UPDATED: This story has been updated to correct George Chesrow’s career before he retired.
News Story and Photos By Gen Heywood | FāVS News
NEWPORT, Wash. — A global Buddhist community gathered Monday to consecrate the new Buddha Hall at Sravasti Abbey, marking the completion of a three-year construction project designed to serve as a refuge for those seeking peace.
The ceremony brought together practitioners from around the world, both in person and online, to dedicate the temple that will serve as a center for studying dharma and practicing Tibetan Buddhism in the American West.
“I keep thinking we’re in this little corner of Washington state, a corner of the U.S., on planet Earth, which is a speck of dust in the huge universe, and we’re asking all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas to come here,” said Ven. Thubten Chodron two years ago, the abbey’s founder and abbess. “Well, there must be something going on, and it has to do with spreading the teachings on wisdom and compassion.”
The project began with ground breaking exactly three years, one month and seven days before Monday’s consecration, according to Ven. Thubten Samten, the Buddhist nun who oversaw construction.
“It has taken more time, money and dharma practice than expected,” Samten acknowledged during the ceremony.
The building’s purpose, she said, remained constant throughout: “to create something for those who are wounded and suffering.”
Ven. Thubten Tarpa, who worked alongside Samten on construction oversight, initially felt reluctant about the project after completing the abbey’s previous major building, Chenrezig Hall.
“It took me five years to get over Chenrezig Hall, so I wasn’t quite ready,” Tarpa said. “Even when we started this building, I had a lot of trepidation, and my worst fears came true. I actually lived through them, and I’m fine. I learned a lot on this project.”
Despite early concerns, Tarpa called the Buddha Hall “the most team effort” of all the abbey’s construction projects.
Buddha Hall: A vision for Western Buddhism
Sravasti Abbey, founded nearly 22 years ago, aims to preserve Buddhist teachings, establish them in Western culture and serve suffering beings worldwide. The new Buddha Hall represents a significant step toward fulfilling that mission.
“We can build a magnificent hall, but unless we take the essence of the Buddhist teachings, especially the teachings on dependent origination, to heart in our daily life, it will be just like praising the building but not seeing the diamonds contained inside,” said Ven. Thubten Semkye during the ceremony.
The hall’s impact extends beyond the Buddhist community, according to speakers at the consecration. Tarpa noted how non-Buddhist supporters contributed to the project, calling it part of a “ripple effect” that reaches far beyond the abbey’s rural location.
Serkong Rinpoche, the reincarnation of one of Chodron’s teachers, blessed the new hall and spoke about the abbey’s future work. He praised Chodron’s “joyous effort day and night” and the impact of her writings, including 10 books co-authored with the Dalai Lama.
Visitors find peace and purpose
Rinpoche described the abbey as “a hospital for the wounded and troubled people struggling with the suffering of our world” and commended the sangha for creating an atmosphere of respect that brings visitors peace.
Visitors and practitioners shared their connections to the abbey during the ceremony.
Robin Sears traveled from Massachusetts for the consecration.
“My heart is tied to the abbey,” she said. “Today’s celebration demonstrated how vast the vision of Ven. Thubten Chodron is and how far it reaches.”
Daniel Brasher described the abbey and Buddha Hall as “a center of meditation and refuge,” adding that through Chodron’s teachings, he is “finally understanding Buddhism in a way that brings me peace of mind.”
Shane Skutvik, a lay practitioner, called Sravasti Abbey “a haven for anybody that is suffering mentally or physically,” noting that the abbey offers “mind training that is based on compassion to self and others that can be non-secular and be adapted to any religion.”
Reflecting on the long journey to completion, Tarpa remembered supporters who didn’t live to see the Buddha Hall’s consecration. The abbey spent two years creating a master plan that was completed in 2008, mapping out the entire campus for future development.
Among those Tarpa remembered was Sherry Brewster, who once told her about Chodron: “Hold on to the tail of that comet.”
“I’ve been doing just that,” Tarpa said.
The ceremony concluded with circumambulation around sacred objects placed within the hall, a practice intended to create merit and support the awakening of all sentient beings.
The Buddha Hall project involved numerous local professionals, including Tim Wilson, an architect from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, who worked on three of the abbey’s major buildings, and retired Miami attorney George Chesrow, who learned contract law specifically to help the abbey navigate its construction projects.
