New Temple

Temple Project update January 2005

By Ani Jampa, Christopher Goodrich, Elisabeth Yesko and Mike Atkins

With crisp, clear, blue skies, it is a beautiful day at Deer Park, a flock of sandhill cranes passes overhead just moments after Venerable Geshe Sopa completes his Sunday morning teaching on Arya Nagarjuna’s Precious Garland. In preparation for construction, the site for the new temple has been cleared–now a spacious field of fallen, russet oak leaves glistening in the sun. Many students and people in the community have been inquiring about the new temple and its developments. Here is what is developing.

As the illustrations in the upcoming newsletter demonstrate, the temple design has been further refined over the past year. There are no longer two phases to the funding and construction of the new temple as was described in our previous communications. The most recent estimate for construction of the new temple, including the Tibetan Art Projects, is $2.7 million. Some interior rooms in the back of the worship space, the mezzanine level, and the basement will remain either partially finished or unfinished. Raised and pledged funds currently total approximately $2.1 million; we are about $600,000 short. We hope that people will give generously to Deer Park’s New Temple Project over the next five months to enable us to complete construction in the scheduled time span.

Timing on the receipt of the very generous $1 million pledge is uncertain. We anticipate that the pledged funds will be received toward the end of 2005. By January 2005, we will have secured loans for $700,000 of the $1 million pledge; that means we still need an additional $300,000 in loans. Therefore we are looking for people willing to provide Deer Park with a short-term loan to cover construction costs until the pledge arrives. Deer Park Corp. will provide documentation stating Deer Park’s commitment to repay the loans within a two-year period. This is a wonderful opportunity for people to express their generosity to Geshe Sopa, our so very kind spiritual friend, and to the Deer Park community.

The building committee and others are working hard to begin construction in April of 2005 and intend to complete the temple in 2006 when His Holiness the Dalai Lama is scheduled to join us in the opening ceremony and public teachings.

As to progress, we recently received the county approval for the septic system design and storm water runoff plan, two important steps toward receiving our final building permit. We have selected the Bentley Company as general contractor. We are working together to refine the plans, select subcontractors, and complete the construction. For more than a hundred years the Bentley Company has specialized in Wisconsin churches and other non-profit corporations. Pete Szakowski, our Project Manager from the Bentley Company, has been working with the Deer Park Building Committee and VAST Design Collaborative design team—Eric Vogel, Joel Agacki and the others–in the process of “value engineering” to reduce the building cost.

Work on the Tibetan Art Projects (TAP) is well underway. The TAP are significant to this temple project in providing the Tibetan appearance and contributing to the preservation of Tibetan culture. In order to authentically design the Tibetan details in accord with tradition and guide the construction, we are inviting two wood artisans and two painters from Lhasa, Tibet who will live at Deer Park during the appropriate phases of the construction. In addition to joining the Building Committee as Facilitator, Christopher Goodrich has begun coordinating the TAP alongside Ani Jampa and Khamlung Rinpoche. They are researching materials and construction methods, seeking local artisans to collaborate with the Tibetan artisans, and working with our designer to determine how to integrate Tibetan architectural details with the overall architecture of the temple.

The number of people and businesses offering their time, expertise, and materials to the project has been inspiring. Bob Coughlan of Mankato Kasota Stone and the Coughlan Companies in Minnesota, has generously offered most of the golden buff colored limestone which is perfect for the exterior of the temple. Through Penny Paster’s assistance, Dan Abelson has donated his time to consult on the acoustic design of the worship space; and Peter Klynstra has offered his landscape design services for the temple site. Affiliated Engineers, headquartered in Madison, has generously offered to provide lighting design services for the main entry and worship space related to day lighting from the large clerestory and electrical lighting. Ani Dechen continues to share her background in lighting and sound by helping the Building Committee to collaborate with the consultants and new temple designer. Jeff Hammes, who helped to install our previous system, has provided a septic system design at a reduced rate. The Don Robinson family has kindly offered to fell the trees on the site in exchange for firewood. Bob Gore has been coordinating the clearing of the site and has offered to share his landscape design expertise. Kathy Downs and Beth Simon are researching grant funding for the unique Tibetan Art Projects.

The following have been tremendously generous in providing financial support to the project: many of Geshe-la’s Taiwanese students from the San Jose, California area, the Las Vegas Friends of Deer Park—especially Frank Tsou, Helen Du and their extended family, Professor Kai Yun Yang and his friends and students, Mr. and Mrs. (Mama) Lin, Sue May and Jeffrey Lin, Jenny Lee, Mike and Linda Atkins, Frank Barone and Cathy Kennedy, Nancy Douglas, The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), Skip and Tsering Kindy, Jan Reidel, Ven. Geshe Sopa, Fred and Anne Vogel family, the Raffle Project participants, and the MANY others not specified here in this limited space. (This list represents donations that were made in the amount of $10,000 and above, as of June 2004). We are extremely grateful and express our thanks to ALL of you who have supported this project in various ways.

We are hoping to utilize skilled, volunteer labor from the community for such projects as painting easy-to-reach interior surfaces and portions of Tibetan ornamentation, carpentry, clearing trees from the geothermal field, site clean-up during construction, and more.

Please join us in sharing skills, materials, and financial contributions in support of this unique project that will preserve Geshe Sopa’s legacy and will foster the growth of Tibetan Buddhism in the west for generations to come. We can only accomplish this goal together.


	Temple Project update January 2005 By Ani Jampa, Christopher Goodrich, Elisabeth Yesko and Mike Atkins With crisp, clear, blue skies, it is a beautiful day at Deer Park, a flock of sandhill cranes passes overhead just moments after Venerable Geshe Sopa completes his Sunday morning teaching on Arya Nagarjuna’s Precious Garland. In preparation for construction, the site for the new temple has been cleared–now a spacious field of fallen, russet oak leaves glistening in the sun. Many students and people in the community have been inquiring about the new temple and its developments. Here is what is developing. As the illustrations in the upcoming newsletter demonstrate, the temple design has been further refined over the past year. There are no longer two phases to the funding and construction of the new temple as was described in our previous communications. The most recent estimate for construction of the new temple, including the Tibetan Art Projects, is $2.7 million. Some interior rooms in the back of the worship space, the mezzanine level, and the basement will remain either partially finished or unfinished. Raised and pledged funds currently total approximately $2.1 million; we are about $600,000 short. We hope that people will give generously to Deer Park’s New Temple Project over the next five months to enable us to complete construction in the scheduled time span. Timing on the receipt of the very generous $1 million pledge is uncertain. We anticipate that the pledged funds will be received toward the end of 2005. By January 2005, we will have secured loans for $700,000 of the $1 million pledge; that means we still need an additional $300,000 in loans. Therefore we are looking for people willing to provide Deer Park with a short-term loan to cover construction costs until the pledge arrives. Deer Park Corp. will provide documentation stating Deer Park’s commitment to repay the loans within a two-year period. This is a wonderful opportunity for people to express their generosity to Geshe Sopa, our so very kind spiritual friend, and to the Deer Park community. The building committee and others are working hard to begin construction in April of 2005 and intend to complete the temple in 2006 when His Holiness the Dalai Lama is scheduled to join us in the opening ceremony and public teachings. As to progress, we recently received the county approval for the septic system design and storm water runoff plan, two important steps toward receiving our final building permit. We have selected the Bentley Company as general contractor. We are working together to refine the plans, select subcontractors, and complete the construction. For more than a hundred years the Bentley Company has specialized in Wisconsin churches and other non-profit corporations. Pete Szakowski, our Project Manager from the Bentley Company, has been working with the Deer Park Building Committee and VAST Design Collaborative design team—Eric Vogel, Joel Agacki and the others–in the process of “value engineering” to reduce the building cost. Work on the Tibetan Art Projects (TAP) is well underway. The TAP are significant to this temple project in providing the Tibetan appearance and contributing to the preservation of Tibetan culture. In order to authentically design the Tibetan details in accord with tradition and guide the construction, we are inviting two wood artisans and two painters from Lhasa, Tibet who will live at Deer Park during the appropriate phases of the construction. In addition to joining the Building Committee as Facilitator, Christopher Goodrich has begun coordinating the TAP alongside Ani Jampa and Khamlung Rinpoche. They are researching materials and construction methods, seeking local artisans to collaborate with the Tibetan artisans, and working with our designer to determine how to integrate Tibetan architectural details with the overall architecture of the temple. The number of people and businesses offering their time, expertise, and materials to the project has been inspiring. Bob Coughlan of Mankato Kasota Stone and the Coughlan Companies in Minnesota, has generously offered most of the golden buff colored limestone which is perfect for the exterior of the temple. Through Penny Paster’s assistance, Dan Abelson has donated his time to consult on the acoustic design of the worship space; and Peter Klynstra has offered his landscape design services for the temple site. Affiliated Engineers, headquartered in Madison, has generously offered to provide lighting design services for the main entry and worship space related to day lighting from the large clerestory and electrical lighting. Ani Dechen continues to share her background in lighting and sound by helping the Building Committee to collaborate with the consultants and new temple designer. Jeff Hammes, who helped to install our previous system, has provided a septic system design at a reduced rate. The Don Robinson family has kindly offered to fell the trees on the site in exchange for firewood. Bob Gore has been coordinating the clearing of the site and has offered to share his landscape design expertise. Kathy Downs and Beth Simon are researching grant funding for the unique Tibetan Art Projects. The following have been tremendously generous in providing financial support to the project: many of Geshe-la’s Taiwanese students from the San Jose, California area, the Las Vegas Friends of Deer Park—especially Frank Tsou, Helen Du and their extended family, Professor Kai Yun Yang and his friends and students, Mr. and Mrs. (Mama) Lin, Sue May and Jeffrey Lin, Jenny Lee, Mike and Linda Atkins, Frank Barone and Cathy Kennedy, Nancy Douglas, The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), Skip and Tsering Kindy, Jan Reidel, Ven. Geshe Sopa, Fred and Anne Vogel family, the Raffle Project participants, and the MANY others not specified here in this limited space. (This list represents donations that were made in the amount of $10,000 and above, as of June 2004). We are extremely grateful and express our thanks to ALL of you who have supported this project in various ways. We are hoping to utilize skilled, volunteer labor from the community for such projects as painting easy-to-reach interior surfaces and portions of Tibetan ornamentation, carpentry, clearing trees from the geothermal field, site clean-up during construction, and more. Please join us in sharing skills, materials, and financial contributions in support of this unique project that will preserve Geshe Sopa’s legacy and will foster the growth of Tibetan Buddhism in the west for generations to come. We can only accomplish this goal together.