After months of planning with our development team and receiving questions from curious readers, the Mahayana Temple team is now ready to start sharing concepts from our reconstruction meetings!
With the magnitude of ideas being discussed, changes will have to happen gradually. Though our plans are still subject to change, we’ve indicated the reconstruction phases as currently anticipated on the concept map.
As readers may have gathered from last month’s blog post, Phase 1 will begin with reconstructing the Avalokiteshvara Hall. It will also involve finalizing the master plan in preparation for future phases. Phase 2 is dedicated to designing exteriors of Samantabhadra (Pu Xian) Hall, Manjushri (Wen Shu) Hall, 500 Arhat (Luo Han) Hall, the Hall of Four Heavenly Kings (Tian Wang), residential hall, and dining hall. Phase 3 is set to involve building the Hall of Four Heavenly Kings and infrastructure. Phase 4 marks the construction of the new 500 Arhat Hall and residential hall. Phase 5 will have us building Samantabhadra Hall and Manjushri Hall. Phase 6 will involve creating the central pond, building the bridge, and constructing the dining hall. Finally Phase 7 will involve reconstructing the Grand Buddha Hall, in its current location. These changes will occur over time, with thoughtful planning, to adhere to our values of maintaining the retreat’s natural elements while enhancing the community’s experience with fundamental improvements and expansions to the temple grounds.
Among the many considerations being discussed in meetings, are the following features:
- A zen-inspired water feature will be added in the center of the retreat, with a bridge connecting the future entrance to the Grand Buddha Hall. All the buildings will eventually be aligned with this focal point, creating a sense of harmony in the layout of our temple grounds.
- With that said, rest assured that the pine trees in front of the Grand Buddha Hall are here to stay. Throughout discussions with the development team, we’ve taken care to plan around these trees that have been part of the temple grounds since the beginning.
The Mahayana Temple’s eventual goal through this reconstruction will be to enhance the experience of our monastics, parishioners, and visitors while continuing to welcome more guests into our community. Many features of the plans, from heated floors to new residential spaces, will all help facilitate hosting more events at the retreat. In the future, we’d like to provide dharma lectures, meditation courses, and more.
Over the next several weeks, readers can learn more as we add building descriptions to our new Reconstruction Concepts page. Particularly interested readers can subscribe to our newsletter and receive emails when we update the Mahayana Temple Blog. Those who feel moved to support these reconstruction concepts may make a donation via our PayPal or Venmo accounts. We thank you all for following along on this journey and look forward to providing further updates.
