Khandroling is a sacred retreat land located in Western Massachussetts associated with the lineage of Choegyal Namkhai Norbu and the international Dzogchen Community
Excellent long shot of the overall vajra pavilion support foundation on the universal mandala site of Khandroling.
A close up of Jim Smith pouring concrete into one of the support piers. These concrete support piers will hold the columns that will support the massive roof over the universal mandala.
Another close up of several of the support piers that will all be filled with concrete. Previous videos show the process of embedding steel rods in the support piers. Behind the piers you can view the large retaining wall that circles the entire outer mandala.
Final Video of the season with magnificent views of the nearly completed retaining wall and large pier molds being poured with concrete. The large truck mixing and pouring the cement down a shute is on top of the mandala surface. At the outer perimeter is the retaining wall nearly completed. Here in this video one has a real sense of the enormity of the project.
A series of still photos recently taken on Khandroling by Paula Barry will be posted to this site shortly.
Next week, the builders at Tsegyalgar will pour the concrete into the main pier supports as the final work for this season. The piers are the supports for the Vajra Hall columns that will hold up the massive roof structure. The final stage of work planned this year, if there are sufficient funds, will be to back-fill the entire mandala site to protect it over the winter.
Please stay tuned next week for our finale videos. Over the coming months we will post a variety of documents, maps, and photos relating to the project.
I received some good news from our sanitary engineer this morning. Come to find out that the codes concerning waste disposal on Khandroling will allow a 100% increase in use if a composting system is used. In other words, if a particular site is capable of sustaining a 3 bedroom house with this alternative system it could be increased to 6 bedrooms. This increase in usage for the composing system will be of great benefit to us as we develop Kandroling
This video was taken yesterday on Sunday October 5, 2008. It shows the foundation forms are almost finished. Looking into the form one can see the reinforcing steel rods that we placed into the bedrock last week.
Just a quick up-date on what's happening over the past few weeks--
This past Monday, the footing for the colonnade was poured. we used 24 cubic yards of concrete. 9000 concrete blocks were delivered which the masons are beginning work this Thursday putting up the perimeter foundation walls. The foundation for the 12 major columns are near completion with Jim Smith and crew beginning to tie off the reinforcing steel rods. We plan to pour these large footings next week and we do mean large as some of the piers contain up to 3 cubic yards and weigh up to 12000lbs a piece. If the New England winter will hold off for another month, the foundation for the Vajra Hall will be complete.
Many Thanks to all the builders and individuals who contributed their labor and funding to the development up to this point!
Video 1- Here is Jim Smith on September 17, 2008 recording a series of brief videos on the Mandala foundation outlining recent work done at the Khandroling site.
In video #2, an evocative silent moment at the Stupa just below the mandala
Video 3—here Jim Smith shows the framing of one of the support piers with long shots of other piers in place and further preparation for the bedrock foundation
Video 4- A really excellent description by Jim Smith of the steal reinforcements used in the pier supports to stabilize the concrete foundation.
Video 5- A continuation of looking up close at one of the pier structures that will eventually support on of the twelve pillars of the vajra pavilion building.
Video 6/7-An overview of some of the pier structures
On Monday August 11, 2008 Joe visited the land after a rain storm and in video 1 shows the extent of the excavation for the Vajra pavilion foundation down to the bedrock.Click here for a definition of bedrock. Although hard to discern in the video, the bedrock is an amazing 5-6 feet below the mandala gravel surface.
Video 1:
On Tuesday, August 12, 2008 Joe is back on the land with the excavator who is removing soil down to the bedrock where the cement foundation for the Vajra pavilion will be poured this summer.
On Friday, August 8, 2008, the builders (Joe Zurylo, Jim Smith, John Foster, and Vern Harrington) demonstrated the size and scope of the proposed Vajra pavilion in a walkabout at the site of the building. In video 1, they indicate the location of the pier supports in relation to the center of the mandala as well as the distance of the retaining wall and ramp from the center.
In video 2, they continue their discussion of various aspects such as the location of the retaining wall and ramp, as well as the road enhancements to support the heavy equipment.
Dzogchen Community members practicing sang rite before the heavy equipment arrives
Hi to everyone
Just a short note on what's happening as of today Tuesday, August 4. The heavy equipment has been moved to the lower parking lot. Gravel will be hauled in tomorrow morning to begin regrading of the road. Once the road is improved, the digging for the Vajra Hall will begin probably in a couple of days.
To prepare the ground, last week the vajra mandala was dismantled.
The turn in the road were the Stupa is located needs to be opened up so we can get concrete trucks and other equipment to the site.
This past Sun. we did some preliminary perc tests along the logging road leading to the knoll, we dug 4 test pits; 2 passed, 2 failed. For a definition of a perc test, click here. Here are a couple of videos of the process:
Perc Test Video, Part 2:
As soon as time permits we will schedule the real test and make it official at which point we will have 4 sites for septic. How we divide this into usage still needs to be determined. For sure, one should be a house for Rinpoche. Again when time permits, we will try another area for perc and see what happens as it would be nice to have at least 6 sites in total. I think that maybe by cold weather the design team can present the community with possibilities of what can happen in this area, then we can see what we wish to do within what is possible.
If you are new to this blog, scroll down to read the earliest entries first to follow the narrative and sequence of events, or you can click on the earliest dates in the side bar archive below beginning with August 4, 2008.
We will document and share the latest developments in the building process of the Vajra Hall at Khandroling and other building projects on the land. Team members include buidlers, local resident/members and members of the international Dzogcehn Community.
