Block by block, day after day, the Institute’s Residences are rising from the ground of the construction site at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling in Dordogne.
In groups of twenty, practitioners taking part in the recent teaching given by His Eminence Jamgon Kongrul Rinpoche (August 15 – 18) crossed the gates of the construction site to discover work in progress during visits guided and commented by Guillaume Pares-Amado, the project manager who settled near Dhagpo Kagyu Ling over ten years ago.
Extending beyond the Sukhavati Garden, the Institute’s Residences are in line with the five resources set out by the16th Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje for Dharma to take root in the West:
1. access points for learning about the Buddha’s teachings and meditation
2. Institutes for acquiring precise knowledge of the teachings
3. a network of libraries to preserve and make accessible Buddhist texts in different formats (traditional pecha style, book, digital, etc)
4. retreat centers for deepening meditative practice
5. monastic and secular living environments for those wishing to experience or dedicate their lives to this path.
“This is a place where practitioners will be able to experience community life through the three aspects of practice, namely study, meditation and participation in the center’s daily activity,” Guillaume explains.
Started in May 2023, the digging of the foundations is now complete, though it was not without challenges. “We found the soil to be very heterogeneous, which required us to create special foundations adapted to it,” explains Guillaume. Indeed, small cavities and clay veins within a large limestone plateau created long-term risk of water infiltration, which would have caused erosion and subsidence of the structure. Then the team came across some very hard limestone areas where digging was not possible, forcing further adaptations of the building to the natural profile of the limestone plateau.
Treading across rocky terrain, visitors to the site were able to observe the lower section of the structure, which includes 420 m2of dry and airtight storage space beneath the residences. Such spaces are sorely lacking at Dhagpo and will be used to store furniture, carpets, shelves, archives and tools.
This work is part of the ongoing first phase of the project, which will be complete when the floors of the ground level are laid.
Lama Jigme Rinpoche is following the development and evolution of the project closely. The cloistered layout of the residences is inspired by traditional monasteries, with rooms arranged around a central courtyard and garden. This layout is designed to facilitate exchange and encourage a community dynamic. The residences have 27 rooms of 20 m2 each, including two for people with reduced mobility — each with bathroom, desk and meditative practice space. The complex includes a 70 m2 common room and laundry facilities.
A Project in the Spirit of Sustainability and Ethics
“The building is designed to last as long as possible,” the project manager explains to site visitors. To this end, for example, special concrete mixes are used that have a lifespan well beyond the seventy to eighty years of those generally employed for a house. In the choice of materials, the emphasis is on quality, with a preference for local production when it meets this criterion.
Energy autonomy is a key component of the project, with the production of hot water and heating using thermal solar panels, backed up by a woodchip boiler. The project also includes the installation of storage tanks for rainwater collected from the roofs of the buildings, which can be used to water Dhagpo’s green spaces, particularly during periods of drought. Also, in anticipation of rising temperatures and to guard against possible water shortages, a filtration system will be installed to treat the water in the tanks in order to make it drinkable and usable for all the daily needs of the residences and their inhabitants.
Working conditions are designed to be people first, with strict compliance to the legal framework of the French labor code and the application of all safety and prevention measures designed to protect the health of those involved. Every day, between eight to fifteen people work on the site. Half of them are connected to Dhagpo, having either been volunteers over a certain period or residents, enabling the project to be carried out by people who are sensitive to its meaning. On-site travel and lunch are provided, and measures in place to adapt to weather predictions. These conditions also aim to encourage the construction team to stay over the long term as this facilitates the project’s implementation. There are no volunteers on the site.
This project needs everyone’s support to flourish and come to fruition
More than a building project, this initiative is about continuing to create the conditions for the Buddha Dharma to always be present for and accessible to future generations. This project needs everyone’s support to flourish and come to fruition.
If you’d like to play an active role in establishing the Dharma in the West by supporting this project, please visit this page.
If you are interested in a guided tour of the site, please contact us directly to arrange one: dkl.donateurs@dhagpo.org
More:
Dhagpo New Residences
To receive an education and live the Dharma at the Heart of Community Life
Project overview and donation bulletin
