|
The Programme Pavilion |
Picture Gallery: Facilities for Group Retreats / Facilities for Individual Retreats
|
You
are here: Siddhartha's Intent Home Page >
Retreat Centres > Sea
to Sky Retreat Centre > Facilities
>
|
Picture Gallery: Facilities for Group Retreats / Facilities for Individual Retreats |
|
In September
of 1993, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche conducted an unannounced teaching
on Buddhist fire offering practice at Sea to Sky Retreat Centre near Whistler,
British Columbia. Approximately twenty of his friends from various branches
of Siddhartha’s Intent attended the outdoor teaching, which was held on
a flat shelf of open land with rock cliffs in the back and a lake in the
front. The idea of a simple shelter began to emerge. At first, the idea
was to build a summer facility, little more than a large picnic pavilion.
However, the finer details of a more permanent facility which could serve
as a multi-purpose programme pavilion came into being as Rinpoche and
friends contributed to the design. |
||
|
All of the woodwork is cedar, the indigenous timber of British Columbia. An Oriental aspect is provided by an interior space that reflects the natural surroundings. The pavilion evokes the totems and smoke ceremony houses of the region’s First Nations people. Symbols of the elements are incorporated: the central hearth represents the element of Earth which supports Fire, the view of lake brings Water, while the smoke rising upwards represents Air. |
||
|
On the day of the opening, the pavilion was filled with over forty practitioners who had travelled from various cities in North America, Europe and Asia to attend a fire offering programme led by Rinpoche. The opening programme was followed by a week-long group practice. |
||
|
Following the two initial fire offering programmes, there was a chance to test the multi-purpose aspect of the design; the hearth and internal chimney were easily removed and the fire pit was covered. Quickly, the pavilion was converted from fire puja pavilion to wilderness hall for a workshop for cancer patients.
|
||
 |
|
