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De-Tong Ling Retreat Centre Enlightenment Stupa and Prayer Wheel House prior to the brush fires, Kangaroo Island, South Australia, 2019. Photo by De-Tong Ling Retreat Centre.
The 2019-2020 Australian bushfires came within one-hundred feet of De-Tong Ling Retreat Centre, an FPMT center on Kangaroo Island, Australia. Rebecca Geisler, center director, Will Abram, assistant director and building coordinator, and Anthony Reid, member of the board, share about the importance of community bonds and volunteer support.
The kangaroos are back, De-Tong Ling Retreat Centre, Kangaroo Island, South Australia, February 2020. Photo by De-Tong Ling Retreat Centre.
The Importance of Community
Rebecca shared, “We are slowly coming to terms with the fact that our center and some surrounding properties were spared during the bush fires. We feel immense gratitude towards those from the local community who helped us survive, as well as deep respect for the way they have supported each other and have shown such resilience and generosity in the face of disaster.
“Strong links with the local community—particularly Heidi’s work as an ambulance volunteer—enabled this and other appropriate responses to the fires, as well as access to up-to-date information from the County Fire Service control center. We are also sincerely thankful for the many prayers and dedications we received from around the world, especially from the FPMT community.
“We have formally thanked the firefighters and locals patrolling the control lines, the bulldozer drivers improving the survival chances of buildings by creating containment lines, and those who provided accommodation when people were evacuated from the center. We have also acknowledged the De-Tong Ling and Yacca Creek retreatants and residents who endured so much, including those residents who assisted while the fires were active and during the follow-up scrub clearing.”
The Power of Volunteers
Will Abram shared, “When we talk about the De-Tong Ling volunteers, that is a very big story. The volunteer culture has grown since the Enlightenment Stupa project began in 2002. We followed Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice: build a very large stupa at the center before anything else, and then everything else will follow.
“It didn’t exactly happen like that because some people donated money specifically to build retreat houses. From 1999 to 2003 three retreat house were built. We continued through 2002 and 2003, making mud bricks needed for the Enlightenment Stupa.
“The volunteer energy continued to grow. We assume that was primarily because the opportunity was there to help build a very significant holy object, the largest completed stupa in Australia, and in the most pristine natural environment available.”
Describing the location, Anthony Reid said, “How the stunning white dome and golden spire stands out against the blue sky and pastel green of the surrounding bushland! Prayer flags flutter from the pinnacle and the Enlightenment Stupa radiates an undeniable feeling of peace, tranquility, and steadfastness. Amidst the madness of the world, here is a place of refuge.”
Just a few of the De-Tong Ling Retreat Centre volunteers inside of the Prayer Wheel House, Kangaroo Island, South Australia, 2019. Photo by De-Tong Ling Retreat Centre.
Will Abram continued, “Building holy objects and communicating the intention is key to harnessing volunteer energy. The initial spreading of the intention brought in a number of people who to this day still return to help from time to time. Providing good food also helps!
“For example, Richard Miller laid the first brick at the stupa site. He still contributes along with his wife, Joan. Richard worked on the supporting metalwork for the large prayer wheel as well as the mantra loading. Thomas Appleby, a master stonemason also continues to return, building the stone entrance flanked by small prayer wheels, the prayer wheel house walls, and now the front office wall at the group retreat facility.
“These are just two examples of the many dedicated volunteers who have connected with this incredible and most beneficial project, the building of a retreat center and its associated holy objects.
“The construction is also dependent on the many generous people who donated money for the services of craftspeople and precious objects for the Enlightenment Stupa. Volunteers not only gave their time and energy but also paid their own way to get to the remote retreat center and donated money for food.
“Volunteering at De-Tong Ling has become a wonderful tradition. It continues through a combination of dedication to Rinpoche‘s vast vision, the power of the holy objects themselves, and the center’s remoteness and beauty. It draws people back again and again.”
To learn more about De-Tong Ling Retreat Centre, visit their website:
http://detongling.org/
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