KINECTION

Richmond Monastery Project Goes Live

Almost three and a half years since the initial groundbreaking ceremony (October 9 2004), The Thrangu Monastery - the first Tibetan-style Buddhist monastery of its kind in Canada - is finally under construction. For Kindred, it has been 19 months of working with the Client and the project consultants to get to this point. Work officially began on site Friday, December 14, 2007 - a date considered to be auspicious for the start of construction. Located at 8150 No. 5 Road in Richmond, it is the latest addition to the so-called “Highway to Heaven”, a stretch of the road almost solely occupied by various houses of worship.

The temple itself will be a melding of modern construction technology and tradition Tibetan architectural design. The 3-storey, 21,000 square-foot structure will boast a 4-storey shrine hall, classrooms, a commercial-grade kitchen and dining hall, 25-suite attached dormitory, administrative offices and a residence for the Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche (Rinpoche refers to incarnate lamas and/or exceptional Dharma masters; Dharma being the teachings of Buddha). The construction phase of the project is expected to last approximately two years.

On August 8, 2007, A consecration ceremony was held at the monastery site. The main spectacle of the ceremony was the interment of pots filled with sacred objects which, upon completion of the monastery, will reside directly beneath the main Buddha statue in the Shrine hall. You can see pictures from the ceremony here.