Stupa being carved for Vimaladhatu Retreat Centre

FWBO News is delighted to have uncovered an unusual project currently taking shape in the garden of one of the Buddhafield communities in Devon, UK - a stupa for Vimaladhatu, the FWBO’s German Retreat Centre.

The stone mason is Rupadarshin, a lifelong craftsman and worker in stone - though better known to many as the creator of showers and hot tubs at Buddhafield retreats and festivals. He trained at Wells Cathedral in Somerset, and has carved a number of stone stupas around the FWBO - and the giant warehouse stupa at Windhorse Evolution in Cambridge.

Carving stupas by hand is never easy, but this one posed unusual logistical challenges. Buddhafield’s a busy place even in the winter season, and in order to create a working space for himself he had to set up a canvas-covered dome in the garden - in the snow! The stone was shipped over from Germany, and arrived in late January - at which point Rupadarshin disappeared into the structure and has only been heard since: tap-tap-tap-tap-tap...!

He has however found time to document his work and post it to Facebook, and FWBO News readers are invited to check his photo album there, one of several in a series ‘The Working World of Rupadarshin’.

In the meantime we post a sketch of the plans, and an image of its eventual home in Germany, in the gardens of Vimaladhatu - where it seems they’ve temporarily made themselves a snow stupa while they wait!

Sadhu!