RADIANT COMPASSION: GLIMPSES OF THE LIFE OF THE 16TH GYALWA KARMAPA
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Picture
During the Construction of the Rumtek Monastery
Before beginning construction, Karmapa blessed the ground of the new monastery by practicing the yidam* Cakrasaṃvara (Khorlo Demchok) for one week. On January 17, 1963, the groundbreaking for the monastery started. Huge masses of earth needed to be moved in the hilly surroundings. Monks and laypeople promised to finish the task as quickly as they could and worked ten hours a day, regardless of the weather—terribly hot or freezing cold.
Lama Tönsang remembers:
"Karmapa said we first had to cut the trees and prepare the foundation. We worked the earth to prepare platforms and the basis. We were a team of forty to eighty people to achieve that task.
We had to dig huge amounts of earth and rock from the mountain to create a flat horizontal platform for a five-story building. At that time we were working only with our bare hands because there were no machines. Only from time to time we used some explosives to get the hole completed.
Once Karmapa sent a monk to warn us of a danger: the earth and rocks could slide. So, we chose an observer who would watch to see if there was a landslide or rocks and earth falling down. He was watching while we continued working. At one point some earth did slide. It wasn’t much, but enough to bury somebody. We ran away and checked to see if somebody might be missing. We could not find one monk, Tenzin Gyurme,[1] who was just beside us before. We removed the earth very quickly and carefully, taking care not to hit his head. Together we cleared away the earth and discovered something red. He was buried! We were able to get him out and he just recited very weakly “Karmapa Khyenno.”[2] He was completely alright with nothing broken. After one week he was up and about again."

© From: Gerd Bausch: Radiant Compassion. The Life of the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, www.edition-karuna.de. Please feel free to share the extract, but give the source and the weblink. Many thanks!

[1]      Tenzin Gyurme later became Karmapa’s representative in the United States.
[2]      A mantra which invokes the activity and blessing of the Karmapa (See chapter on this subject in Volume 2).
 
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  • Welcome
  • the latest posts
  • Words of His Holiness
    • Prophecies >
      • Prophecy 1944
    • Vajrasongs >
      • Spontaneous Vajrasong at the Ground Breaking Ceremony of the Shri Nalanda Shedra in Rumtek
      • More vajrasongs and teachings
    • Words of Advice >
      • Towards Illumination
      • Short Wisdom Quotes
      • Interview 1980
      • Compassion -- the Language of the Bodhisattva
      • Western Visitor's Interview
    • Long-life prayers by HH the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa
    • Letter to European Disciples 1978
    • Words of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa: From Social Media, Part One
    • Guidelines for Buddhist Studies in the Karma Kagyu School
  • A book about HH the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa
    • Presentation of the book about HH the 16th Karmapa >
      • Interviews
  • Short Biography of HH the 16th Karmapa
  • Extracts from Radiant Compassion
    • Table of Contents
    • prefaces and introduction
    • From Volume One, Chapter One >
      • Enthronement in Tsurphu
      • Lama Tönsang about Tsurphu
      • Tireless Dharma activity despite escalating violence
      • Garchen
    • From Volume One, Chaper Two: Travel to Nepal, Bhutan and India >
      • Birth of a Buddha
      • Construction of the Rumtek Monastery
      • travels
      • Minor Obstacles Abroad
      • The First Western Students
      • The 16th Karmapa in the USA 1974
      • extracts of volume two >
        • Vienna 1977
        • Laying of the Foundation Stone of the KIBI
        • HH the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa's Parinirvana
        • Birdstories
        • Steve Roth Supreme Lord of Compassion
        • The Black Crown of the Karmapas
        • Moments that Changed Entire Lives
        • Bardor Rinpoche
        • Peace!
  • Who's the Karmapa?
  • Press articles about HH the 16th Karmapa
    • Visit in Rumtek 1965
    • The Priest and the Pekinese
    • Sickness and Parirvana
    • Visit in Rumtek 1965
  • Videos
  • background
    • rumtek shedra >
      • additional information >
        • dates
        • risks
  • bibliography
  • background informations
    • Predictions of the Karmapa by Buddha Shakyamuni and Padmasambhava
  • mistakes and modifications
  • links
  • about the author
  • contact, disclaimer, copyright
    • Contact
    • Disclaimer
  • Dana - Donations
  • Acknowledgements
  • Feedback and Reviews
  • sitemap
    • original documents >
      • Karmapa Charitable Trust
      • ranking
      • Letter to Practitiones in Scandinavia
  • additional interviews and accounts
    • Account of Kenneth Green
    • Letter to Prime Minister Nehru
  • Victory banner of the Dharma
  • Interview with HH the 16th Karmapa, New York City 1980.
  • 50 years Karmapas in the West
    • Achi Tsepal: Karmapa in New York 1974
    • Visit to the Hopi Nation
    • Meeting with the Pope 1975
    • Karmapa in the UK by Samten de Wet
    • In Dordogne
    • Last Stop in Europe
    • 100th birthday of HH the 16th Karmapa >
      • 100th-anniversary-of-hh-the-16th-karmapa
  • Bookorders Volume One and Two
    • Prices
    • Volume Two
  • HH the Dalai Lama: My Friendship with the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa