Sommario
Mani Khorlam: the path of the prayer wheel opens
Celebrate your birthday with us: a new way to share and give
Mani Khorlam: the path of the prayer wheel opens
Imagine walking along a path where every step is a prayer. If you have traveled to Tibet, India, or Nepal, you may well have performed a kora (circumambulation) around a stupa. Om mani peme hum, om mani peme hum, om mani peme hum… The mantra of universal compassion – carved onto every prayer wheel – accompanies our walking meditation and helps us open our hearts to others, especially those who are suffering.
This will soon become a reality in Albagnano as well. In early June, the company Cave di Corconio began leveling the path and laying crushed stone on the walkway that will encircle the temple and the stupa. The work was preceded by two days of ceremonies and auspicious pujas, performed to generate positive energy as the project began.
The project was met with great enthusiasm by the sangha; within just a few months, 219 of the planned 360 wheels were funded. This initiative has touched the hearts of many, and you too can be a part of it.
Find out how to have your name – and the names of your loved ones – placed inside a wheel. Its blessings will continue to spread for years to come.
If you are reading this news, you are part of this story. Your curiosity, friendship, and support help keep this place alive.
Celebrate your birthday with us: a new way to share and give
If this were an advertisement, it would read: “Tired of the same old birthday? Discover how to give your celebrations a fresh twist.” In reality, it is something deeper and less commonplace. If we wish to step outside our own self-gratification, we have a unique opportunity that arises once a year: the anniversary of our birth. A birthday can truly be a special moment to express gratitude: gratitude for life, for spiritual guides, for family, and for friends, in short, for all that we have received and that has nourished us.
What better time to share and give, thereby expressing our generosity? Many people do this in a variety of ways, and a common approach is collecting donations for a charitable project.
Starting now, you too can celebrate your birthday at the Albagnano Centre for a good cause. On June 12th – marking the second birthday of our young friend Dragosh – a party was held to support the Generosity Garden program. His parents invited everyone to the Guru Puja and offered tsog. Afterward, they organized a small party on the restaurant terrace, featuring a buffet prepared by the café team and music for both listening and dancing. Instead of gifts, guests were encouraged to make a donation to the Centre.
Following Lama Gangchen’s call to transform ordinary events into joyful celebrations and holidays into “holy days,” his parents wanted to use Dragosh’s birthday as an opportunity to support the Dharma, offer a year of blessings to the entire Sangha, and share a moment of togetherness, praying, eating, and dancing all together.
His mother, Mihaela, wrote in the invitation: “They say it takes a village to raise a child. You are Dragosh’s village. Your presence is the greatest gift, but if you wish to give something more, please contribute to the Generosity Garden, dedicated to the inner joy of our sangha.”
If you have a special connection to a project at the Centre and would like to support it on your birthday, please contact us at: fundraising@kunpen.it
If you are reading this news, you are part of this story. Your curiosity, friendship, and support help keep this place alive.
The Peace Bell is back and rings again
Many memories are linked to that bell. Whenever Rinpoche returned from his travels, he would announce his presence in Albagnano with it, accompanied by a toll and a prayer: “May the great sound of the Dharma / eliminate the suffering of beings / may it uphold the meaning of the Dharma / for inconceivable eons to come” (from the “Aspiration Prayers of Buddha Maitreya”).
When the then-parish priest of Bee replaced the church bells, Lama Gangchen expressed a wish to have one of them. Dawn Cain and her family subsequently purchased it and gifted it to Rinpoche. The bell was moved several times to accommodate temple construction work and, pending a new location, remained tucked away and silent for some years. Today, it finally rings out once more to spread vibrations of peace.
Thanks to a modern design by Fabio Filisetti (known to all as “Fabietto”), technical modifications by the Siviero company, and a generous donation from Frans van Dam and his foundation, the bell is now installed at the temple’s side entrance, a position that allows the sound to bounce off the walls and reverberate through the space.
During the inauguration, Lama Michel Rinpoche said: “When I saw the bell mounted, I noticed that its support resembles the nada, a symbol in Tibetan script representing primordial sound, or the subtlest form of energy in existence. Let us remember that sound is vibration, and vibration is energy. Therefore, ringing the bell with a specific intention is also a way to spread that intention.”
May peace prevail in every corner of the earth. May inner peace sustain us as we build peace in the world.
Reflections to cherish the memory
What memories do you have of the Peace Bell? Were you there when Lama Gangchen returned from his travels and you happened to hear it? What did you feel inside? What is your special memory of Rinpoche ringing the bell?
Thanks also to Ettore Bozza and Alberto Casarini, who anchored, installed, and painted the structure, respectively.
If you are reading this news, you are part of this story. Your curiosity, friendship, and support help keep this place alive.
