Our great inspiration… Lama Ole Nydahl

During Lama Ole’s tour of New Zealand and Australia this year the wish was expressed to hold a Phowa course at Glentui in 2016. From this the inspiration came up to build a Gompa where we could hold the Phowa which we’d also use for group retreats and national courses.

We visited Glenui with Lama Ole and around 50 Sangha and got a lot of inspiration for where and how big to build the Gompa and even discussed the place for a stupa further into the future.

So now we are planning and raising money for this project as a place for Australians, New Zealanders and friends from around the world to come to meditation courses and retreats. We want to build a space for the Phowa for 200 people or more that can then be divided up to meet our ongoing needs.

To get everyone excited Martin shot a promotional video “The Lord of the Mind” in New Zealand with contributions from the Australian Sangha as well. To get a taste of what’s to come watch the trailer (coming soon).

We are also planning what we’ll build and how. Our international team has put together some initial plans and got some basic estimation on price. To get more concrete about this, our next step will be to talk to the local Waimakariri council about the permissions, facilities and information we need to proceed. After we have this info we’ll use it to get more definite quotes from building companies and go on from there.