Over in a state I consider home in a very heartfelt way are dharma centers on the most verdant and peaceful of grounds, colors exploding amidst a gentle rustling of leaves and general serenity.
The center for this post is found on the "Garden Isle" of Kauai, tucked into the mountains on the eastern side of the island. Established by Lama Karma Rinchen in 1990 and directed by Lama Teshi Dundrup, this Kauai Dharma Center offers meditation retreats, Vajrayana Dharma teachings for intermediate students and basic Mahayana Buddhism classes. The center also contributes time and efforts to maintaining the first Buddhist stupa on Kauai. A project born from the efforts of the Dharma Sanctuary, the first Buddhist stupa in Kauai was consecrated in 2009. At the Kauai Dharma Sanctuary a central stupa, dedicated to the lineage of H.E. Kalu Rinpoche in Hawai'i, is surrounded by smaller stupas.
The stupa project in general serves as a further unifying force for Lama's who devoted energy to establishing centers and transmitting dharma teachings throughout the Hawaiian Islands.
Clicking through the slideshows at the Dharma Sanctuary's website also really gives one a sense of the lushness and spacious sense on the island surrounding the centers. The Dharma Sanctuary's main focus is the construction of Tibetan stupas globally with stupas already constructed in France, Hawai'i and New Mexico. As the Dharma Sanctuary states on their website, stupa building....
"is a spiritual technology that the Tibetans have codified over centuries and is now available to the western world....Building stupas is holy work. They only appear when all the conditions are auspicious. "
Stupa Empowerment ceremony at Dharma Sanctuary, Kauai
Source: Kagyu Thubten Choling/Kauai Dharma Center website
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