2003 - what's been happening this year?

A great deal has happened in just nine months, both with the Enlightenment Stupa and the retreat centre as a whole. Like an adolescent with a growth spurt, we've suddenly found ourselves with a whole set of new needs - a tree, money, ingredients to fill the stupa, volunteers, - it's crystal clear we're going to need a little bit of help from our friends. Whatever you can do, please consider it. I'm sure it will bring you happiness, now and in the future.

In January a volunteer crew came together and 6,500 mud bricks were made, transported and stacked next to the stupa site. We began to spend some of the money raised last year, buying and freighting reinforcing steel, structural steel, concrete bricks, and steel sheets (on which the suspended slab above the room will be poured) to Kangaroo Island. In mid-March the foundations were excavated and the steel-tying for the foundation slab completed. Then the pouring of the concrete began, just a few hours before the war started in Iraq.

In April - during two weeks of glorious sunshine (except the first weekend) - the structural steel was erected, and the west, south, and half of the north walls of the room under the stupa were finished. These mud brick walls are massive; ten metres long, four metres high, and half a metre thick. That's a lot of mud bricks.There were 45 volunteers who helped during these weeks, with 29 sitting down to an evening meal on Easter Saturday.

In the first long weekend in May, a wild, wet, and windy weekend, the three-metre lintel over the front entry to the shrine room was raised and set in place, and the remainder of the north wall finished. What remained then was to protect these earth walls against the weather - and on the north western corner of KI, the north-westerly gales and storms of winter are fierce! The walls were draped with heavy plastic to make them waterproof, and then the plastic was protected by great swathes of suspended carpet. I always wondered why I was hauling so much donated carpet to KI! A maze of ropes, props and pallets secured the carpet against the wind. Rain was kept out by making a temporary roof from the steel sheets intended to carry the suspended slab, which were then held down by bricks, sleepers and rope. I'm happy to say the walls have successfully made it through one of the wettest winters we have had here for some time.

Later, in July, nearly the whole of one internal wall was rendered, using a mixture of white clay from the big dam, along with sand.

What has been achieved in such a short time is truly amazing, and proves the old saying about “many hands”. There are close to 8,000 bricks in the walls, including their making, every brick has probably been handled by at least ten different pairs of human hands. Most of the sheer mass of the overall structure is in place, so much of the back-breaking work has been done.

I'd like to thank, on behalf of the DTL Committee, every person who contributed in any way to this remarkable outcome, whether by feeding the troops or hefting and passing bricks in response to the bellow “Chain!” Raising the structural steel, including the two ten metre cross-pieces was a Very Big Ask. Thank you! for everything. You have helped to bring something truly special into being.

The Retreat Centre retreats, retreat house sites, and new land
While the stupa grew, our core activity of providing retreat opportunities continued. De-Tong Ling hosted six retreats, varying in length from weeks to months. The second retreat house was finished, and retreats in it have already happened. Eight retreat house sites and the meditation hall site were prepared thanks to the generosity of a KI local with a bobcat. Thanks, Shorty!

Perhaps the biggest news was this … Three strong supporters of De-Tong Ling negotiated the purchase of 380 hectares of land next to the retreat centre. A 40 hectare strip (2 km x 200 m) adjacent the southern fence line has been directly donated to the centre, effectively placing an entire creek valley between retreat activity and the neighbouring property. Included in the strip is a major vantage point, labelled “Monastery Hill” (over 25 years ago!). To have the other stunning 340 hectares in the hands of friends and supporters is a wonderful thing.

Kimball Cuddihy, Director