KTC’S MEDITATION MARATHON IS OPEN for SIGNUPS!

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We’re excited to let you know that Columbus KTC’s very first “Meditation Marathon” fundraising page is LIVE and open for sign-ups.

Click here: https://p2p.onecause.com/rebuildktc

With the help of OneCause, today we’ve officially launched the “Rebuild Columbus KTC 10-Day Meditation Challenge” – a “meditation marathon” that will challenge us to meditate once a day, every day, from Saturday Nov. 7 through Monday Nov. 16.

There are two ways to connect to the marathon – as a Donor and as a Participant

To Make a Donation

When you open the Meditation Marathon page, look for a white square with two buttons: a blue “Register” and a golden-yellow “Make a Donation” button. Click the “Make a Donation” button and follow the steps to make your donation to support the marathon. 

After you’ve donated, please share the fact that you’ve donated on your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or other social media channels with the hashtag #RebuildKTC.

To Register as a Participant

To participate in the Meditation Marathon yourself, open the Meditation Marathon page and look for the same white square with two buttons: the blue “Register” button and a golden-yellow “Make a Donation” button. Click the “Register” button and follow the steps to sign up as a participant.

You can sign up in one of three ways:

  1. As an individual
  2. As a team with family and friends
  3. As a member of one of KTC’s “friendly competition” teams, named after the Five Wisdoms – Blue Banner, Yellow Banner, Red Banner, Green Banner and White Banner.

Gather Sponsors and Donations

After you’ve signed up as a participant, you’ll have your own webpage URL to share with family and friends, who can then donate through your webpage to support your participation in the Meditation Challenge. KTC receives the donations, and you receive the benefits of meditating daily for 10 days! 

Don’t forget to share your participation on your social media channels; use the hashtag #RebuildKTC to draw attention to our campaign.

Log Your Daily Meditation

Another part of being a participant is logging your daily meditation minutes. When you sign up, you’ll be able to start logging your daily meditation minutes, which will become part of the community’s total. Participants can set their own personal meditation goal, but we are hoping that when the 10-Day Challenge is finished, we will have, as a group, meditated 1000 minutes.

Join Our Daily Zoom Meditation!

To support you in the Meditation Challenge, after the initial 2 PM Kick-off Event on Saturday Nov. 7, Lama Kathy, Lama Tom and Lama Adam will lead nightly “Open Meditation Sessions” at 7 PM on Zoom. These one-hour sessions will include talks on topics like Love and Resilience as well as discussions and short meditation sessions – to help you meet your daily goal while meditating with your dharma family.

You can even share the Zoom session links with your donating sponsors to attend our daily sessions – a short instruction will be offered every night. 

CAN YOU HELP?

As with any KTC activity, we need volunteers to help make things “go.” Here’s what we need for the Meditation Challenge Event: 

  • Business Sponsors.  Do you have a business that would like to advertise on our Meditation Marathon page – and help us pay for the services offered by OneCause? Please contact Lama Kathy at lamakathy@columbusktc.org. We will spotlight your business as a “Sponsor” on our website’s front page!
  • Social Media Supporters. Whether you are a donor or a participant, please SHARE, LIKE and re-post any of the Rebuild KTC Meditation Marathon posts you see. Please check out Columbus KTC’s Facebook and Instagram pages and re-post and like as many Marathon posts as you can.
  • Prayers. Please add the Meditation Challenge fundraiser to your daily prayers

We are grateful for all the help and support you offer.

A Few Apologies and Some Gratitude …

  • Peer-to-peer fundraising is new for us, so we apologize for any difficulties in signing up, or if there are awkward feelings as you ask friends and family to support your 10-Day Meditation Challenge. But if you can ask your friends and relatives for small donations to support you in your fundraiser, it will give them (and you!) merit and virtue and will help us reach our goal. Other charities use 5K runs and cycling events; we just meditate! 
  • There might be some glitches, so not everything will work the way it’s supposed to. We apologize if form letters aren’t exactly perfect, or if you have trouble learning the ropes of sharing photos and logging your meditation minutes. We hope the benefits outweigh the glitches!

Questions? Our friendly team of volunteers will do their best to help you. Write us at: marathon@columbusktc.org.

Thanks in advance for your participation in this event. Who knows? We might gain enough traction with this event to offer it every year as a service to the people of Central Ohio.

May All Beings Benefit!!!  

Join us for some FUN-raising at the KTC 10-Day Meditation Challenge!

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Thanks to all our KTC sangha friends, we’ve raised more than $2 million in the last 4 ½ years to help Rebuild Columbus KTC.  Through your generosity we started construction Sept. 8!

Now we’re trying to raise the last $525,000 to cover Basic Construction on our new building. If we can raise these funds, we can start the next chapter of KTC’s history debt-free.

Since weekly Free Meditation Instruction is our main public service, we thought it would be good to include Meditation in our autumn fundraiser this year.

With the help of OneCause, we’re preparing to launch the Rebuild Columbus KTC 10-Day Meditation Challenge – a sort of “meditation marathon” that will challenge us to meditate once a day, every day, from Saturday Nov. 7 through Monday Nov. 16. 

We all know the benefits of meditation for body and mind.  But the 10-Day Meditation Challenge isn’t just about improving our health and well-being; we’re encouraging people to ask their friends and family to sponsor their meditation challenge to raise money for Columbus KTC!

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS

Register. Meditation Challenge participants will go to the Columbus KTC Meditation Marathon page on the OneCause website starting Nov. 1 and sign up to participate. 

You can sign up in one of three ways:

  1. As an individual
  2. As a team with family and friends
  3. As a member of one of KTC’s “friendly competition” teams, named after the Five Wisdoms

Gather sponsors and donations. Once you sign up, you’ll have your own webpage to share with family and friends, who can then donate through your webpage to support your participation in the Meditation Challenge. KTC receives the donations, and you receive the benefits of meditating daily for 10 days!

Join daily meditation programs. To support people in the Meditation Challenge, Lama Kathy, Lama Tom and Lama Adam will lead nightly “Open Meditation Sessions” at 7 PM on Zoom.  These one-hour sessions will include talks on topics like Love and Resilience as well as discussions and short meditation sessions – to help you meet your daily goal while meditating with your dharma family. 

You can even invite your donating sponsors to attend – a short instruction will be offered every night.

CAN YOU HELP?

As with any KTC activity, we need volunteers to help make things “go.” Here’s what we need for the Meditation Challenge Event:

  • Nightly Zoom hosts to monitor chat and help people as they check in. Zoom hosting experience is a plus.
  • Team Leads for the five KTC-sponsored “friendly competition” teams. Will involve making brief daily online posts during the 10 days of the event.

To volunteer, write Lama Kathy at lamakathy@columbusktc.org.

Thanks in advance for your participation in this event. Who knows? We might gain enough traction with this event to offer it every year as a service to the people of Central Ohio. 

In any case, may all beings benefit!!! 

Support the Dharma – Buy a Great “Bodhisattva” T-Shirt!

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A collection of photos from the Santa Monica KTC showing examples of the Columbus KTC Bodhisattva T-Shirts “in the wild.” If you look closely you’ll see some familiar faces!!!

Now you can support the rebuilding of Columbus Karma Thegsum Chöling Tibetan Buddhist Center by purchasing a great-looking T-shirt with a Bodhisattva theme.

After Columbus KTC’s dharma center was destroyed in an arson fire in January 2016, the Santa Monica KTC in California wanted to help out. So SM KTC member and meditator Max Graenitz, a professional illustrator and designer, created the “Bodhisattva in Training” T-shirt to help raise money for the new Columbus temple. 

Each design is individually handprinted in cheerful orange ink on high-quality granite gray cotton shirts. The fabric is soft to the touch, and fair-trade in origin, so it will feel good inside and out!

On the front is a whimsical drawing of a many-armed bodhisattva, and the words “Bodhisattva In Training.” 

On the back is the Compassion Mantra “OM MANI PEME HUNG”. 
$20 of each shirt sale goes directly to the Columbus KTC rebuilding fund.

Order them here: BODHI TEE

Don’t Need a T-Shirt, But Still Want to Give? Donate Here!We are just $500,000 away from having all the money we need for Basic Construction of the Columbus KTC. Please practice generosity and give to the Columbus KTC’s Rebuilding Fund. Your donation will help us provide free meditation instruction to the people of Central Ohio and beyond. The impact of your donation will be felt by countless people, now and into the future. May all beings benefit!

To give, click here. 

May all beings benefit!

Fulfilling the Vision of His Holiness Gyalwang Karmapa and Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche

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This week’s featured video was filmed in the main shrine room at KTC’s “home” monastery, Karma Triyana Dharmachakra in Woodstock, NY.  This monastery is the seat of His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa in the United States, founded in the 1970s by our own KTC Founder, Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche.


In the beautiful KTD shrine room, Khenpo Ugyen Tenzin, a scholar and meditation master sent to KTD more than a decade ago by His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, explains his connection with the KTC Rebuilding Project and his wishes for the new temple’s completion. He also explains the benefits of creating a Buddhist temple to bring beings the methods of dharma to free their minds from suffering.


He is assisted by Khenpo Sangye Trinley, another scholar and dharma master residing at KTD Monastery, who is acting as interpreter for Khenpo Ugyen Tenzin.

Building a Buddhist Temple in Downtown Columbus – Not Your Average Job

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It’s not everyday that a construction company gets to build a Buddhist temple – and it’s pretty rare to build one near the center of town.

In 1990, Columbus KTC moved from the University District, where it had spent most of its early years, to the East Franklinton Neighborhood in downtown Columbus. Being located 1 1/2 miles from the literal center of town (the corner of High and Broad streets) puts KTC in the “center of the action” in our beautiful and bustling city.

As we prepared to rebuild, we hired the Hanlin Rainaldi Construction Company, which has been around Columbus since 1992. To help us interface with the construction company, we hired Gavin Jones and Alan McLaughlin of Colliers International to be our owner-representatives (AKA our construction management team) to watch over all phases of the project on our behalf.

What’s it like for folks who usually build restaurants and offices to build a Tibetan Buddhist temple? In this week’s video – filmed during a visit to our construction site – our electrical contractor Tim Stanforth, Hanlin Rainaldi spokesman Matt Rupp, and Gavin and Alan of our construction management team discuss what it’s like to accumulate merit while doing their “day job.”

His Holiness Karmapa: “Columbus KTC will be very large.”

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In September 2020 the Columbus Karma Thegsum Chöling will observe its 43rd Anniversary. In September 1977, Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche visited Central Ohio for the first time with translator Ngodrup Burkhar and gave a series of talks in Columbus and Newark, Ohio, speaking on “The Thought of Enlightenment.” He also gave the Refuge Vow to a group of Western disciples, who then formed the nucleus of the dharma center that would become Columbus KTC.


Tibetan masters – such as His Holiness the 16th Karmapa and Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche – had only left Tibet 18 years before, escaping over the Himalayan mountains after a failed Tibetan uprising prompted a violent government crackdown on Buddhist temples and monasteries. 

From their new homes in exile in India, Tibetan teachers such as Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche eventually traveled to all the continents of the world, teaching Buddhism to all who had the karma to see and hear them. 

Columbus was the first major city Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche visited outside the West and East coasts; His Holiness Karmapa was said to have been delighted after hearing the name of the city, remarking, “isn’t Columbus the name of the person who is supposed to have ‘discovered’ America? Ah, this is auspicious!”


Three years after the founding of Columbus KTC, His Holiness visited Ohio’s capital city, meeting Mayor Tom Moody and giving the Vajra Crown Ceremony in the East Ballroom of the former student union at The Ohio State University. Hundreds of people saw and heard His Holiness.

As His Holiness prepared to leave Columbus on the final day of his 1980 visit, he gave an interesting prophesy to the assembled dharma students.

It was surprising to His Holiness that in a city of Columbus’ size, the KTC had more members than centers that had been around a lot longer. In the future, His Holiness said, “Columbus KTC will be very large.”  

With the Columbus KTC rebuilding project beginning this summer, we hope you will donate to help us create a new home for KTC’s future meditation, dharma practice, and growth. Every dollar you invest will provide a refuge for future meditators and those seeking dharma wisdom.

Before departing KTC, His Holiness the 16th Karmapa led a Mahakala protector puja in our shrine room in the home of Jerry and Kay Adams in Columbus’ Linworth neighborhood.

Before His Holiness Karmapa’s Vajra Crown ceremony at The Ohio State University, KTC founder Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, assisted by translator Ngodrup Tsering Burkhar, gave a talk about the significance of the ceremony. Jerry and Kay Adams and Lama Kathy, who sponsored the ceremony, are pictured to the right. 
Mahakala puja at Columbus KTC Shrine Room in the Adams’ home.

Words of Support from Lama Karma

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Many of our KTC friends will recognize the spokesman in this week’s Columbus KTC video – it’s Lama Karma Drodhul, president of our “home” monastery, Karma Triyana Dharmachakra in Woodstock, NY. 

Lama Karma came to the United States two decades ago to assist his uncle, Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, who was the abbot of KTD Monastery. In his years living with and serving Khenpo Rinpoche, Lama Karma came to know the affection Khenpo Rinpoche had for the Columbus KTC, and learned about us first hand during several visits to Columbus KTC over the years. 

Now that our KTC is entering the last phase of fundraising to complete Basic Construction of our new center, Lama Karma wants us all to know we have his support – and to know how this project will carry out Khenpo Rinpoche’s wish for our center.  Hope you enjoy the video, and will consider sending a contribution today in Khenpo Rinpoche’s honor. 

Thank you, and may all beings benefit!

A Message from Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche

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A year after Columbus KTC was destroyed in an arson fire, KTC founder Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche talks about his personal support for Columbus KTC.  Khenpo Rinpoche shares his innermost thoughts about KTC and gives us encouragement to fundraise and rebuild.

Even though the video was created a few years ago, its message is still relevant and more important than ever.

Please consider supporting the Columbus KTC rebuilding effort with a donation. To donate, visit us at: https://columbusktc.org/product/rebuilding-fund/

Columbus KTC Rebuilding Drive

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It’s been an eventful few weeks for the Columbus KTC Rebuilding Project. Our contractor, Hanlin-Rainaldi, has made good progress in getting our building permits; we should have all the permits in hand by the end of June. We are so excited to be so close to fulfilling Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche’s wish for us to rebuild the KTC.

But we have hit a snag in our quest to start rebuilding this summer – and wanted to let you know right away so you can help us, through prayer and brainstorming possible solutions.

First things first: The Budget is set.
We feel confident in the budget outlined last month by our construction management team of Gavin Jones and Alan McLaughlin. As our “owner representatives,” Gavin and Alan have given us a solid idea of our costs.

Total cost to build: $2,933,000
Current building fund + additional funds expected: -$2,308,000
Building expenses paid to date: $100,000
Gap (subtotal): $525,000
Commercial Loan: -200,000
FUNDING GAP: $325,000

This past week we met with officers of three banks – Heartland Bank, KEMBA Credit Union, and State Bank to see if one of the banks would give us a commercial loan.

All the banks agreed that $200,000 would be the most KTC could comfortably borrow so we don’t burden our sangha in the future.

However …
None of the banks want to loan us the $200,000 unless we *first* raise the final $325,000 we need to fill our funding gap. And the banks say we cannot start construction until the bank loan is closed.

This is a serious setback for us. 

We had hoped we would have a comfortable eight-month period to raise money while construction proceeded. 

But now the banks are telling us we must raise $325,000 if we want to start our rebuilding project this year.

That is not an acceptable option. We are concerned that if we don’t raise the money within six weeks, the cost of the building will go up. And then, of course, we will need to do more fundraising, which in turn will postpone the start date for construction.

We cannot afford to put this project off another year.

We must take action now.

We’ve reviewed the design drawings to find places to save money while making our building beautiful and cost-effective.

We know that rebuilding the Columbus KTC was a heart-wish of Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, and the only one of his wishes that remained unfulfilled when he passed away last year.

We chose to seek a commercial loan because we knew it would be a big challenge to raise $525,000 in eight months – but now that loan cannot materialize until we raise $325,000. 

So – we need to dig in and start raising money NOW.

We are writing to you first because you were part of the team that helped us raise $2.3 million in four years to make the project happen

What we have done together is quite amazing. The banks are very impressed with our “fundraising muscles,” and that we have raised so much money thus far. And we are so close to raising the last bit of money needed to begin construction. We need your help! 

Our home monastery at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra is continuing to help in any way they can. But as the six-week clock is ticking, we must have “all hands on deck.” It’s urgent for everyone to pitch in!

We realize that at this time, many people have been affected physically, emotionally and economically by the COVID-19 epidemic. We pray that all our sangha members stay well and encourage you to help your local communities and frontline workers. But we also feel the completion of a home for the dharma in Central Ohio can be a force for good in our community, so we hope you will consider giving to our rebuilding project. Every dollar moves us closer to our goal!

Here’s what can help us right now. Would you:

  • Renew (and possibly increase?) your Rebuilding Fund Pledge. We need funds as quickly as we can get them. 
  • Ask your friends and family to contribute. Believe it or not, modest donations ($1,000 and under) from our “extended dharma family” have been a big chunk of our fundraising up to now.
  • Loan us your signatures as a co-signer. If a few members are willing to co-sign for us, we can get a larger bank loan and perhaps still begin this summer. If interested in helping this way, please contact Kim Miracle at director@columbusktc.org.

We know that we are living in difficult times, But we also know that if we are to accomplish Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche’s last wish – the rebuilding of the Columbus KTC – we will need everyone’s help to complete the basic construction of the building.

It may take years to fully furnish and decorate our new temple, but if we could complete basic construction this year we would save money in the long run. Waiting until next year will put us at risk of costs going up again. We owe it to everyone to avoid that possibility.

Please pray the Tashi Prayer for us, or recite and dedicate your favorite mantras for us. We are convinced that prayer does work – it has helped us at other critical junctures – so please remember us in your prayers.

Ready to donate now? 

You can give directly by credit card at our website: https://columbusktc.org/product/rebuilding-fund/

Ready to renew your pledge, or have questions or wish to contribute by bank transfer? Contact our treasurer Lance Moyer at treasurer@columbusktc.org

Interested in being a co-signer on a loan? Please contact Kim Miracle at director@columbusktc.org.

Please share our GoFundMe page with friends and family: https://www.gofundme.com/f/yx5a5j-a-new-home-for-columbus-ktc

We look forward to hearing from you. May all beings benefit from your generosity!

With prayers and warm wishes,
Best Wishes in the Dharma,

Kim Miracle, Director 
Chuck Drake, Assistant Director 
Marjorie Hill Langston, Secretary
Lance Moyer, Treasurer
Lama Kathy Wesley, Resident Advisor

Lama Kathy Dharma Blog – Starting Next Chapter

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Beginning the Next Chapter:  An Attitude of Gratitude

Dear Sangha Family and Friends:

Words cannot express the gratitude and love we are feeling at this moment for all of our Columbus Karma Thegsum Chöling family.  The Land Blessing and Groundbreaking on Sunday April 7, 2019 is a day we will remember for a long time. More than 100 of our dharma family and friends gathered under a tent and out on our lawn, to invite Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and wisdom beings from every quarter of space and ask them to dwell upon and bless our land for the benefit of beings.

Led by Khenpo Karma Tenkyong and Lama Karma Drodhul, a group of lamas and dharma family from our home monastery, Karma Triyana Dharmachakra of Woodstock, NY showed us how to bless our land with dharma music, chanting, and a sacred fire.  Assisted by Lama Zopa from Albany KTC and Lama Sonam from the dharma group on Long Island, NY, we created a shrine, chanted a purification for the land, made offerings to local deities and spirits and recited a protector chant.

Like a mythical city that only appears for one day, our site sprouted a shrine tent before 8 a.m. Sunday morning.  After having started a few days before the event with a “mini” land blessing and offering prayer of their own, the site preparation team led by KTC volunteer James Maze (a recent arrival at the center and principal of a landscaping company) used rolling equipment to level the tent site, installed a tent with a floor under a carpet of astroturf, brought us portable restrooms and cordoned off our parking lot to make it safer to park and cross Sandusky Alley.

Transport Captains Bill Miracle and Chuck Drake arrived with their truck and van at 8 a.m., unloading a treasure-trove of materials that could only be called “Instant shrine room.”

Sitting cushions gathered from several places, folding puja tables, a cafeteria-size table and a stair-stepped shrine borrowed from Don Fortner’s home quickly were installed and decorated by brocades and thangkas brought from the car trunks of Shrine Master Julane Goodrich and her team.

Julane and her team (of Roberta Riley, Chökyi Gyamtso, Marilyn Stephen, Bill Miracle and Sara Rampersaud) arrived at 8, along with Cathy Lhamo Jackson and the Offering Tormas – more than 40 small dough-and-butter sculptures made days in advance and meant to be offered to the land as a blessing. More than a dozen flower vases of all sizes came with Marilyn, who had selected flowers of the five primary colors – white, red, blue, yellow and green – to symbolize the five wisdoms and the five Buddha families.

Lama Karma and the chant team arrived soon after, and the site was abuzz with activity, as a shrine was assembled and dressed with brocade and offering bowls, and an area for chanters was created in the center of the “instant” shrine room.

James Wittenmyer donned a reflective vest and started guiding registered guests to parking places with assistance from Chantal Sapp and Helder De Andrade. Meanwhile, Chuck Drake (a Scoutmaster and KTC assistant director) called the Columbus Division of Fire to let them know we had an open burn permit and were about to light a little bonfire in a steel fire bowl at one edge of our property.  

A steady stream of guests arrived throughout the next hour, and were seated by Welcoming team lead Connie Jenkins, assisted by David Weaver – and by Sara, taking a break from shrine duties to assist.

Just a little after 9 a.m., Lama Karma Drodhul, acting as chant master, instructed Director Kim Miracle and me to cast the first fragrant juniper fronds into the fire, and our puja began.

The next hours were a whirl of sights, sounds and colors. Prayer books assembled over the previous week by a team of KTC “dharma elves” were opened, prayers were read, drums were played, Tibetan gyaling horns blew, and our land was home to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas once again.

On the east lawn, the fire consumed several pounds of offering substances: mixed flour, spices, tea, herbal medicines, the “three whites” (yogurt, milk and butter) and the “three sweets” (honey, sugar and molasses), bits of brocade and gem powder made sweet smoke that drifted through our neighborhood, carrying blessings. Every few minutes, a pair of KTC sangha members were dispatched from the shrine tent, carrying an offering of tea in a copper chalice and a plate of tormas and “sang offering” (smoke offering) substance.

Don Fortner provided sound with KTC’s brand-new battery-powered portable PA system. He worked with Joseph Francik and Anne McCain on capturing video from the day, and he and Tanya Schroeder snapped photographs of the event for posterity. Jaimee Patton came to help with cleanup, but ended up filling in just about anywhere she was needed.

Friends came from all over. Amy Wells, a meditation teacher at KTC in the 1990s has since relocated to North Carolina for an active life among the mountains and trees. But when she heard we were celebrating the place she met the dharma, she couldn’t stay away. Her smiles and hugs brought us joy.

Meanwhile, over at Congregation Tifereth Israel, 1354 E. Broad Street, KTC volunteer John Bova directed a team of helpers who welcomed members of the public to our “regular” weekly meditation and classes while the Land Blessing was going on.

Before the lunch break over at the KTC site, Lama Karma gave KTC friends a message of encouragement from founder, Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, who congratulated us on the work that had brought us to this stage in our development and expressed good wishes on the next phase of the work. After sharing these remarks, the Khenpo and Lamas led the group, now numbering about 60, toward the northeast corner of the property, where the groundbreaking was to take place.

Our architects Peter Macrae and Peter Lenz and builder Bill Jones were joined by Nannette Maciejunes, director of the Columbus Museum of Art and an honorary fundraising co-chair at the site of the groundbreaking on the northeast lawn, where three special shovels tied with white, red and blue Tibetan offering scarves symbolized the Buddha’s body, speech and mind, touched our land with future blessing.  Peter, Pete, Bill and Nannette, along with center leaders, and even the children in attendance, got to dig the first spades of earth on the new project. Erin Blue, our “special guest” concierge, assisted (along with Khenpo Tenkyong) in facilitating the groundbreaking event.

During the lunch break, Jaimee Patton helped with cleanup while others chatted and chowed down on sack lunches or the snacks provided by Michael Stone.

After a quick lunch at the Idea Foundry hosted by volunteers Kevin Dwinnell, Kirsten Carroll and Kim Miracle, the chanting group returned to the tent for a rousing chant to the Kagyu protector Mahakala, asking for his protection for our center and its sangha members.

Visiting Shrine Master Lama Sonam from Long Island, was assisted by local KTC folks as she prepared and made offerings to the protector Mahakala, followed by a smoke offering for spirits in the Bardo and a Chenrezig mantra chant.

Then, in a flash, it was over. The ground purified and blessed, it was time for our “illusory city of dharma” to be dissolved. The sun, which had been darting in and out of clouds all day, disappeared and rain clouds began to gather. Bill and Chuck parked their vehicles nearby, and the reverse stream of materials headed back to the trucks. Keith Mondal was on trash collection and tidying, and everyone pitched in to collect chairs and tables and load everything up again.

While disassembling the shrine, Marilyn pulled beautiful flowers from their vases and handed the blossoms to volunteers and departing guests. “Let’s leave these on the land as an offering and blessing,” she said, tossing carnations and roses. Small heaps of flowers dotted the landscape, beautifying every spot where they fell.

Rain, which had been a threat most of the day, did not fall until a couple of hours after the pujas ended at 3 p.m., about an hour after the tent crew arrived to take down the temporary shrine hall.

It is impossible to quantify the blessings of the day, but site preparer James Maze wrote us a short meditation on it by text message right before rain began to fall.

“I have visited the land at 231 S. Grubb Street several times over the last week. As I walk across this small piece of land today the energy feels different. Although I do not understand this energy, its feels good and bright. Something powerful happened here today … Good job and thank you.”

Thanks, and Still More Thanks …

A lot goes into a Land Blessing ceremony; substances and offering plates were ordered from other states, special tiny 5-color flags were made (by Sue Ellen Steinmetz) to offer on our Sang plates to collect positive energies from the universe; Lama Kathy worked with officials at the Columbus Division of Fire and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to get proper Open Burning permits for a fire puja (who knew fire pujas in the city limits were regulated – but they are); Treasurer Steve Phallen interviewed tent purveyors and helped work out our chair and shrine layout; and Bill Miracle helped assemble the steel fire bowl used for the fire puja.

There is no way to adequately thank everyone for their work, and any list will certainly leave out the many who lent a hand to put together our Land Blessing event. If you can think of folks who participated who you don’t see mentioned here, please let us know by writing to Lama Kathy at lamakathy@columbusktc.org.