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Holy
Objects - Stupas |
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The Institute
is home to a number of stupas, Buddhist reliquaries
that symbolize the enlightened mind of the
Buddha. Each stupa contains sacred relics
of a particular deceased master as well as
many precious and blessed substances. Stupas
are considered very sacred and are highly
venerated in all traditions of Buddhism.
Lama Thubten Yeshe’s stupa, in the form
known as the “Stupa of Enlightenment,”
was begun in 1985 following a request to his
disciple Rosario Rizzi by Geshe Jampa Gyatso
and Jacie Keeley, who was in the process of
distributing Lama Yeshe’s relics among
various FPMT centers. Rosario turned to Geshe
Jampa Lodro, a highly qualified lama who during
his lifetime came yearly to the Institute
from Switzerland, for advice. Geshe Jampa
Lodro consulted Tibetan texts and gave Rosario
much advice, concerning not only construction
of the stupa but also about how to harmoniously
develop the surrounding environment. With
the involvement of the entire community and
the practical day-to-day help of Geshe Jampa
Gyatso, the stupa was constructed in just
one year. In November 1986, Geshe Jampa Lodro
and Geshe Jampa Gyatso together consecrated
the stupa, which is set in a beautiful garden
shaded by palm trees.
Two more stupas – one dedicated to Geshe
Rabten and one to Gomo Tulku, both important
teachers of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and many of
his disciples – were then built at the
request of Lama Zopa Rinpoche. One in the
form of the Stupa of Enlightenment is dedicated
to Geshe Rabten while the Stupa of Harmony
(or Reconciliation) is dedicated to Gomo Tulku.
As the exterior of each level was completed,
the precious materials – including tsa-tsas
(small clay or plaster statues of buddha figures)
and mantras colored with saffron, perfumed
with essential oils, and rolled and covered
with cloth – were blessed by Geshe Jampa
Gyatso and placed inside. Finally the entire
exterior was covered in beautiful Italian
white marble and the bronze decorations completed
just in time for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s
arrival in Pomaia. The sites of these stupas
were blessed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
during his visit to Pomaia in 1990 and the
stupas themselves were consecrated in a ceremony
by Lama Zopa and Geshe Jampa Gyatso on October
18, 1992.
The Institute’s most recently completed
stupa is that dedicated to Geshe Yeshe Tobden,
the Institute’s first resident teacher,
who had many devoted disciples in Italy. On
the recommendation of Lama Zopa Rinpoche,
the stupa’s form is that of the Stupa
of Harmony. After Geshe Jampa Gyatso decided
on the precise location where the stupa was
to be built, the site was consecrated by a
group of Sera Je monks on December 30, 1999.
The stupa was completed in August 2000, one
year after Geshe Yeshe Tobden left his body.
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