Finished the throne and started the rings.
Nice ramp, eh? The curve is very artistic, helps you to concentrate when running up it with a full wheelbarrow of concrete.Okay, pop quiz time:
Can you which of the eight types it is yet?
This is just one way of doing the bumpa (vase) section. If you look at the other photos, you'll see this is more commonly done in concrete. but this is very traditional, and Lama was keen on this method. Afterwards the outside is simply plastered to a plywood profile.
I mean, you cut a bit of plywood that gives you the finished shape of the bumpa, and keep circumambulating with it in one hand, while applying mortar until it comes out to the profile. Similar to skreeding concrete on the ground. I'm pointing at a couple of hooks we left in to tie the door onto.
The pipe up the middle has to be large enough in diameter to slip the life tree (which is one unit square at the large end) down inside later.
And that's what is happening here. On a most auspicious dawn, just as the full moon was setting, the life tree was inserted. A really magic moment, one lunar month after starting.
Later that day, amazing how many people turn up for a celebration!
If you didn't guess, it's a victory stupa....in terms of Buddha's life, it's the penultimate one: he was gooing to pass away, and his disciples begged him to extend his life, so he did.
Since this photo, much more decorative stuff has been done, and there is a garden around it, very beautiful. Still, there is something appealing about the rough hewn look of 28 straight days.
That same day. I got to relax. Nice view :)
Move on to Dorje Chang Institute