The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa is requesting a collection of small stones be gathered from each and every country of the seven continents. The stone collections will be used in the construction of a stone altar.
The Karmapa says that construction of this alter will bestow blessings and merits to the people of all nations in a literal manner during the upcoming Kagyu Monlam Chenmo near end of the year.
The Stone Altar Project Committee is in urgent need of assistance. They are looking for volunteers who would be willing to offer time to help to actively reach out to countries that have not been recruited to participate in the Stone Altar Project.
What would be involved?
They are asking that local KTCs and affilates assist by selecting a country from the yet unlisted countries of the world and adopt it for the Project (the list of countries that have already been adopted can be found
here.Once a country is selected, volunteers would find a contact in that country to assist in finding the stones.
Buddhists or Buddhist institutions would be your first choice, but if they are absent from your adopted country, you may have to find another way to acquire stones. For example, you might try contacting universities or geological departments in the US that are doing rock-related research in Asian or African countries, and see if they would be willing to help.
You may be asked to cover or raise funds to cover the cost of shipping the stones. Since the collection of stones from each country should be small, the shipping cost should be reasonable. And since bringing this project to successful completion would fulfill the wish of His Holiness, the Karmapa, you are humbly requested to offer help.
You can learn more about the project at the link above.
“These names. the very fact that they don’t really mean anything specific in the conceptual mind level is actually where the power of the chant comes from.
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