10,000 BUDDHAS
Labour of love for city monastery
A two-year labour of love, devotion and faith is ending in triumph for a Calgary Buddhist Monastery.
Tirelessly organized by Heng Syun, a female monk at the downtown place of worship, the journey to hand-produce 10,000 exquisite Buddha statues came to fruition this last weekend.
In completing the task, the monastery’s 11 female monks along with countless volunteers are also on track to raise $2 million toward the $5 million needed for a new roof and additional floor for the building at 1009 - 4 Ave. S.W.
The remarkable feat has become a worldwide effort as supporters across the globe sponsored and dedicated the Buddha statues, which come in three sizes and are laboriously produced on site and by hand.
Once the new floor of the Avatamsaka Monastery is officially opened — likely in the summer of next year — the 10,000 Buddhas will line the walls in the planned new hall of worship.
“We have had 27 countries taking part. It is a very meaningful project,” said Heng Syun.
Those dedicating a Buddha could choose to get involved in making it themselves or leave it in the hands of capable volunteers. The believer’s name, or the name of the person he or she is dedicating the statue to, is inscribed on the base at completion. Donations range from $150 for the 18-centimetre high image to $500 for the largest, 36-centimetre size.
A cardboard base — covered in text chosen by the person making the donation from more than 300 Buddhist scrolls — is then first placed into a mould where gypsum is added to form the initial statue. The inside is hollow to both cut down on weight and to allow a sacred text scroll to be inserted and hung from two pins.
Once that process is complete the statue is then scraped of any rough edges, left to dry and then sanded, before the base is levelled and the statue varnished and polished. All the work is done by hand and only recycled materials are used.
“It is representing peace, but in this project it involves so many steps it is actually Buddhist art,” said Heng Syun. “If we were to mass-produce them in China or Vietnam, then 10,000 could have been done very quickly, but here we produced every one by our own hands.”
As coordinator of the project, Heng Syun said the idea of fundraising through the project wasn’t her initial thought but the idea built upon itself, step by step.
“It came bit by bit. It wasn’t as though I had this big idea. I thought, ‘ Why don’t we create it ourselves, instead of a factory,’ ” she recalled.
Those who have sponsored a statue have not all been of the Buddhist faith. Anyone was invited to become a part of the project as long as they were fine with writing the sacred text, which forms the core of the initial construction.
“You must invest your heart in the piece,” added Heng Syun.
Although the 10,000 statues have been completed, the monastery volunteers are still at work making an extra few hundred to fill in any gaps when the Buddhas are brought together to line the prayer hall walls. So far, about 7,500 have been sponsored and it is hoped all will be claimed by the time the monastery’s new floor is opened.
The Avatamsaka Monastery is a branch of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association in Alberta, which arrived in the city in 1985 and opened a place of worship in the Ramsey area.
The current location on the edge of downtown, in which the female monks are housed in dormitories on the top floor, was opened 20 years ago. Over that time, Heng Syun has seen more people of other faiths become interested in Buddhism.
“It is a way of life — a philosophy. I would say Buddhism to the majority of people in the West starts with meditation. They can sense that spiritual feeling when they do that,” she said.
Every Wednesday between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., the monastery is open to people of all faiths to take part in meditation followed by round table discussions.
“Many people join us,” she said. “They are not necessarily Buddhist; they are Hindus and Muslims and Christians. It is a good space to share with people.”