(Click on the photographs or underlined words to view full size images).
Dear Friends,
Tara Mandala is now covered
with thick snow mulch and the days are warm and sunny, Colorado winter bliss.
We've received a record amount of moisture this fall and winter after many years
of drought. We have also received a rain of blessings and gifts that have made
'manifesting the mandala' a reality. When you receive this I will already be
in retreat and will remain there until March 3. I'll be coming out once a week
for Sangha practice every Wednesday from February 9 on.
The community
building shell was closed in just in time for winter and was on view during
Adzom
Rinpoche's December retreat. The beautiful
carvings for the east and west side are now in place. Over the winter interior
work will continue and we plan to have the building completed by the end of
summer 2005.
Capital Campaign Going Strong
I must begin this letter with gratitude; the outpouring of generosity toward
Tara Mandala has been truly marvelous. As you may have heard we received a $500,000
gift from Lynn Hays and Nancy Nordhoff last fall, a leadership gift for Phase
2, Tara Temple and Retreatant Housing. This has enabled us to begin in earnest
the design work for Phase 2. Soon we will have drawings and renderings of the
new temple.
We also recently received pledges and gifts for the Maha Benefactors category of $50,000. The leader in this category was Belinda Griswold who made the first gift, in the name of the 17th Karmapa. She was followed by one made anonymously in memory of Robert and Audrey Woods. Susan Moffat also has given more than half of her pledge as a Maha Benefactor, and we recently received $50,000 from Volkart Foundation in Switzerland (Andreas Reinhart).
For the last few years we have received steady support from the Helen Clay Frick Foundation through Frick Burden for operating and building. He has also been very helpful serving on the fundraising council. Thank you Frick!
Recently several people joined the 21 Taras category making gifts and pledges
of $21,000. Since last fall we have received pledges and gifts in this category
from Breen Jenkins, Carol Bailey, Jennifer Lauck, and Robert Olander-Kathy Gervasi.
Others have been very generous as well. Shanti Loustanou and Mully Mullally
both donated stock which can be converted to donations without capital gains
taxes. Chandra Easton, Tom Hirschi-Jane Smillie, and Heather Mitchell all joined
the 5 Dakinis category for $5,000 recently.
We have over sixty
1000 Buddhas and others have made general donations according to their capacities.
We have almost enough funds to complete Phase 1, but still need to raise $250,000
especially for the energy installation (solar operation and back up systems)
as well as other work needed to complete the building. Please help us meet this
goal so we can begin the temple. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Please remember you can also donate on-line (www.taramandala.org)
where the gift mandala is displayed and you can see the categories and who has
given. Consider being part of this exciting phase of founding Tara Mandala.
Board of Trustees
The board of trustees has a couple of new members. Robin Magee from Telluride
has joined the board. She's the head librarian there and took the library through
a fundraising and building campaign. Also Carol Bailey, one of my earliest students
has joined. She's a lawyer from Seattle. She also has fundraising experience
and lots of energy for Tara Mandala now that her children are both in college.
Welcome to both of them. We'll have a joint meeting of the board and the fundraising
council March 12th with fundraising expert Stanley Weinstein, author of several
books on fundraising, who is donating his time to us!
Mandala at Tara Mandala and Program
Update
We have added a Ngondro (foundational practices) retreat June 18-26 and may
add more Ngondro practice time during the summer. We are also resuming the Family
Retreat in 2005 and will base it on the 5 Buddha Family Mandala. During this
retreat we will be creating a physical mandala on the land by making a circumambulation
path around Ekajati
Peak. We will create shrines in the four directions,
with the peak as the center. The family retreat will begin this circumambulation
path this summer and will continue to develop it in future years. The most striking
thing to me when we found the Tara Mandala land was the fact that we had this
little mountain in the center that stood alone and the land really formed a
mandala. It is also wonderful that children will work on this; they will get
a felt sense of the meaning of the mandala.
The circumambulation of Mount Kailash is the most famous mountain pilgrimage
in Tibet. The sacred mountain as axis mundi and center of the mandala is present
at Tara Mandala with Ekajati peak at the center.
Another
interesting pilgrimage to be made this year is creating a bridge between Glastonbury
Tor, another mandala mountain, and Ekajati Peak through the Green Tara Practice
being done consecutively at both sites. The retreat at the Chalice Well in Glastonbury,
a western power place, has to do with connecting Tibetan and European spiritual
streams through Tara. The American piece of that pilgrimage will be the Tara
retreat March 17-20 at Tara Mandala. The Glastonbury retreat is full, but there
is a waiting list. The Tara Mandala retreat will be a non-residential retreat
though there is some simple housing available on the land. To register and for
lodging information please contact: info@taramandala.org.
Staying
in Touch
Charlotte and Pieter, our wonderful new directors, will be producing the 2005
program and getting it out to you soon. They'll also send a TaraNet of the schedule
and put it on the webpage as soon as it is settled. Charlotte's pregnancy is
going well, she's due in May and they are enjoying settling in to their home
and work after the holidays. Their email addresses are charlotte@taramandala.org
and pieter@taramandala.org. Please
feel free to communicate with them.
New Position for Herbal Products
We are adding a new position for herbal product development which will be described
in a separate email and is posted on the website. We had an amazing event this
winter that has brought greater focus to the benefits of our herbs and so we
have decided to put more energy into developing them. Our neighbor George Dudley,
age 76, was diagnosed with advanced bladder cancer last spring. He did not want
to go through conventional treatment and returned home. He came in June for
herbs and faithfully took our Contra-Can formula all summer and fall. And just
before Christmas he was declared cancer free by his doctor! We have received
a lot of very positive feedback on many of the other tinctures as well. They
are very pure and powerful. They are available from bookstore@taramandala.org.
Land
For Sale
Several people are making final decisions about buying surrounding land, but
there are still several wonderful pieces available. Jim Woods has almost finished
his cabin and is spending the winter there. If you are interested in land purchase
contact david@taramandala.org or
call 970-749-4172.
We feel so deeply grateful the way Tara Mandala is developing as a refuge and
a quiet place to practice meditation for the benefit of all beings. I am also
really looking forward to this extended time in retreat being with the land
in solitude.
May the return of the light bring warm and joy to you.
Blessings and gratitude,
Tsultrim