Gesar

Ever since its founding in 1975, Odiyan has been a place of growth: new buildings, new art projects, new landscaping. Cintamani Temple, completed a decade ago, was the last monumental structure, but since then we have built Vairocana Garden, installed a pond at Cintamani, and done extensive restoration work. In the last few years, we have continued to beautify the mandala as an offering to the Dharma. While our population has remained stable, at about 40 or less, Odiyan  now looks more like a settled village, with structures connecting with one another in unexpected ways. 

Early in 2012 we installed fully empowered nine-foot tall Enlightenment and Parinirvana stupas at the recently enlarged reservoir and at Mandala Garden, southeast of the rim structure, where two aviaries are also located. At the Chapel, we installed six Stupas on pillars, two each in the North, East and West directions. 

Near the end of 2013 we began a redesign of the cemetery east of the Enlightenment Stupa. It now incorporates different colored rock paths and many fragrant and flowering plants. Thirty Parinirvana stupas for use at the cemetery were cast early in 2014. 

Now that Odiyan is almost forty years old, the need for maintenance has become a major factor in our planning. At Cintamani, the gold paint applied in 2007 had begun to fade, so we power-washed the surface and applied new layers of gold paint and top coat to the dome and around the statues. We have also applied new coatings to the Main Temple dome and (early this year) the domes of the four gatehouse temples, restoring the brilliant copper gleam of the central mandala. We are currently looking for donations for the $11,500 needed to finish the remaining roofs of the Main Temple. 

In the spring of 2012 Karma Factory foundry cast an eight-foot tall standing Buddha in the historic Gandhara style. After being gold-plated, it was placed on an altar in Cintamani Temple. Two more were cast in 2013, one for the Sarnath Institute and the other for Vairocana Garden. About thirty smaller statues, molded in 2012, were also cast; molds for another sixty statues have also been molded and are now being cast. 

In February of 2013 we started helping mold and cast a twenty-foot tall Padmasambhava statue sculpted at Ratna Ling and sponsored by Dharma 

Publishing. To reach our goal of assembling and polishing the statue by October

10, fifteen people worked round the clock. Once completed, the statue was cut into 7 pieces and transported to the Main Temple where it was reassembled on a throne. Gold leafed, painted, and empowered, it now sits at the very center of the Mandala. As a separate offering, we built shelving to house 77 sets of the 149-volume Nyingma Gyudbum. 

In January 2014, the Karma Factory foundry did its first iron pour, incorporating meteoric iron to cast thirty phurbas (ritual daggers), which were then polished and gold-plated. Later that month, we began sculpting in clay a seated Maitreya Buddha, approximately nine feet tall, scheduled for bronze casting by October 2014. The massive project of stamping 108,000 tsa-tsas was moved to Odiyan from Padma Ling in 2012. A space for the project was cleared in a grove of trees on the north side of the property and named Tsa-Tsa Village. More than 90,000 have been stamped so far, and some 4,000 now adorn the arbor around the rim structure, Vairocana Garden and the temple altars. Tsa-tsas have also been sent to our other centers and for distribution at the World Peace Ceremony in India.

Arches were erected this year at the head and foot of the stairs leading to Cintamani Temple and in the courtyard of the Chapel, using donated granite pillars and steel left from former projects. 

The arbor around the rim structure went through an extensive renovation earlier this year: the old wisteria vines were removed, the red rock area was extended, and a new brick curb was built giving a cleaner edge. A line of bamboo was planted in place of the wisteria and eight

30-foot tall prayer flag poles were added in the four corners, each with a wind wheel on top. At the corners pillar-steps were installed leading to the stupa islands in the lake, making them accessible for use as meditation spots. Dozens of improved wind-powered prayer wheels have been installed atop the other prayer flag poles in the last two years. 

In 2012 the old Pilgrimage Road was rebuilt and a new section added, a project sponsored by Dharma Publishing. Over

50 drainpipes were installed to protect against water damage. Many hundreds of dead trees were cleared and burned at the same time, but large areas of the property are still in need of maintenance. 

With the severe drought of the last two years, we have focused increasingly on water. The twin cistern system, improved in 2011–2012, was reconnected to Vairocana Garden and the Chapel. It functions as a back-up system for the main reservoir. The irrigation system has been reorganized and made more efficient, and a new well was drilled, with an estimated capacity of 70 gallons per minute. 

A new vegetable garden, over 7,000 sq. feet in size, was built in 2013, making Odiyan nearly self-sufficient in producing our own vegetables. Many new fruit and nut trees have been planted, including walnuts, mulberries, figs, and apples. We have intensified our canning and preserving efforts.

In the last few years Odiyan has been increasingly investing in alternative energy, particularly photovoltaic panels, including a 23 kw system at the Stupa and

126 panels at Vajra Temple. Other improvements include a much-expanded security system and lovely solar lighting around the rim arbor. There has been a major push for cleaning and maintaining neglected areas, and the dining-room floor was refinished to a soft honey color during the 2013-14 winter break. The effect is to lighten the environment of the room. 

Recently, Rinpoche has introduced more time for study and practice at Odiyan, with Sundays free for that purpose. Several classes are offered throughout the day, and in the afternoon a two-hour meditation period is followed by an hour of Kum Nye. Each morning two separate groups do morning practice, sixteen in the Main Temple gallery and a second group in the rim-structure temple. Other classes are scheduled during the week in the morning and evening. The four monthly ceremonies are now each done at a different temple allowing the community the chance to appreciate our work and the work of those who have been here before. Our appreciation and gratitude for the opportunities available to us in this most special place grow year by year and day by day.