Four Tibetan Buddhist monks are travelling from Nepal to Wales in October to consecrate a stupa, which is a Buddhist monument symbolizing Enlightenment, at the Hermitage of the Awakened Heart near Criccieth, Gwynedd.
The stupa, a monument about 2.6m high, is being built now, part-faced with local stone and standing on the lawn in front of the Hermitage, which is the residence of Lama Shenpen Hookham and a centre for retreats. It will be filled with sacred items and relics of Buddhist teachers at special ceremonies carried out by the monks over a 10-day period.
Lama Shenpen, a British woman who spent many years in India in the 1970s receiving teachings from Tibetan Buddhist lamas and now teaches in the UK and Europe as well as reaching a worldwide audience through the internet, has led the project, which is supported by students and friends of the Awakened Heart Sangha.
She said: “The inspiration for this stupa goes back to the late 1980s when one of my teachers, His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, told my husband Lama Rigdzin Shikpo and myself that we should build one in northwest Wales. I moved to the Llyn peninsula in 1997 and came to live at the Hermitage in 2003, and now I am delighted that we are fulfilling his wish.
“A stupa is a traditional structure, similar in meaning to the cromlechs of this part of Wales. It acts as a focus for spiritual energy, and the more people who contribute to it the more far reaching its power to benefit the world will be. I hope that this stupa will be a great blessing for Wales and the world in general, and I am inviting everyone who is interested to get involved, whether Buddhist or Christian or of no particular faith.”
At the conclusion of the rituals on the full moon day of Wednesday 12th October , the public will be invited to take part in a special event from 10am to 4pm when the newly consecrated stupa will be celebrated. The provisional programme includes teaching and a blessing in the morning followed by a special ceremony at the stupa site in the afternoon. It is essential to book a place at this event by contacting [email protected], tel. 01766 530839.
The stupa has been built on private land, but it is possible to make an arrangement to visit it at any time by contacting the Hermitage.
People are also invited to make an offering towards the stupa by donating money which will be spent on landscaping the area around it, where prayer wheels and special houses where people may leave the ashes of their loved ones will be constructed. For more details see http://www.buddhism-connect.org/fundraising/.
