On May 10th 2013, it felt like history was in the making when our three A-Frame retreat huts that were built in the mid-1970s started to be dismantled to make way for three beautiful new retreat huts to be built this autumn (the first stage of Tushita’s Retreat Hut Project, which you can read more about here). The day began with a sang incense offering to pacify the elements and a look back at the almost 40 years of service to retreatants which the huts have provided. You can see photos from this puja here.
Brother Dharmapala (Uldis Balodis), who did retreat in one of the huts in 1978, kindly spoke of his experiences. At that time, the Centre had only been running for 5 years and conditions were extremely basic. Brother Dharmapala recollected “Water was brought down to me, not every day, just every second or third day. They would bring down a bucket of water and that I would use for everything: offering bowls, to flush the toilet, to wash my dishes, wash my clothes, wash myself. It was amazing… I learned how to be very economical with water.”
Brother Dharmapala and volunteers Fred and Maya took a last look around (above left) before de-construction began (above right). Lama Yeshe is pictured left in an A-frame in 1973. What foundations to build on!