Lama Kathy’s Dharma Blog: Good Vibrations!
It’s been a wonderful week for “the little dharma center that could” – Columbus KTC.
People from around the country are attending our dharma programs on Zoom; donations are coming in to help us complete Basic Construction, and on Tuesday, Sept. 8, construction started at our new “home” at 645 West Rich Street.
After delivering the first bulldozers to the property Tuesday morning, contractors working for Hanlin-Rainaldi Construction Co. drove the earthmovers over the ground we consecrated last year, and started moving their first loads of dirt for the KTC project.
The next day KTC Director Kim Miracle and I visited the site just after noontime, and I filmed Kim at the same spot on the east side of South Grubb Street where, in January 31, 2016, she called Khenpo Karthar Rinpoché to tell him the temple was in the process of being destroyed by fire.
Watching the bulldozers shake and scoop the earth behind her, she spoke movingly about how it felt to be speaking to her teacher as the building burned, receiving comfort and encouragement from him at an important time in her life.
Then we wandered to the west side of the site and spoke with Danny, the job superintendent for Hanlin-Rainaldi, who was clearly pleased to be working on the project at last. He was animated and delighted as he described the many steps – all done in a careful, painstaking order – to finishing site work for the project.
Then I had a chance to tie a small red protection knot blessed by Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche and many buddhist monuments (stupas) to the construction fence, wishing safety and protection for the site and the workers there.
Feeling the earthmovers’ rumble I thought of how the earth shook under the historical Buddha Shakyamuni when he asked the Earth to bear witness to his awakening. Feeling the resonance in my chest as I recited verses from the Tashi Prayer, I knew that the vibrations from those prayers – all the many prayers said for us in the last 4 1/2 years – would lead to goodness for us, both now and in the future.
When I got home, I looked at the Tibetan Calendar for Sept. 8 – the day when the first dirt was moved on the work site.
It will delight you all to know that the astrological element combination for the day was Fire/Fire. The key read: “This combination is the first of the favorable comginations. The energy of the day increases the benefit of activities that provide material support like shelter and provisions.” The world itself was vibrating to our frequency, or so it seemed.
So thanks to all of you for your faith and confidence in the project. Keep praying for us, and sending those Good Vibrations our way. We will do our best to add to them and send them on to benefit all sentient beings!
We are still $525,000 short of funds to complete Basic Construction, and will then have to raise money to build the shrine room furniture and put a spire on the roof, but we are so blessed to have come this far – and it’s due to all of you and your prayers and generosity.
All you have given will last as long as this structure – and beyond, as it reverberates in the lives of every person who sees or visits it. Such is the power of liberation – even if unrealized in this lifetime, it remains as a beacon of hope and possibility for all weary travelers in this world.
May all beings benefit