Diary:

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23.07.2002, Lama Tsechoo Rinpoche's arrival - Rinpoche examined the progress of work. First he went to an old dharma-shop, where the rings and the Stupa's crown were gilded. He liked the quality and precission. He was also very pleased when circulating the Stupa and when he learnt that the pumba was sculpted out of one, uniform 20 tone piece of granite rock. In the manor he saw the tsa-tsa and valuables and the sewing workshop. You couldn't miss the feeling of his satisfaction. It turned out that "the poor Polish" not only managed to do everything on time and made all the things of the highest quality and out of the best materials but also collected enormous amount of the precious metals, stones and other valuable things. Rinpoche gave also some advice for the things that should be done next day. It's not an exaggeration if we write that our work has already turned into a success and the Stupa caused some miracles before it has been built; the work with tsa-tsas; sewing.

21 - 22.07.2002 - the work with tsa-tsas; sewing the bags, flags and decorations to for the Stupa.

20.07.2002 - finishing cleaning and jointing; the departure of the Piramida team; the work with tsa-tsas - painting, touch-up.

19.07.2002 - laying the 11th & 12th layer; cleaning & jointing granite elements.

18.07.2002 - laying the 9th & 10th layer.

17.07.2002 - laying the 8th layer.

16.07.2002 - arrival of lama Kalsang & lama Pema; laying the 8th layer.

15.07.2002 - laying the 6th layer.

14.07.2002 - laying the 5th layer.

13.07.2002 - laying the 4th layer.

12.07.2002 - laying the 3rd layer; the end of the 2nd phase of ground planting, we used 850 tones of soil.

11.07.2002 - laying the 2nd layer; we built a new tent.

10.07.2002 - finishing the "0" level, laying the 1st layer - the first level of the Stupa; planting - shaping the bank of the pond.

09.07.2002 - the arrival and unloading of the first load of Stupa granite elements. In the load there is a 7 tone Pumba that has been chiselled out of one-piece rock. Chiselling such an enormous element took one and a half month - the size, shape and accuracy of the Pumba are impressive...; the process of covering concrete framework with granite started. We join together granite blocks and lay the next layers on top. We started the "0" layer, that is the riser of the first Stupa step; we started the second phase of planting the ground around the Stupa.

07 - 08.07.2002 - technological break; On Monday evening the "Piramida" crew arrived.

06.07.2002 - Lama Kalzang's departure; the end of the work with mantras

30.06 - 05.07.2002 - painting, drying and rolling the mantras; covering and hardening the ground.

29.06.2002 - painting, drying and rolling the mantras, guests from Wroclaw, Poznan, Warsaw, Gdansk and Opole, mainly women, after 4-5 hours of sleep they continue the work, use the time they can spend in Kuchary as well as they can. It's incredible: working in shifts, the girls painted the mantras till 6 a.m.! At the same time we burried the working area around the foundations of the Stupa; we came into possesion of beautiful thankas, our resident in Hamburg, Michal Siwek brought them personally. These are: Marpa and the Highest Bliss (Korlo Demchog).

28.06.2002 - painting, drying and rolling the mantras. The process of painting the mantras demands some discipline: the moment we start it, we stop eating meat, drinking alcohol and smoke tobacco. The mantras have enormous power in themselves: Rinpoche said that out of all the precious objects in the vault, they are the most important. Even though they have been printed on the top quality paper, the best one can get that is one which is used for printing bank-notes, we paint them with saffron, which makes them even more noble. What's interesting: before getting down to work everyone washes oneself thoroughly. They are beautiful and fragrant. All these facts, the awareness of them and generated vibration make you feel the lofty and festive :) atmosphere. That's not the end: it turned out it was Lama Kalzang's birthday; spontaneous party fluently changed into chatting. One of the loudest explosions of laughter was when Lama, being asked by Misiek to tell some Tibetan story, answered "Sorry, I don't know any".

27.06.2002 - carefully supervised by Lama Kalzang, we started painting, drying and rolling the mantras.

Lama Kalzang in Kuchary26.06.2002, Lama Kalzang in Kuchary - today we received an excellent guest, the right hand of Lama Tsechoo. Lama Kalzang went to see the Stupa immediately went to see the Stupa and it seemed he was glad with what he saw. He walked along the building area a few times, kept giggling and repeated "Chorten O.K." - (Chorten - Stupa), he talked with Tsechoo Rinpoche on a telephone in Tibetan and one could feel that "everything is fine"; fotos; The third phase of hydroisolation, the Stupa's foundation is completely safe from the soil water.

25.06.2002 - the second phase of laying the hydroisolation; black and brown dough that resembles the rubber is the proper hydroisolation, in the places where the concrete slabs join there is a special rubber tape.

24.06.2002 - we started installing hydroisolation, it is a complex process, the first phase is laying the undercoat.

23.06.2002 - technological break

22.06.2002 - disassembly of the formwork. A tabernacle was taken from Warsaw to Wroclaw, where the tests of assembly will be carried inside the pumba.

21.06.2002 - concreting - 2 cubic metres - first poured from a concrete truck to a wooden box and then poured with buckets to the formwork. We had guests from Gdansk, Germany and Warsaw.

20.06.2002 - installing the formwork and finishing the reinforcement.

19.06.2002 - disassembly of the formwork; the beginning of the last concrete part of the Stupa.

18.06.2002 - concreting the Lion Throne - the second action as to the volume of the concrete that has been poured (7 m3).

17.06.2002 - the outer part of the Lion Throne's formwork is ready.

16.06.2002 - the assembly of the inner part of the Lion Throne's formwork. The Stupa attracts more and more people: this weekend there came guests from Krakow, Wroclaw, Katowice, Opole, Warsaw and Chicago. None of them came just to watch, but quickly found some work or meditated. We've got both quantity and quality.

15.06.2002 - finishing the formwork of the upper part of the Lion Throne; in case of a rainstorm we are well-prepared: we've got a tent, which is the credit for Boguś, as well as an efficient and well secured pomp (thanks to Marek Parys and Płaski).

14.06.2002 - making the reinforcement and formwork of the 3rd level of the Stupa, that is the level of the Lion Throne.

13.06.2002 - taking apart the formwork, the measurements pointed to unusual exactness, 2 mm.

12.06.2002 - the formwork was installed and next filled with 5,5 m3 of concrete. This will be the second level of the Stupa. The concrete was poured also into the hole that appeared after the ground was rinsed off in the Western corner of the Stupa.

11.06.2002 - for half a day we fought for the Stupa's survival - unexpected heavy rain dumped the pomp and rinsed off the ground under the Stupa foundations, fortunately only about 30 cm so it won't have an influence on the solidity of the foundations and the date of the project's realization. The nestling of a sparrow didn't survive as it is in 9 for 10 cases. In the evening the formwork of the 2nd level of the Stupa was made.

10.06.2002 - the formwork of the 2nd level of the Stupa is ready (exact to 5 mm), the nestling of a sparrow was taken in, Misiek gave it only 30% chance for survival.

09.06.2002 - disassembly of the formwork; preparing the surface of the upper slab, which is the first visible part of the Stupa.

08.06.2002 - concreting the upper slab (9 m3); spreading the concrete with hands.

07.06.2002 - building the formwork and reinforcement of the upper slab. The Stupa building made us changes the style of life. We work 20 hours a day doing the same things again: reinforcement, formwork, pouring the concrete. The border between day and night faded away.

06.06.2002 - building the supports of metal formwork of the inter-foundation space; finishing laying the hydroisolation.

05.06.2002 - installing Naga Bumpa; dissasembly of the formwork of foundationwalls; laying the vertical hydroisolation of foundation walls.

04.06.2002 - taking apart the formwork of foundation walls; preparing the formwork of the upper slab - the first visible part of the Stupa.

02-03.06.2002, the day was 38 hours long - Max worked overnight finishing the crates. Stupa House Team put the second layer of hydro-isolation; prepared rods for the second slab, cut the rods for the second slab. The next race against time started: the following day 3 big concrete trucks were to come at 1p.m., till that time the formwork of the foundation walls had to be ready. We assumed that we would work all night. The reality, however, was much more cruel, since in the morning we saw that there were still loads of things to do. In spite of total exhaustion we worked faster and more effectively. At 1 p.m. the concrete trucks arrived while we were still running around with hammers and beams. When pouring the concrete started Max and Robert were screwing in the last elements of the formwork. After 2 hours of pouring concrete the action was completed. The formwork bore the pressure of 30 tones. We were totally exhausted, but happy.

01.06.2002 - preparing the reinforcement of the foundation walls, start of building the formwork (building crates); laying the first layer of hydro-isolation.

31.05.2002 - binding the reinforcement of foundation walls.

30.05.2002 - cutting and bending the rods of reinforcement of the foundation walls.

29.05.2002 - "szlichta", i.e. smooth layer on the slab.

28.05.2002 - concreting the lower slab (concrete B25)

27.05.2002 - making the formwork for the lower slab.

26.05.2002 - reinforcing the lower slab.

25.05.2002, The Stupa House Team in Kuchary - making hydro-isolation on a thin layer of concrete with asphalt roofing (5 mm thick); calculating and drawing the position of the Stupa; reinforcing the lower slab. In the evening: grill and wine. The curators of the party were Ijon and Niclas - friends from Sweden who are real masters of grilling.

24.05.2002 - pouring thin concrete (B10 -10 mm thick).

23.05.2002 - thickening the land with a 700 kg machine and a 150 kg man. In the evening checking the level of density of land by means of a probe.

22.05.2002 - installment of drainage; filling with sand up to the height of 1m and spreading it to the same height.

21.05.2002 - final cleaning of a pit: getting rid of soft clay from the bottom of a pit, placing the gravel on the bottom (20cm layer). We worked until 5am racing against upcoming soil water.
Pracowaliśmy do 5 rano ścigając się z napływającą wodą gruntową.

20.05.2002 - 2nd stage of digging, the problems with soil water started! Making a dropping well and a pomp installment.

19.05.2002, Losar - the day of birth, enlightenment and Paranirvana of Buddha Shakyamuni - continuation of digging.

18.05.2002, the pope's birthday - first digging; removing the soil.

24.04.2002 We've got the Tree of Life already! It's been cut down in Ropki and is beautiful!!!

20-21.04.2002 - We called a center meeting with Wojtek Kossowski

21.03.2002 At the first day of Spring  WE RECEIVED THE OFFICIAL PERMISSION FOR BUILDING A STUPA  from local authorities!

08.03.2002 - We called the center's meeting on 2-3.03.2002 - summary

05.11.2001 - Including donations that were transferred to other accounts, we've collected over 30.000 PLN. According to the pessimistic calculations, it is 1/6th of the amount that is needed. It's a bit less than 10 months to the Stupa inauguration. It's not bad. It's all right.

19.10.2001 - The Iron Man Meditators assigned 5.000 PLN to the Miracles Stupa account. The same amount was given by Walter from Holland.

DD29 Diamentowa Droga published the article concerning our project.

15.10.2001 During the Lama Ole's tour we collected almost 3.000 PLN. Przemek from Bielsko-Biała makes calendars and little gadgets.

01.09.2001 - We started the first activities concerning the Stupa. The area were it is to be built is being raised. 400 tones of soil has changed the landscape around the pond.

14.08.2001 - After the summer course we found 15.000 PLN in our money-box. That's quite a good start.


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