We continue to be involved in many renovations at Tengye Ling. During the warm summer months we worked outside around the Temple. We finished staining the wooden fence and shed in the backyard, and repainted the red metal fence running down the side of the driveway. Many hands made for light and speedy work! Thank you to all members of Tengye Ling who made the accomplishments of these projects possible.
The life-size wooden statue of Shakyamuni Buddha, that was donated to us last year, is in the process of being painted. It now has golden skin, blue snails on His head, wonderful, warm, peaceful open eyes and ruby-red lips! His home is in our garden, which is in its first year and evolving. The garden has impatiens, begonias, mint, marigold, shrubs, ferns and much more to come!
Now that the weather has cooled off, we have moved back indoors for the finishing touches needed on the third floor - such as painting doors and windows. We have a new shrine on the landing, with the "original" Tengye Ling statue of Shakyamuni Buddha and two butter lamps from Nepal. We are just about to move the pillars in the basement common area to create more space, which will require adding a beam in order to maintain the support for the building. Once this is done, we will repaint the basement and put down new flooring. Our contractor, Alan Bridle, will be renovating the back room on the third floor once the basement is complete.
The roof-top Dharmachakra was stripped of old lacquer and caulking and was re-buffed, re-sealed with hard epoxy (to prevent moisture from affecting the consecration materials inside), and re-lacquered. It continues to send blessings from The Buddha throughout Toronto!!!
The new 7 1/2 statue of Shakyamuni Buddha is steadily being polished - the lotus base is nearly complete and the Earth-Touching hand and arm is finished. In India, Ven. Dawa-la carved all the virtuous qualities of the Buddha-nature onto a precious pole of sandalwood that will run down the centre of the statue. This pole and some other precious substances were delivered in July 1999 by the Zongar Choede monks.
As we stated before and continue to rejoice, this glorious statue is an exact duplicate of the newly installed statue at Gyumed Tantric Monastery. The statue is not on display in our main shrine room as of yet. At the moment, plans are being made by the monks of Zongar Choede to consecrate this precious statue next April, when they will return to Canada. Then a date will be set for the public installation of the statue, when invitations will be sent out.
February 2000
We continue to be involved in many renovations at Tengye Ling. We are currently finishing the basement. The dining room/common area was opened up with the moving of the two pillars from the centre of the room and a wall removed. New pot lights and light troughs were installed and the ceiling has been painted. The walls are in the process of being repainted, and when the new cupboards are installed, the new burgundy marmoleum floor will be put down.
We continue to be involved in many renovations at Tengye Ling. We are currently finishing the basement. The new cabinets are in place, and the drawers and doors are almost painted. The new burgundy marmoleum floor is currently being laid, and in May the kitchen, stairwell and Gen-la's room will also have this flooring put in.
With spring approaching, we have many plans for the outside of Tengye Ling. Among them, making some adjudstments to the backyard fence, including privacy banners and prayer flags and strapping in the fence, painting the concrete on the south wall to be brick coloured, and fixing the grass and the driveway in the front. Stay tuned!!
We continue to be involved in many renovations at Tengye Ling. During the summer, we have been doing many outdoor projects such as making the fence more private, painting the statue of Shakyamuni Buddha, and we re-painted the front part of the building in a brighter yellow. Alan has put lattice on the top of the fence and the fire escape to make it higher and more private. Our prayers were answered that the floor in the basement hall and the kitchen, as well as Gen-la's room, were finally laid!
Currently, we are taking out the old walls and ceiling of the back room on the third floor, in preparation for a sliding door and an all-new interior. It will also house a kitchenette. Soon we will extend the main stairwell into the office, and have stairs decending from the office into the hydro room. Ultimately, we will not have to walk through the Gompa to get from upstairs to the basement!
November 2000 We continue to be involved in many renovations at Tengye Ling. We completed making the fire-escape into a true staircase, so that we can access the third floor from the back-yard. The new kitchenette on the third floor has been painted, and now has windows! We will soon put in cupboards and a sink, and eventually lay new flooring. The outer walls of this kitchenette will soon get new siding.
The main stairwell has been opened up into the office. What was our main floor bathroom is now a small hall and a small bathroom. We are in the process of painting this area and in the near future, work will begin on building stairs decending from the office into the hydro room. Ultimately, we will not have to walk through the Gompa to get from upstairs to the basement!
Alan Bridle fixing up the new stairwell
Michael Carley and Alan rejoice at cutting a hole for new windows in kitchenette!!
February 2001
We continue to be involved in many renovations at Tengye Ling. The new kitchenette on the second floor has a new floor! We will soon put in cupboards and a sink. The outside walls of the kitchenette now have new siding.We are still in the process of painting the new small hall and bathroom where the main stairwell was opened up into the old office. Work has begun on building stairs decending from the office into the hydro room. Ultimately, we will not have to walk through the Gompa to get from upstairs to the basement!
We are gearing up to have a deck built in the spring. Our architect, Aaron Landow, has made drawings and we are looking forward to more space and the whole backyard being transformed!