Hi Dear Friends,

As you know we have finished the temple. The temple, courtyard and house together is the Nritya Mandala Vihara which has turned into a mahavihara [or great vihara/ mother vihara] as determined by the elder priest from Nepal, Yagyaman Pati Bajracharya, since it is the first in the country. He was here to perform the consecration with Prajwal along with Sugat Bajracharya, a priest who was also visiting from Nepal.

We had altogether six days of ritual, ending with a big performance by the students here and with an overflow of observers. It was such a joy to dance in the newly consecrated space and to be doing our sacred temple dance in our ‘home temple’ for the first time. Even the senior priest,Yagnyaman, demonstrated the older way of performing Charya dance, something we never thought we would see here in the US.

Each day was wonderfully rich and transformed Nritya Mandala Mahavihara into a truly empowered space. We had a lovely time with the visiting priests and learned a lot from them. Now we are performing the daily ritual morning and evening just like it is done in the Kathmandu Valley.

See the links for consecration pictures and details.

http://news.northwestdharma.org/09OctNovDec/1stNepBudTemNA.htm [article and captioned photos]

http://picasaweb.google.com/suvashakya [photos of the procession day and the last ritual day]

http://picasaweb.google.com/dancemandal [click on 'my photos' and then the 2 consecration selections for each ritual day and dance]

We are so grateful to all those who had helped in the consecration preparation- westerners and Newar together; to all the students who practiced so hard and helped along the way; to all those who attended- enhancing the spirit of the events; and in particular, to Laxman Shakya from Seattle who so generously offered his continuous service of Newar homecooking and chai to keep all participants and observers well-fed, healthy and happy for all meals and snacks throughout the entire week. What a job that was!

This year at the vihara we are looking forward to:

1. New Year Purification Ritual – Jan 1st- 3pm to 6pm- you are all invited. Do call or email for reservations at least a few days before. (There are some space limitations and also each individual mandala we need to prepare ahead.)
2. Mudra Yoga class series- Saturdays, Jan. 8 to Jan. 30, 10-11:30am Flyer,
3. Charya Giti class 1x/a month to sing the songs of the deities and more, the first Saturday of the month starting in February.
4. A series of speakers visiting to talk on aspects of Newar Buddhism and Buddhism in general such as in iconography, ritual, theory, and arts. The first we are planning for the Spring.
5. Charya performances each season inside the temple- next one will be end of Feb./early March.
6. New introductory dance class begins early February. Contact Helen if you are interested. Other dance classes continue as usual.
7. A Newar language class series soon. Anyone interested? – please contact us soon. Also a Sanskrit intensive later in the year.
8. The website is going to be redone and will be frequently updated. Visit the new www.dancemandal.com in a few weeks.

This Sunday, Dec.20th, Khenpo Choga Rinpoche is speaking on Bodhicitta at the temple sponsored by his community, from 3-7pm.

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We bow to all of you for your support in so many ways over the months and years and look forward to deepening roots and expanding tradition through the community’s sincere intention and inspiring activity.

Peace and joy to you all!