The monks are no longer in residence. The gardens, the crystals and the Peace Dome are open every day, 10am to 5pm.
In June, four monks of the Gyuto order arrived in the Byron Bay hinterland. They came as ambassadors of peace, and they stayed the winter. Every day they chanted, taught, blessed and built, and every day it was included with entry.
By the end they had completed the Tantric Trilogy, three of the most complex sand mandalas in their tradition, and returned every grain of it to water.
Welcome to Country
The monks were welcomed to Bundjalung country on their first full day.
The daily program began
Morning meditation, meditation class, tantric art, a Buddhist talk and a healing empowerment ceremony, every day, all included with entry.
A puja for the Dalai Lama’s 91st birthday
Prayers offered in the Peace Dome on His Holiness’s birthday.
Chants of Compassion, sold out
108 seats in the Peace Dome for an evening of multiphonic chanting.
The second mandala was dissolved
Returned to flowing water before work began on the last.
Chants of Compassion, the final concert, sold out
The second and last concert night of the residency.
The final dissolution
All three mandalas complete, and the closing ceremony of the residency.
Across the residency the monks created three mandalas in coloured sand: Guhyasamaja, Yamantaka and Chakrasamvara, the very practices they are trained in. Each took weeks of silent work.
When one was complete, the monks held a dissolution ceremony. The sand was swept up and returned to flowing water, a teaching on impermanence.
The Gyuto Monks belong to one of the great tantric colleges of the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. They are best known for multiphonic chanting, a practice said to have been transmitted by their founder, in which each monk sounds several notes at once.
This residency was led by senior monk Lama Phurba, visiting Australia for the first time. It was presented in partnership with Gyuto House Australia.
The gardens, giant crystals, the Peace Dome, rainforest walk and the labyrinth are all still here. And every day ticket still includes twelve months of returns.
