Padmakara Garden:  A Lotus Beginning to Unfold

November 28, 2020

Dear Community and Friends,

A big thank you for your support and to our dedicated Padmakara Garden team, who have been sheltering-in-place and working safely on site through the turbulent months of 2020.

Since our last update, large decorative boulders have been selected and nudged carefully into place via forklift. The main stairs to the garden have been framed and poured with terracotta colored concrete. A pump and filtration system for the pond and waterfalls has been installed. A crisscross grid of steel rods has been woven into the foundation of the plaza and the walkway around the Prayer Wheel House and covered in concrete. The latest touch has been mortaring stone (Santa Barbara split stone and Mount Moriah wall stone) into place on the fountain wall, a task requiring artistry, a discerning eye, strong arms, and the occasional chiseling. 

Next is the final layer of the plaza itself, which will be laid with Peruvian stone and feature a lotus design at its center.

Our small group of residents, who practice, live, and work together, celebrated the harvest in a spirit of gratitude on November 26, 2020 with a plentiful spread of vegetarian food, and the completion of the fountain wall, which was turned on for the first time that day!

Though we will remain closed to the public until it is safe to reopen, our vision for a beautiful contemplative space is starting to come to life, and we look forward to holding classes in the garden—meditation, Kum Nye Tibetan yoga, and other fields of study—as well as simply offering a space of refuge and beauty to you, our students, and the local community to visit, reflect, and practice in.

Warmest wishes, 

Your friends at the Nyingma Institute