This is a long piece by Lama Yeshe.
It presents an interesting history on how the KSC center came to be.
History of the Creation of the KSC Building
Narrated by Lama Yeshe, May 9, 2012
Transcribed by David Teegarden
The
start of Kagyu Sukha Chöling in Ashland Ashland
The
Board and lamas were both shocked. KSC’s bank account was so tiny that it was
silly we even had a bank account. However, within three months, we had in fact
found a building that was stunningly affordable. It was easily accessible to the Ashland 147 Granite Street
The
building was 90 years old the year we moved in, and all of its 90 years
showed. It was somewhat shabby, the wind
whistled through it all year round, and we quickly learned that there was
asbestos in the walls. However, it met
the needs of the Center very, very well, and the community grew rapidly, just
by virtue of having a dedicated meeting space.
During
the remainder of 2002, we had two important teaching visits, from Khenpo
Tsultrim Gyantso Rinpoche and Lama Lodru Rinpoche. We chose to have the community of 50 to 60
people meet these lamas, on their different visiting weekends, with conch
shells on the front sidewalk. After the
second event, we received a letter from Ashland
Thus
we began our long and supportive relationship with the Ashland Planning
Department. They made clear to us that, as a church or faith organization, we
needed to have a conditional permit to operate in a legal fashion. But the staff member we met with was very
helpful. He indicated that the City supported what we were doing, but we would
never get a conditional use for the building we were in, because of parking
issues in proximity to Lithia
Park
In
May, 2003, we held a Vision Circle Hidden
Springs Wellness
Center Rogue Valley
This
informative meeting directed our future efforts. The consensus was for KSC to
remain in Ashland
The
Committee looked and looked. We came
close to leasing or renting a couple of quite suitable places, but for odd
reasons, those fell through. The Finders eventually connected with John Fields,
the owner/builder of a seven-acre development at the corner of Oak and East
Hersey Streets. He had space available on the upper floor of one of his
buildings, and the Finders made an appointment to see it. As they walked the
apartments with John, everyone realized very quickly that they wouldn’t be
suitable. At that point, John turned to
the Finders -- Ellen Waldman and France Robinson -- and said, “Why don’t you
tell me what you are looking for. What do you want?” They told John about our hope: A two-story building with a footprint of
2000 square feet. A Sangha member, Michaeldavid Uri, had created a beautiful
building design for this dream, using themes of Tibetan architectural style,
utilizing construction methods of the Northwest.
Hearing
this dream, John turned around pointed across the development toward an old
barn, and said, “Right there is a pre-approved building space, with a 2000
square-foot footprint, which could be two or three stories high. There are 108 parking places planned for this
development. This is a live/work
neighborhood, so all of these buildings have businesses as well as residences.
I hate to pave the planet, and if those parking spaces, which are required,
could be used when businesses and residences were not using them, it would make
me so happy. Let’s keep talking!”
Those
conversations unfolded with Board members, because this was a change in focus
and a big step. We were considering
buying property and constructing a building, and even at the modest square
footage building rate that John felt he could offer if he were our contractor,
we knew that economically we would be looking at much greater expense and the
necessity for fundraising.
The
members of the board members met with John several times. We also talked with the Planning Department.
They advised us that this was the best of all possible situations, from a
zoning point of view, if we could manage it.
Then we asked Lama Lodru Rinpoche during one of his visits, what he thought
of the building site, and what he thought of the whole project. Coincidentally,
John Fields arrived while Lama Lodru was walking on the property. They met and
it was a very good meeting. In the Tibetan tradition, attention is paid to what
just appears to happen – the coincidental meetings and coincidental
connections. Initially, Lama Lodru was very happy with the property. He was especially happy about meeting John,
and he said to John directly, “If you build this building, I will bring the
Dalai Lama here.”
As
you can imagine we were all thrilled and shocked and terrified. So that was a very positive beginning. IN
December, 2003 the Board sent a letter to all the members and active Sangha. There had been many meetings and
informational sessions happening during this whole year of searching, but at
this point, the initial fundraising letter went out. Our goal was to raise
slightly less than $200,000 to buy the property. Our commitment was to save money, buy the
property and save to build the building in stages, so that the community would
not incur any debt. We knew that we
could not secure any mortgage, so 'save as you go' was the initial method.
When
Khenpo Tsultrim visited in 2004, we had wonderful fundraising materials
available, and we had raised about $130,000. We sought Khenpo’s advice, and his
advice was very, very specific. “Make
friends with all of your future neighbors; engage them. Even if they are
unhappy, they will be informed, and if they’re happy, then they will support
you. Secondly, use local architects and
builders and use local suppliers. You
want to benefit your community from the minute that you start your project, and
if you do, then everyone will be happy to have you here.”
Beginning
in late 2004, we were working with the Planning Department on the
pre-application process, preceding the application to the Planning Commission
for approval to build. In the
pre-application process, we learned, much to our surprise, that in a live/work
neighborhood, a church would not be considered a business by the traditional
definition. It had to have its own portion of the building, with a conditional
use permit. To meet the definition of live/work zoning, we would have to have a
genuine business in the building, as well as at least one residence on the top
floor.
The
architect went back to the drawing board to create a three-story building,
which required a larger share of the parking lots, changing the price of the
land to $300,000. It also changed the
cost of construction quite significantly.
To
prepare for the Planning Commission meeting, we invited our neighbors to an
informational meeting to view the building design. We also called on every
business in the vicinity and left letters for all nearby neighbors, informing
them about the proposed building and its purpose. With that preparation, and
the completion of the pre-application process, we felt ready to make our
appearance at the Planning Commission in June, 2005. The architects, a private
planner and the lamas all made statements and answered the questions of the
commissioners. In addition, there were 25 individuals, families, businesses
speaking on our behalf, and only one individual concerned about the impact of
construction on the wetlands adjoining the building. This was handled by the
architects with a commitment to protect the wetlands during construction. We
received unanimous approval that evening.
The
purchase was concluded in October, 2005, and at the end of the month, we held a
morning fire offering ceremony, in which traditional offerings are made to a
large fire. Following Khenpo Tsultrim’s
advice, we informed our neighbors of the event and its purpose, and made safety
arrangements to gain permission from the city’s fire marshal.
In
the ceremony, we made offerings to the spirits of the land and the water of the
wetlands. The purpose of such an event
is to engage prevailing natural energies that we can’t see, and ones that we
can, to let them know our intention to use the land for the dharma. We know that any construction destroys life,
and changes our relationship with the natural world. Our purpose was to set the
intention that we humans and the forces of the land and water would work in
harmony for the good of all beings.
Throughout
2006, the Fundraising Committee did extensive fundraising, with teas, campaigns
and special events. In February, 2007,
we held an Early Groundbreaking ceremony.
Lama Lodru Rinpoche came from San
Francisco
The
purpose of the ceremony was to ask the Nagas, as Lords of the Land, to give
their permission that a Dharma building could be built. The treasure was given
to them to make up for the fact that we were asking them to move, to leave
their land. With that permission received, the preparation for building could
begin. For the next several months of
2007, the resident clay soil was removed from the site, and replaced with rock
and gravel, down to a level of more than six feet. This would assure the flow
of the city’s watershed drainage underneath the building to the wetlands, which
is our neighbor. There was a lot of physical work done by many people, as you
can imagine, and varying levels of rock and gravel were laid in, in a
particular order. At the end of that
stage, the building site surface was flat and covered with rock.
In
December, 2007, the Foundation Consecration was held, as the final preparatory
ceremony before construction. For two days, a large tent replicated the shape
of the building in its precise future location. We set up a full shrine,
created a food offering, and provided seating for the 200 guests. Lama Lodru Rinpoche led the day-long practice
of Vajrayogini, which was carried out by the resident lamas and several of
Rinpoche’s senior students. The purpose
was to bring the feminine energy of wisdom into the future building, by placing
a mandala and many more offerings into a concrete vault created to lie beneath
the future building. Each guest and participant placed a cedar bough, brought
from the cedar tree at the Granite
Street
In
January 2008, we began the building process with a huge concrete pour. Then the recycled steel beams began to rise,
and the walls for the first (ground) floor, made of integrated concrete forms
-- styrofoam forms filled with concrete. These gave the walls of the building
the mass they would need to hold cool in the summer and heat in the
winter. The walls went to the ceiling of
the ground floor, which is a daylight basement – windows on two sides, and two
sides tucked into the hillside. The steel posts to the top of the third floor
were placed, as well as beams for the steel ceiling of the first floor, which
was also the base for the future concrete middle floor. Construction ended at
that point, because that was the end of the money we had at that time.
In
late 2008, the beams for the ceiling of the middle floor, and the steel for the
future concrete third floor were placed, as we continued fund raising. Prayer
flags flew from the tops of the steel beams
In
January 2009, we met with our contractor John Fields, to review the remaining
budget and determine what the next phase of building would be. This decision
would determine our next fundraising goal.
At that point, there was about $500,000 to $700,000 of work remaining to
completion. We hoped to select $250,000 - $300,000 of construction for the next
phase, and do the completion phase sometime after that.
We
discussed the possibilities for the next phase, and then at a certain point,
John said, “It’s been six months since the stock market crash. This country is
in a catastrophic recession right now. I care about this project. I care about your community and I care even
more about the community of the Rogue
Valley
This
proactive suggestion was very surprising to us. It felt very loving,
actually. It was very challenging, and
it also felt just right. We held a
series of meetings with the Sangha community, which was now bursting out of the
seams of the Granite Street
The
consensus was ‘yes’, although there were many who were fearful, of course. But
with the majority feeling optimistic, in June 2009, the Board notified the
Sangha and interested local supporters that we were looking for ‘generous
lenders’ to aid us to complete the building.
Ten individuals and families stepped forward, and all of the needed
money was secured. This allowed us to begin construction in August, 2009, and
build straight through to occupancy, opening in June, 2010. During the final
construction process, we brought Lama Lodru Rinpoche to Ashland
There
were several important factors in bringing such a big project to completion.
One was John Fields’ willingness to have volunteers involved in building and
cleanup on site. A second factor was the
leader for the volunteers, Clay Colley, a board member and local contractor.
Under his organization and supervision, more than 200 volunteers from the
Sangha and beyond, came weekly, even daily, to volunteer their time and skills.
A third factor was the donation and/or discounting of materials by generous
suppliers. We estimate that this combination of John and Clay’s leadership,
along with the hands and skills of volunteers, and donated materials, saved KSC
more than $200,000.
As
we had hoped and planned, the KSC meditation center is a green and sustainable
building, one of the first such commercial projects in the Rogue Valley
