Current News

September 2006

Milarepa has been involved with the State of Vermont in a logging project since 2000. This helps the center by maintaining a favorable property tax status and the environment by thinning out the forest and allowing the remaining trees to grow stronger and our views to be more accessible. We've also been able to receive a small revenue stream from the sale of logs over the past year. This money has increased somewhat recently as the project continues into all the phases. Our logger and neighbor has been very kind to Milarepa Center and maintained our roads, cut our firewood, and been downright neighborly the Vermont way.

Several years ago, at the Mitrupa Retreat, Lama Zopa Rinpoche shared his vision for Milarepa Center. He has asked us to build a larger retreat center that will accommodate 100 people with new Gompa and teachers’ accommodations. We are working with the community to become better known and to establish positive relationships so that when it is time to expand our center we will have a good working ties with our neighbors and community officials. Our logger will provide us with the wood for the framework of the new buildings and help us carve out the new roads necessary to reach our beautiful new Gompa.

My hope is to establish a building fund to get things started in the near future. We've been talking about this expansion for a long time and the time has come to act. I hope you will join us in this project, getting in on it from the beginning, and help Lama Zopa's vision become a reality.

The town of Barnet and Milarepa Center were recently hit by a tornado which destroyed lots of property in the area. Many trees were blown down on the Milarepa land. Following the storm, Lama Zopa offered this advice to help us think more positively about the destruction and in support of our logging efforts:

“Rinpoche talked about logging as a source of income at a Dharma Center and how from the Dharma perspective, it has tremendous benefit. OF course we don't cut all the trees, but are considerate in our selection. By doing this we are able to build statues, gompas, fund prayer wheels, etc. Because these things can help sentient beings create the cause for happiness. If sentient beings don't create the cause for happiness ie wisdom, compassion, ethics, concentration, then no matter how many beautiful trees there are, there is no happiness in the mind. So by using the money created by doing logging at a center we create long term benefit for sentient beings, liberation and enlightenment.”

The Bakula Arhat Statue

Jan 2005

During His amazing visit to Milarepa Center in 2002, Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche made many suggestions for future development of the Center in order to bring skies of benefit to the world. Rinpoche's Holy wishes are for us to build a large meditation hall and accommodations for at least 100 people to host large FPMT group retreats, build accommodations for monks and nuns, and build more retreat huts in particular for those with serious illness to meditate on Bodhicitta and heal themselves. Rinpoche thinks big to benefit and liberate as many as possible.

Looking at the evolution of the FPMT, one is amazed at the incredible progress and benefit the organization is offering to suffering mother sentient beings. We are happy to be a part of such a hugely organization. Rinpoche has explained that the presence of a Bakula Arhat statue at Milarepa Center will bring all the means to flourish and benefit many, many sentient beings.

On Rinpoche's recent visit to Tibet, He investigated with the monasteries He visited to find out how they maintained financial support. Rinpoche says that He was told that the monasteries had built Bakula statues and prayed to Him for the necessary means to their Dharma practices.

Bakula Arhat was one of the 16 Arhats, who are attributed to keeping the continuity of Shakyamuni Buddha's Teachings strong for the following 800 years after His Parinirvana. Bakula Arhat, at the time of generating Boddhicitta made very strong prayers and vows to provide all the necessary means to all those Dharma practitioners with clear motivations. He was known for having 800 Arhats in his retinue in India and for his immunity from physical ailments and his very long life.

At the Mitugpa retreat in '02, Rinpoche requested local New England sculptor, Lisa Sofman to take on this project for Milarepa Center. She has just completed the first phase of the statue. In order to complete the project we need to raise the funding to gold leaf it and build a throne and housing. We are grateful for all those who have contributed and for those to come. Let's come together and help the Center continue to grow and benefit kind mother sentient beings. In order to contribute, you can send offerings to the Center, noted that they are for the Bakula statue, or contact us by phone or email with any questions.