the stupa fillings please contact via statues@buddhism.ru or stupa-filling@googlegroups.com.
Mantra-rolls are now prepared in full speed in Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, Tomsk, Ekaterinburg, Moskow and few other towns. By December we will finish all necessary mantra rolls for one stupa now!
Workshop for molding and correction of tsa-tsas now start to operate again in Krasnoyars after summer breack. In September, another tsa-tsa workshop start to operate in Irkutsk as well. The tsa-tsa forms to be used in Irkutsk are now used for Dhagpo Kagyu stupa (France) which is directed by Wojtek Kossowsky, as well as our Siberian stupas - so good connection!
Video presentation of the project Stupas of Siberia including the exclusive interview with Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche about inauguration of the Siberian Stupas in 2017
Pouring concrete for a foundation of the house and active construction of the infrastructure has started on July 01, 2016. Drainage ditches and sanitary utilities were made, and showers and toilets were built. The construction is getting in full swing!
On June 10, 2016 20 trucks with a mixture of sand and gravel were brought to the construction site to level the landscape. A borehole was drilled to get water supplies, and preparation of a construction pit for the house foundation has begun. There will be a gompa and guest rooms in the house.
On May 01, 2016 students of Lama Ole Nydahl from Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude and the Diamond Way teacher Mindaugas Stankunas (Lithuania/UK) participated in a weekend clean-up in Tankhoi village at the place where the Stupa of Complete Victory will be built in 2017.
Friends dismantled the old house, collected garbage which was put into four trucks and uprooted unnecessary trees on the plot of land. All this became a symbolic beginning of the big preparation of the construction site.
On March 17, 2015 several friends from Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Irkutsk and Kathmandu visited the stone quarry and processing department of the Piramida factory. It is situated near Wroclaw, Poland.
This factory already produced sets for constructing nine Buddhist Stupas that were erected in different parts of Europe: the Stupa of Miracles in Kuchary and the Kalachakra Stupa in Greece in the early years as well as the recent Stupas built in retreat places (Becske in Hungary, Tenovice in Czech Republic, Plana in Bulgaria…).
The meeting with the administration of the factory was held in a friendly atmosphere. Agreements were reached concerning material production for the Stupa of Enlightenment in Krasnoyarsk and the Stupa of Complete Victory on Lake Baikal scheduled for autumn 2016. Sets will be delivered to Russia by trucks.
On February 04, 2016, representatives of the Russian Karma Kagyu Buddhists Association formalized purchase of the plot of land for construction of the Stupa of Complete Victory. The plot of land with a house on it is situated on the eastern shore of Lake Baikal next to Tankhoi village.
This event was marked with a 5.5-magnitude earthquake with its epicenter in the centre of the water area of Lake Baikal. Several days before, a few friends of Lama Ole including Pedro and Dorrit Gomezes, Alexander Koibagarov and Petr Kalachin visited this new retreat place as a part of the Winter Tour programme. They drove their in a hovercraft over the icy surface of Lake Baikal.
In the summer season of 2016 we are going to build a new house and prepare the retreat centre for constructing a 7-meter Stupa in 2017.
Dear friends!
Wojtek Kossowski will give a lecture Stupa as a 3D Model of Enlightenment on January 24, 2016 at 19:00. Wojtek is a student of Lama Ole. Having the direct transmission from Lopön Tsechu Rinpoche, he participated in construction of 20 Stupas in Europe and America. He is an architect of the Siberian Stupas Project: two Buddhist Stupas which will be built simultaneously in Krasnoyarsk and on the shore of Lake Baikal.
The venue of the lecture is the House of Culture of Kombainostroitelei, Krasnoyarsk, 134, Bograda St.
Five-day course on tsa-tsa making (clay copies of Buddha aspects and Stupas) for the Siberian Stupas Project has started in Krasnoyarsk Buddhist centre on January 06. Tsa-tsas are created under the guidance of Eva Javorszky (Austria). Right before the course, Eva gave a lecture on Stupas and their meaning as well as stages and details of their construction. A student of Lama Ole Vitaly Kozlov will give lectures on different Buddhist topics.
The course is attended by participants from Tomsk, Achinsk, Abakan, Irkutsk, Zheleznogorsk and Moscow. It is amazing when so many friends united by their pure motivation take part in creating something timeless.
Mantra texts for making mantra rolls were printed in Krasnoyarsk. They will be put into the Siberian Stupas.
The course on preparation of Buddhist mantras for the Siberian Stupas was held in Krasnoyarsk Buddhist centre on November 14-16. The Siberian Stupas Project is aimed at construction of a Stupa in Krasnoyarsk and another one on the shore of Lake Baikal. The course was guided by Svetlana Belyaeva (Saint-Petersburg). She is the mastermind of the travelling exhibition project Treasures of Himalayas being its coordinator for the last 12 years. Svetlana is also an author of articles on the Buddhist art, philosophy and practice. The course was attended by participants from Omsk, Tomsk, Irkutsk, Abakan, Achinsk. The process of preparing mantra rolls for the Buddhist stupas appeared to be very interesting and inspiring. The course was finished by Svetlana’s lecture Three Vehicles: Hinayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana.
In August 2015, several friends from Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk went to Plana retreat place near Sofia, Bulgaria for the official inauguration ceremony for the Stupa of Enlightenment. During this visit, they had a memorable meeting with Lama Ole Nydahl and Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche where they decided on building two Buddhist Stupas in summer 2017: a Stupa of Enlightenment in Krasnoyarsk and a Stupa of Complete Victory on the shore of Lake Baikal. The project named Siberian Stupas will be implemented with the help of an experienced architect Wojtek Kossowski who built 21 Stupas around the world.
