News from Kunsangar North

Warm greetings to all from Kunsangar North. It is frosty in Russia now, there is a lot of snow and it is very beautiful at the Gar. We are well prepared for winter. Thanks to generous sponsorship, we were able to buy enough coal. We have to heat the Gar until the end of May, and this is a very big expense. Now we are confident that the Gar will be able to work smoothly.

In order for Community members to come to the Gar more and more often, we have created a special program: we have offered everyone who works remotely and is ready to come to the Gar for a month or more accommodation at very affordable prices. This is a great opportunity to combine work and practice, Yantra Yoga, Vajra Dance and Karma Yoga.

In November, the Gakyil held a meeting to report on their activities. This year all sectors worked together very well. In the yellow Gakyil, we had professional people who work in finance as well as accountants and they developed and implemented a modern and transparent system of accounting and work with hired employees, which is very important for the Gar.

The red Gakyil organized many repairs, cleared the forest, and planted many new trees and flowers. The Gar has become much more attractive and beautiful.

Winter in Kunsangar North. Video by Igor Pireyev.

The renovation of the Stupa of Perfect Victory was also completed at Kunsangar North.

Due to the aggressive external environment, the surface of the Stupa had deteriorated, pieces had fallen off in some places, mold had begun to appear, and the paint on the horizontal surfaces was severely damaged. The old paint was thoroughly sanded, all deep cracks were cleaned out, plastered and reconstructed, the entire stupa was washed, treated with a special compound against mold, primed and painted in three layers, and finally treated with a water-repellent coating. Also, on all horizontal surfaces, the old weather-beaten paint was scraped down to concrete, and tiles were laid in its place.

Renovated hovel of the stupa with Ushnishavijaya statue.

Renovated Stupa of the Perfect Victory

As for practices at the Gar, the blue Gakyil did an excellent job of organizing many in-person and online retreats; every month there were 2-3 retreats in the Gar with local and international instructors.

A big festival of the Dzogchen Community is planned at the Gar for the beginning or middle of summer together with other Buddhist communities and all those who seek a spiritual path. Now the old and active members of the Community have created an initiative group and made a presentation to the Gakyil which has happily approved the initiative. We think that this will help the development of the Gar as a place of practice.

Among the recent events at the Gar is the recent Santi Maha Sangha retreat led by Sasha Gomonov, which took place in person at the Gar, and the ongoing regular practice of the Guardians on Zoom. There was also a retreat with Prima Mai on the Khalongdorjeikar dance and a celebration of Rinpoche’s birthday.