Fulfilling the Vision for the Purkhang:

Shambhala Sunday Gathering • September 13
With Lena DiGenti, Executive Director of Karmê Chöling

This month, we are sharing one of the most significant developments at Karmê Chöling in many years: the beginning of the work to complete and consecrate the Purkhang built for the cremation of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche as a stupa, or kudung chorten.

For nearly four decades, the Purkhang has stood in the Upper Meadow as a place of memory, lineage, devotion, and practice. Though Purkhangs are ordinarily temporary structures, Kagyu teachers at the time directed that this one remain and eventually be properly established as a stupa.

Now, as we approach the 40th anniversary of the Vidyādhara’s Parinirvāṇa in April 2027, the time has come to complete this sacred responsibility.

The work has begun. This summer, Karmê Chöling received a donated sokshing, or life-force pole, from Lama Chopal and the Earth Journey community. At Karmê Chöling, the new Stupa Project Room is now being used to gather and prepare the sacred texts, substances, tsa tsas, and other contents that will eventually fill the stupa.

During this gathering, Lena will share the history, meaning, and unfolding vision of Completing the Purkhang—a sacred project rooted in lineage, devotion, and the future of Karmê Chöling.

More than a memorial, the completed Purkhang will be a sacred embodiment of awakened mind—a place of presence, practice, lineage, and blessing for generations to come.