It’s been 5 1/2 years since an arson fire destroyed the Columbus KTC building, and now, with the end of the construction project in sight, we can see “signs of life” on the horizon!
The latest harbinger of good things to come was our “next-to-last” moving party on Monday July 26. Just before 9 AM, a dozen volunteers gathered at our temporary location at the Congregation Tifereth Israel synagogue, and In just a matter of hours had packed all of our shrine items, cushions, prayer books and other materials into a rental moving truck for a short trip to a downtown storage locker.
The Bardo of the Storage Locker: Bill Miracle, left, and Ron Hess, center, deliver folding tables to KTC’s downtown storage locker, where they will stay until relocated to our new building later this year.
It was the end to a long sojourn for KTC and Tifereth Israel that had begun in the spring of 2016, when synagogue leaders, touched by the story of the arson fire that destroyed KTC’s building, invited KTC to use its Lower Social Hall for its weekly meditation sessions. From Spring 2016 until Spring 2020, the KTC conducted its Sunday morning dharma programs and Tuesday night Chenrezig pujas at TI. The synagogue permitted us to use its Lower Social Hall as well as an upstairs classroom, and over the four-year period, dozens of new people met the dharma in the social hall and classroom at TI.
KTC Director Kim Miracle described the relationship between KTC and TI as being “close,” and said she had a warm conversation with TI Executive Director Laura Moskow Sigal and Maintenance Coordinator Juan Pineda during the moving party this week. Kim said the two congregations may continue their cooperation in other ways in the future. “We are very grateful to Tifereth Israel for their kindness in hosting us these past few years,” she said. “We will miss them, and look forward to working with them again in the future.”
KTC’s Dharma Center Treasure Chests: Volunteers Tim Wagner (left) and Shrine Keeper Julane Goodrich (right) help stack plastic storage tubs holding shrine objects and supplies in the KTC storage locker. The items will “rest” in the locker until it’s time to move them into the new center. Thanks to everyone who helped on moving day!
Thanks to all who helped us with our “next-to-last” move. We do appreciate all you do for KTC!
Five years after a devastating arson fire destroyed the Karma Thegsum Chöling Meditation Center in Columbus, Ohio, a brand-new meditation hall is rising from the ashes.
A two-level 10,000 square-foot meditation hall and sangha activity center – twice the size of the original temple – is being built at the corner of West Rich and South Grubb streets in Columbus’ East Franklinton Neighborhood.
Its creation is a testament to the power of founder Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche’s wishes for his Columbus sangha – that we rebuild on the site of the arson and that we make the building larger and better than before.
Now that construction is more than half complete, it’s time to turn our attention to creating the “sacred environment” of our KTC shrine room.
To that end, we’re announcing our Shrine Fundraising Campaign. Starting Sunday April 18, all donations to the KTC Rebuilding Fund will be dedicated to the shrine until we reach a goal of $125,000! It’s easy to donate online: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick…
Here are details about the new KTC’s Shrine:
Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche gave us the parameters for the new shrine room before he passed away in 2019. He asked us to create an environment that reflected the main shrine room at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, our “home” monastery in Upstate New York:
A flat ceiling with walls at right angles, symbolic of the mandala palaces of Buddhist Meditational deities.
Four central pillars, symbolic of the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths.
Eight ceiling beams, symbolic of the Buddha’s Eightfold Noble Path
A large central Buddha figure, symbolic of our Buddha Nature
Side statues of awakened Bodhisattvas, symbolic of the qualities of wisdom and compassion.
A full set of the Kangyur (Buddhist scriptures), symbolic of the treasury of the Buddha’s instructions.
The best available materials, so we have a shrine room that is “built to last 100 years.”
To make these a reality, Khenpo Rinpoche pre-ordered all of the statuary and some of the religious scroll paintings, and arranged for us to have a beautiful set of the Kangyur.
Now it’s up to us to complete the work he started and finish this room that we hope will uplift and support future generations of meditators and Buddhist practitioners.
Using Khenpo Rinpoche’s basic guidelines, a nine-member Shrine Design team – six lamas and three laypersons – has come up with plans for a stunning sacred environment, with all of the qualities Rinpoche envisioned, including:
A solid oak hardwood floor
Pillars and beams made of fine wood with gold decorations
Large central throne for the Buddha statue
Two side shrines for bodhisattva statues and texts.
Brand-new chairs and meditation cushions
Final figures are not yet complete, but our best estimates say that these items and appointments will cost approximately $125,000.
This is the initial goal for the “Creating the Sacred World” campaign.
In the last five years, we’ve raised $3 million to help make Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche’s vision a reality. Friends from all over the world have donated, flooding the world with generosity and merit
The KTC Shrine Room will be a further expression of Khenpo Rinpoche’s wise and loving vision for the expansion of the Dharma in America and a sheltering sanctuary of mindfulness, love and kindness in the center of our city.
Won’t you join us in making this sacred vision a reality?
It is said that the virtue of creating a sacred space for dharma lasts as long as the structures stand; every donation you make will last 100 years or more, and will uplift the hearts of generations of future dharma students, who will meditate there, receive Refuge Vows there, take Bodhisattva Vows there and receive Vajrayana empowerment there.
All donors’ names will be placed in a Book of Honor in the KTC foyer; those who give $1,000 or more will be memorialized on plaques displayed on the foyer walls.
We look forward to seeing your contributions take share as sacred beauty all around us. May all beings benefit!
https://columbusktc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/KTCLogo-4.png00Kirstenhttps://columbusktc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/KTCLogo-4.pngKirsten2021-04-20 19:42:342021-04-20 19:43:06Creating The Sacred World: A New Shrine for Columbus KTC
Since moving our dharma programs to internet platforms last year, we have heard from many of our friends that our programs have helped them feel connected during a very difficult times.
Our Sunday programs have been a haven for many during busy and isolating weeks, and after a few months we realized that through the magic of the internet we were able to reach people with our Introduction to Buddhism classes we had center reached before.
Now, after hearing from our friends that they would like to see our Sunday 11:30 AM Dharma talks reach a wider audience, we’re going to make them available on two livestream platforms – YouTube Live and Facebook Live – starting at 11:30 AM THIS Sunday, Feb. 14, when Lama Kathy will speak on “True Love.”
While our regular “Introduction to Buddhism” and “Introduction to Meditation” classes and weekend workshops will remain on the Zoom platform, our 11:30 AM Sunday talks will be here:
Please “like” our Facebook page and and “Subscribe” to our YouTube page to receive notices of our live webcasts.
And thanks fo our many volunteers who make our programs possible. We appreciate you, and dedicate your merit.
May all beings benefit!
https://columbusktc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/KTCLogo-4.png00Kirstenhttps://columbusktc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/KTCLogo-4.pngKirsten2021-02-09 10:42:152021-02-09 10:42:15KTC Sunday Dharma Talks on the Move – to YouTube and Facebook Live!
The year 2020 will go down in the history books as a time of trial and sacrifice – the year of a pandemic and a worldwide economic downturn that affected the lives of millions of people around the world. But it also may be remembered as the year we all paused, took a collective inbreath, and looked inside our lives to see what was most important to us.
Here at KTC, the sadness and difficulty of 2020 has been counterbalanced by the joy of seeing work start on our new dharma center building. Watching the first shovelfuls of earth move and the first concrete footers and walls go up helped us feel a sense of fruition to our 4 ½ years of labor, raising funds and working with professionals to design a center that will last into the next generation of dharma practitioners.
Below you will find a “Year in Review” booklet created by our communications team to review and celebrate the good things that occurred in 2020. Hope you will enjoy reading it – and knowing that you helped make these things happen.
Yes, we are grateful to YOU, our sangha, friends, and donors, for helping us get to this point. And next year, if the pandemic is tamed and a feeling of safety returns to our lives, it’s possible we can gather once again to see the doors open at the new KTC and our first pujas and teachings take place.
As of today, we are less than $200,000 away from completing fundraising for Basic Construction of the building. A generous donor has promised to MATCH all donations, dollar for dollar, between now and Dec. 31, 2020 – up to $25,000 – and we hope you will consider donating today to help us meet our match.
OR, please recite some prayers and mantras for us, to help smooth the way for the completion of our new home. Either way, we dedicate your merit, and pray: May all beings benefit!
Hope this letter finds you and your family staying safe and well.
The Year 2020 will go down in history as a time of trial and challenge for humanity. But here at Columbus Karma Thegsum Chöling, it also will be remembered as the year we started construction on our new home.
In observance of this extraordinary year, we at Columbus KTC wish to take a moment to say “thank you” to our many volunteers and donors, who have made our construction project – and our online outreach – possible.
We started the year in difficulty – just weeks after we celebrated Tibetan New Year, Ohio was put under stay-at-home orders to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, and financially we were $525,000 short of funds to complete Basic Construction on our new home.
However, as they have in the past during difficult times, Columbus KTC’s volunteers swung into action, bringing enthusiasm and energy to both of these challenges.
KTC Goes Virtual
The day the COVID-19 shutdown began, our volunteers quickly learned the ropes of web-streaming and moved KTC to an online Dharma Talk format three days later. Within two weeks, all of our regular programs moved to the Zoom conferencing platform. We didn’t miss a single day of serving our sangha – and that meant a lot to us.
But there’s more. By going “virtual,” Columbus KTC found a new audience beyond Central Ohio, who needed the comfort and insight of meditation and Buddhist teachings. Our programs attracted participants – and new sangha volunteers – from England, Canada, Mexico, Switzerland, and even Australia!
KTC’s New Lamas
During the summer, we also welcomed two new assistant Lamas to help Lama Kathy guide our programs. Lama Adam Berner and Lama Tom Broadwater are now sharing dharma at KTC, and this year’s online KTC Fall Retreat attracted dozens of people from around the country for a “three-lama” teaching weekend on Zoom.
The Biggest News: KTC’s New Building!
However, the biggest news of the year is that on Tuesday Sept. 8, 2020, we began construction on our new meditation center and dharma home.
Nearly five years after an arson fire destroyed our meditation center, the Hanlin-Rainaldi Construction Company dug the foundation and began pouring concrete on our new 10,000-square foot meditation center.
How did we get there? With the help of all our friends!
At the start of summer, we realized that although we had raised more than $2 million for our project, we were still $525,000 short of our Basic Construction goal.
But with the encouragement of KTD President Lama Karma Drodhul, KTC volunteers rolled up their sleeves and unleashed a whirlwind of fundraisers: the Columbus Foundation’s “Big Give” in June; an online auction in summer; a matching grant fundraiser; and our first “Meditation Marathon” event in November. We also secured a $200,000 loan at Heartland Bank.
And then … several unexpected BIG gifts came our way in November, and …
We are delighted to tell you that we’ve raised the entire $325,000!
But Wait – There’s MORE! (And You Can Help!)
Now that we’ve made our $325,000 goal, we’re turning our attention to that $200,000 loan. If we can raise enough money to pay off that loan NOW, we will be able to start in our new building debt-free.
That’s why we’re having a year-end fundraising push to raise $50,000 to start whittling down that mortgage.
Here’s how it works: with the BIG gifts of November came another offer of $25,000 in MATCHING FUNDS. Every dollar you give between now and Dec. 31 will be doubled up to $25,000. Even small gifts of $10 and $25 will help us make the match and raise those funds.
Prayers also are welcome; please consider saying some OM MANI PADME HUM compassion mantras and dedicating them to Columbus KTC. We’re convinced that prayers, as well as the blessings from His Holiness Karmapa and Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche have helped us get this far.
As Always, We Thank You …
This year has helped us realize our strength and resilience as a dharma community. We are so grateful to all of you and hope you will join us in dedicating all of our dharma virtue and goodness to the cause of liberating all beings from suffering.
Wherever you are and however you celebrate the Winter holidays, we hope you will stay safe and well and feel blessed in your life and dharma practice. May all beings be free from suffering, and may all beings be happy and liberated!
Sincerely yours in dharma,
Lama Kathy, Lama Tom and Lama Adam and the Columbus KTC Board:
Kim Miracle, Director
Chuck Drake, Assistant Director
Lance Moyer, Treasurer
Marjorie Hill Langston, Secretary
Eric Weinberg, Member-at-Large
The second floor is going up! This photo shows the steel beams that form the East Wall of the shrine room from the east looking west. Our shrine will be on that wall. May all beings benefit!
https://columbusktc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/new-building.png192320Kirstenhttps://columbusktc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/KTCLogo-4.pngKirsten2020-12-20 20:25:052020-12-28 21:04:20Year in Review 2020 Letter
It was the first time in the fire official’s long tenure with the City of Columbus Fire Prevention Division that he was asked to approve an Open Burning Permit for a Tibetan Buddhist fire offering ceremony. He had approved fire ceremonies for Native American tribes, but never for an hours-long bonfire to make offerings to bless a vacant lot near downtown Columbus.
But the official did give the OK, and in April 2019, Columbus KTC conducted the very first Tibetan Buddhist fire offering ceremony in downtown Columbus history.
Khenpo Karma Tenkyong, Lama Karma Drodhul, Lama Zopa Tarchin, Lama Sonam and Cherry Qu drove all the way from our “home” monastery at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra in Woodstock, NY to help us put on the ceremony, part of the land blessing and groundbreaking ceremonies for our new temple in Franklinton. They brought juniper twigs, special grains and incenses, and mixed them all together to create a fragrant and beautiful offering for the fire.
With the Columbus skyline in the background, more than 100 people gathered under a tent pitched and “carpeted” with Astroturf and outfitted with cushions, carpets and puja tables. Don Fortner loaned us his shrine shelves, and we assembled a shrine that included images from our fire-damaged building, along with beautiful Mahakala protector torma sculptures brought from KTD just for the occasion. Lamas from around the area gathered with the KTD crew and led a beautiful two-part ceremony to bless and consecrate the land.
After a lunch break for the lamas at the Idea Foundry in Franklinton, we gathered again to chant the Mahakala protector puja. Just after the afternoon smoke offering ended, tiny raindrops began falling on the tent. The wet weather held off just long enough for us to bless our property! Want to re-live the excitement of the day? Here’s a link to Lama Kathy’s Flickr page, including photos from Don Fortner, Tanya Schroeder and others.
May all beings benefit, and may the blessings of the day endure!
https://columbusktc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/KTCLogo-4.png00Kirstenhttps://columbusktc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/KTCLogo-4.pngKirsten2020-08-06 12:00:002020-08-03 19:22:23Remembering KTC’s Land Blessing: Bountiful Goodness on the Land!
As part of our emergency fundraising campaign to raise $325,000 in the next four weeks– so we can begin building on our new center this summer – we are relaunching the final round of our KTC Rebuilding Fund Auction!
Although Columbus KTC hasn’t had its own building since the arson fire of January 2016, we’ve made use of our “nomad” period to look at our core mission and values and how to bring those to the larger community.
Our KTC Mission Statement says our aim is to provide, for all levels of practitioners, a respectful and open community for the study, practice, and activities of Buddhism of the Karma Kagyu tradition under the guidance of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra and His Holiness the Seventeeth Gyalwa Karmapa Ugyen Trinley Dorje.
And our KTC Values Statement affirms that our sangha sees all beings as having basic goodness (Buddha Nature) and that we believe in practicing kindness and service to nurture our Buddha Nature and create an uplifted community.
In this spirit, KTC actually increased its outreach activities following the fire. We continued providing Free Meditation Instruction for the Central Ohio community at our temporary location at Congregation Tifereth Israel on the Near East Side, but we also began offering Free Meditation Instruction every Wednesday from 12:15 PM to 1:15 PM at Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Columbus on Capital Square. In addition, we offer an eight-week “Introduction to Buddhism” course each Sunday at 11:30 AM, as well as a “Dharma Book Study” session, also at 11:30 AM on Sundays.
A full list of our weekly virtual events can be found in our Virtual Shrine Room.
Now that our in-person meetings have gone virtual due to the COVID-19 epidemic, KTC continues its outreach on Facebook Live, presenting Dharma Talks by our resident lamas at 1 PM Sundays on our Columbus KTC Facebook page.
This past month, KTC rolled out yet another means to benefit beings in Central Ohio and beyond – the KTC Dharma Short Films series.
Created by Columbus KTC Meditation Instructor Marcus Casey, the series is meant to help illuminate points covered in our “Introduction to Buddhism” classes. We’re incredibly excited by the work Marcus has done, and look forward to sharing more of these Dharma Short Films for you in the coming months!
Fun fact: KTC is an all-volunteer organization funded 100 percent by donations. We are seeking to rebuild our center, destroyed in an arson fire in early 2016; all donations for rebuilding are appreciated!
https://columbusktc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/KTCLogo-4.png00Kirstenhttps://columbusktc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/KTCLogo-4.pngKirsten2020-07-08 21:26:152020-07-11 15:33:59Spreading the Good News of Mindfulness and Kindness: KTC Dharma Short Films Series
When you’re trying to raise $2.9 million to rebuild a dharma center destroyed by fire, you need all the help you can get. One of the Most Valuable Players in Columbus KTC’s fundraising efforts is none other than Dzambhala, the bodhisattva of wealth.
Folks who visited our KTC Center noticed a little more than a year ago that a gold-plated statue of Dzambhala (also known as Namse in Tibetan) had been placed on the second highest shelf on our shrine, among the statues of other gurus and bodhisattvas. The statue has an interesting history.
When His Holiness Karmapa visited our “home” monastery of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra in 2015, he blessed dozens of gold-plated statues for sponsorship by individual dharma students. At that time, Columbus KTC member Marcus Casey sponsored a Dzambhala statue and brought it back to his home and displayed it on his shrine.
A few years later, after Columbus KTC was destroyed in an arson fire, Marcus and his family heard about His Holiness Karmapa’s gift of a small new Buddha statue to the KTC as a “seed” for a new KTC shrine and building in the future. Right then, the family decided that Columbus KTC needed their Dzambhala statue more than they did. So they brought the golden statue – along with its golden carrying box – to the KTC’s temporary quarters at Congregation Tifereth Israel and presented it to shrine keeper Julane Goodrich, who installed it on the KTC shrine in the Lower Social Hall of TI.
Within a few weeks, the Dzambhala was already at work; piles of $1 coins began to pile up around the golden carrying case upon which the statue sat. No one saw where the coins came from; they just appeared around the statue every few weeks.
Where were they coming from? Who was Dzambhala’s secret helper?
Turns out our helpers were none other than Robin and Sharon, two longtime KTC friends who took to the road a couple of years ago to become long-distance truck drivers. They went to school and learned how to pilot the Big Rigs – 18-wheel tractor trailers – and have been touring the entire United States since then, hauling freight and taking in America’s scenic beauty. The coins come as change from toll booths – and fit nicely around Dzambhala’s seat.
With the KTC shut down during the COVID-19 emergency, Dzambhala might not be “collecting” dollar coins at the moment, but we know he is working behind the scenes to help us raise the funds we need to rebuild. We’ll make it yet – with a little help from ALL our friends!
https://columbusktc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/KTCLogo-4.png00Kirstenhttps://columbusktc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/KTCLogo-4.pngKirsten2020-06-22 18:17:362020-06-22 18:17:36A Little Help from Our Friends
Dear Dharma Friends: It has been a difficult week for many in our dharma family. Recovering from the difficulties and fears of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, we now are confronted with the terrible reminders of how deeply the poisons of attachment, ignorance and aversion run through our human family and human society.
The killing of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis this past week was a senseless act that brutalized and destroyed many lives. The protests and civil unrest that followed was an outpouring of passion and anger that after 400 years, the scourge of racism is still part of hearts and minds on the American continent.
Our dharma community was founded on principles of inner and outer peace and non-violence, and like all people of goodwill we reject the philosophy of superiority and hatred that makes these senseless acts all too common in our world. But we also recognize that racism is not just an action or feeling of hatred aimed toward individuals, but that it also can arise as a passive complicity within a system that perpetuates oppression for some while preserving power for others.
It is this systemic racism we must now address, if we are to make any meaningful progress on the path to peace and justice for all.
In Buddhism we are asked to look within ourselves and call our our faults and failings – and our prejudices – as they arise and, owning up to them, vow to reject them utterly and replace them with actions of love.
This demands that we as individuals and as a community be willing to see our own reactivity – our own willing choice to feel superior to others and place our needs above theirs – and to pledge to team up with the downtrodden and the oppressed against our *real* enemy – selfish grasping and egotism.
Other people are not our enemies; it is our own egoistic grasping that’s to blame.
The word for arrogance in Tibetan is “Nga Gyal” – literally “I, Victorious!” In a world of such duality, when one person wins, another person must lose. This zero-sum game keeps both oppressor and oppressed in bondage to anger and egotism that has no end.
The Buddha’s Way is a way of abandoning hatred for love. We must look within ourselves and continuously challenge ourselves and our prejudices if we are ever to know peace.
“Hate never once dispelled hate. “Only love dispels hate. “This is the law, ancient and inexhaustible. “You too shall pass away. “Knowing this, how can you quarrel?”
By remembering hatred and our tendency to negatively judge others as a common enemy, may we defeat hatred wherever we see it in ourselves, and enter into genuine conversation so we can truly know the needs of others.
May we find the ways to have the painful conversations we need to have to bring our broken and hurting society into the light. May we shine in any and every way we can.
With prayers and wishes for healing,
Lama Kathy
https://columbusktc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/KTCLogo-4.png00Kirstenhttps://columbusktc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/KTCLogo-4.pngKirsten2020-06-08 17:08:092020-06-08 17:08:09Opening a Conversation on Compassion and Justice: A Letter to the Columbus KTC Community
