Request for Donations
Your monetary contributions will be a
Worthy, spiritual investment for Future generations
A Community Project To Build A Sacred Stupa In
Paia, On The Beautiful Island Of Maui, Hawaii
The construction of the Lha Bab Peace Stupa began in April, 2005. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been invited to bless and consecrate the Stupa during his planned visit to Maui in April, 2007.
Generous donors, skilled professionals and volunteers are sharing their wealth, and dedicating their energy and time to this project. The Maui Dharma Center invites everyone to join in this rare and unique opportunity to build a sacred monument which will endure, inspire and benefit beings for many generations to come. The Paia Peace Stupa is not only a tribute to a beloved teacher, it is also a reminder of the universal teachings on love and compassion.
Please Make A Generous Donation
Please make your checks payable to:
The Maui Dharma Center
P.O. Box 791029
Paia, HI 96779
(808 579-8076 or mauidharma@earthlink.net )
Your donations are tax deductible as allowed by law
Lama Gyaltsen's drawing
of the Lha Bab Stupa
The Paia Peace Stupa is a work in progress with its outer construction more than half finished. The many construction details for its completion will be accomplished in the coming months.
The story of the Paia Peace Stupa began in the summer of 2003, shortly after the arrival of the Venerable Lama Gyaltsen. Lama Gyaltsen was chosen by and succeeded the late Venerable Lama Tenzin (1937-2001) as full-time resident teacher of the Maui Dharma Center. A worthy project to define the next generation and to begin a new era at the Maui Dharma Center, the building of the Paia Peace Stupa is for the purpose to enrich the memory and legacy of Lama Tenzin, as a reminder of the profound benefit and continuance of the Buddha-Dharma on the beautiful island of Maui, which the late Lama Tenzin so patiently helped to establish.
Lama Gyaltsen chose to build the traditional style of the Lha Bab Stupa in Paia, Maui as a further symbol of the peaceful distinction of this gentle island to be like a “god realm”.
The god realm of Tushita from which Buddha Shakyamuni descended, returning to Earth, after teaching his mother the dharma and liberating her from suffering cyclic existence. Thus the name Lah (god) Bab (descend) Stupa (support of Buddha’s teachings).
The ground-breaking blessing for the Lha Bab Stupa was on April 17, 2005. During the two years prior to this fortunate occasion and under the direction of Lama Gyaltsen the drawing design and engineering specifics were completed, and the special use and building permits were obtained from the County of Maui Building Department.
The energetic, and skilled Stupa super-volunteers have taken on the awesome task of building the Lha Bab Stupa from the bare and scared ground, moving ever more and slightly higher and higher into the Paia paradise vajra sky. The Stupa will be crowned with the sun and the moon at 27 feet.
Among the many, precious material offerings which will be placed in the interior of the
Stupa are the small, unique and fascinating clay/cement tsa-tsas. These miniature molded replicas of stupas and Buddhas represent the offering of sacred relics. Each one is inserted with a tiny rolled scroll upon which are numerous mantra-prayers empowering each tsa-tsa to be a physical container of the blessings of love, compassion and wisdom.
Lama and friends preparing the tsa-tsas
Each tsa-tsa and prayer-scroll has been carefully
made by the hands of a countless community of
volunteers.
