That place where the Gonpa is

 

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).