I will
start from the very beginning of the story. Year 2001
That place
where the Gonpa is, that is to say a part of that structure that is the Gonpa,
was a shed. The place where the tools and the tractor of the farm were kept.
And in the back, behind Rinpoche's throne, there is a very strong concrete wall
that served as a structural base for that shed.
There were a lot of sheep and goats that would
be sticking their heads out of the top bleating, in the middle of a practice
with Rinpoche. It was very comical. (smiles)
This was
after the twin towers at the end of 2001, that we came with Rinpoche who sat
there looking at the wall and said, "here we are going to paint, I want
that wall white and I am going to paint the three phrases, the three statements
of Garab Dorje". Direct introduction, not to remain in doubt and to
continue in the state.
So, we
painted the wall white, and I remember when we started painting, some of us who
were there, which were very few of us, but in particular Fabio - laugh - I
don't remember but there was another person, who were staring, and Rinpoche
looked at everybody and said, "look, we are not tourists here, OK?"
Everybody
went to get what a brush, what a broom to sweep. When the wall was painted
white, he, with a red paint that he had asked for, because that red color had
been specifically chosen, but a particular red.
He grabbed
a paintbrush and filled it with paint, however, when he finished passing it,
the brush only had paint at the ends, leaving the center without paint, as it
had already worn out. Then, he put the brush back in the paint and continued
writing. And it occurred to me that I had to fill it in since he had not been
able to fill in between the two red lines that appeared at the end. And I went
over to fill it in.
Oops.
Rinpoche's reaction was very quick, and he told me: "don't touch" ...
"it stays like this".
I noticed
by watching him very well, that he wrote and did not go back to retouch
anything, it was all with a single movement.
Well, the
three famous phrases of Garab Dorje are there, the ones that define the three:
Sende, Longde and Upadesha, the three aspects of Dzogchen, or the three
teachings of Dzogchen.
And at a
certain point in the construction of the Gonpa, which was little by little, it
was not a one-time idea, we were around that old structure of the shed. This
was buried, let's say, behind a new concrete wall, which covers all this and
gives it an appearance of continuity, but underneath are those phrases, behind
the back of the master when he is sitting on the throne.
Without going into too much detail, as to
where the Mandala is now ...
The mandala
was another story, but before the floor in that place was about three quarters
of a meter lower, down there we painted a mandala on the concrete, and when we
changed the structure for the final structure of the Gonpa, as we see it at the
moment, that area was filled with stone and concrete. That is, underneath the
current mandala is another mandala.
The actual
mandala is made ... that is to say, it is not paint, it is white cement mixed
with resins that were resinous in the market, that is to say, they did not know
how to work very well, and in particular, the red one was a lot of work, that
is to say, it gave us a lot of headaches. At a certain point Rinpoche said,
"Well, that red is close enough to what I want. It's not something that's
going to wear off like an acrylic paint, that you put on cement and it's going
to wear off little by little. It's a dense enough layer, not too much but just
enough of white cement with those organic colors. I think it's the only one
like that, in the world.
Then we built the Gonpa, where the roof
structure is very particular, we had to invent. We were helped by a group of
three local brothers, very nice and helpful, of course they were paid for their
work, but they were working there with us. The roof was made with two slopes,
to the west and to the east. We made some trusses that are structures composed
of two beams connected by rules in equis, anchored with thick bolts. sometimes
we had to glue them, based on what those people told us, for that there are
products in the market, of two components that result in a strong glue that
works well with the wood. The trusses, in general, are very well made. However,
when we finished putting up the trusses, and started to cover, the weight of
the roof started to open up near where the master sits. I noticed it, I don't
think anyone else noticed it, but I went to Rinpoche. I said to him:
"Rinpoche,
I think we have a problem. Maybe we have to lower the whole roof, because so
and so happens..."
Rinpoche
came with me down to the Gonpa, looked at the thing. He was like meditating
there, and he told me: "Don't worry, go on. No problem."
I say that
again, the master was teaching me something: where a decision did not depend on
the usual, let's say, logic, let's say in particular mine, very scientific. But
because I have a trust in him, let's say absolute trust, I was unconcerned.
Because the first night, after having discovered this, I really did not sleep
well, I was very worried.
Then, those
trusses were covered, with thick veneer, the thickest, so that we had those
surfaces completely smooth, without showing the underlying structure, so that
it could be painted. That was Rinpoche's wish. For that purpose, he invited Dinma,
who is a Tibetan living in Merigar, who has painted the Merigar Gonpa, the tankha
of the twelve masters. He brought in his suitcase a lot of stencils with the
motifs that are normally painted in those cases, that is, the motifs that you
are seeing. Those flowers, those leaves, the animals, I think he had them all
in stencils. And he began to draw.
First, we
had to organize a scaffolding system, we rented scaffolding everywhere. I don't
know how many scaffolding units we had there, maybe there were about twenty,
but it was very easy to work there because we had them connected with stairs
and corridors.
Dinma with
the help of two people, who I think had come with him from Merigar, I don't
remember their names, but they were Europeans, did the initial drawings. Then
every day something was painted, and because there was so much scaffolding, a
certain population was allowed up there. There could be a dozen people at a
time. And everybody could participate. I had two hours off, so I would go and
paint with the others.
So, today
it is white, he would mark the places and you would walk around painting those
places in white, respecting the borders. It was a very nice job, with a lot of
people, a lot of participation. We were very happy to see the birth of Dinma's
floral landscape. It was really a very interesting adventure.
When was
this done, I'm not quite sure, but I would say it was around 2010?
(I think in
terms of Gonpa, that's it).
