The base. Before the concrete foundation and slab was poured, some items of significance were buried. The red chalk mandala was to simply bless the base before we started laying blocks. This is just one stupa: we did six at the same time.
One of the intrepid blocklayers, Ross.
As is perhaps only too obvious, none of the participants in this section
depended on anything as conventional as experience.
The Ven Lama Samten carrying out one of the many practices that bring the stupa to life. In this case, the "wealthy deity" shrines have been completed in the bases, and are being consecrated prior to being sealed over by the thrones.
One of the shrines: you can see the various offerings arranged around a central mandala
This is the base shrine in the fourth stupa, note the dismantled guns and fishing reels. This is the "miracle" or "subjugation" stupa.
mmmm this picture doesn't seem to have shrunk as much as the others.
Here you can see two thrones prepared for pouring. The formwork box in the middle is to create a void: the Mahakala shrine.
Further away, the first two stupas are more advanced: after the mahakala shrine is consecrated (photos of this on next page), the "cushion" for the four steps is poured, sealing over the shrine.
In this photo, the first of the four steps has been already poured over the "cushion", and the void left in the centre is visible. This space will be later filled completely with tsa tsa.
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