Yeshe Nyingpo Temple Renovation

Since the Mahaparanirvana of H.H Dungsey Shenphen Dawa Rinpoche in 2018, Yeshe Nyinpo Temple has begun its planned renovations. Dungsey Namgay Dawa Rinpoche took on the responsibilities to complete the projects set out as envisioned by his father and late sister, Khandro Semo Lhanzey la. With the help of the sangha members and people from different communities, who rendered their time to volunteer to help us, we were able to completely restore the temple and gave it a new look as well as major renovations that were needed. The projects for the temple are ongoing and if you'd like to contribute, please feel free to sign up in the volunteer form or support us financially for our the special projects here.

July 14, 2018 - Namgay Rinpoche with Sangha Volunteers

Here are a few pictures of the work that the Sangha did during 2018:

After two days of hard work, the sangha was able to completely restore the temple to its original state. The stains and grease from the butter lamps were removed from the wall, new chandeliers and fixtures were installed and Dharma objects were rearranged to give the temple a more open space feeling:

In September, sangha volunteers returned to arrange the temple's collection of pechas:

In December, wood panelings were set up on the Lama side of the temple, and the hallway was repainted white:

In April of 2019, to create a more convenient way for the sanghas to follow the practice during Tshok session, Maya Didi offered the temple a 55' TV so texts can be displayed on the screen. Richie also offered an Apple mini to connect the devices to the TV for display. After the devices were bought, volunteering sanghas came to mount the TV to the wall:

In July of 2019, the temple was given another renovation. Ceiling in the main shrine was given another coat of paint. Shrines and pechas were rearranged to a different area to clear up space for thrones. Umbrellas were set above where Rinpoche would sit during Tshok and empowerment. New carpets were laid out on the floor. Sangha volunteers also came to support each other by making tea during break.

The renovation took three days to complete that went from morning to evening with a lunch break during noon.

July 6, 2019 - Post Renovation

During that summer, Khandro Semo Lhanzey la entered Mahaparinirvana. As her root student, Dungsey Namgay Rinpoche bought stupas for her relics to be enshrined. After Semo la 49 days, a Dorsem Lama Chopa Tshok was done and Lamas and Chopons took part to help place the relics and zung inside Semo la's stupa, which was then displayed in Yehse Nyingpo temple between Shenphen Rinpoche and Sangyum Kusho la's.

Around February of 2020, temperature in the temple was colder than usual so Rinpoche signed a contract with Michael to come and construct a new set of inner windows. This helps the climate in the room.

The result:

In July of 2020, Michael returned to set up panels for the temple's hallway and refurbished the sangha's coatrack, which was painted by Lopon Lulu and Karma Gelek a few days later when the panels were completely set up:

In mid August of 2020, Rinpoche with the help of Lama Pema requested a master carpenter, Sonam Wangdu, and his uncle, Jamyang Sangpo, to come and have a look at the shrine for a redesign. (This is Rinpoche's third personal project after completing his late father and sister's wishes) After a while, they reached an agreement for the altar that would be finished in one month time. The shrine would cover 16 feet from wall to wall and 12 feet from floor to the ceiling. According to the rough sketch, the new shrine would look like the pictures depicted below. Regarding this project, Rinpoche has reached out for contribution to the public on GoFundMe and through our special project account on PayPal. Within 24 hours we were able to raise the money with the generous donation of $30,000 from H.H Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche's Semos: Semo Chimmi la and Semo Tsering la as well as nearly $7,000 from 40 donators.

August 22nd, 2020 - Rough Sketch of YNT's new shrine

The day after, the carpenter updated Rinpoche la with the ongoing progress of the shrine:

Base of YNT's New Shrine

On September 7th, 2020 Rinpoche la went to Connecticut to see the progress of the shrine and to further discuss the changes that he wanted to see:

In the morning of September 10th, Lama Pema, Lopon Lulu, Lopon Rigzin, and Rigzin came to clear the shrine area to prepare for Sonam Wangdu and his team can come to assemble the shrine in the temple:

At around 1PM, Sonam Wangdu and his team arrived along with the pieces of the shrine's base to assemble:

The assembly of the shrine's base was then completed the next day:

On October 12, the parts of the shrine's upper part were carved and prepared to be transferred to the temple in the city:

On October 26th, Sonam Wangdu and his group returned to Yeshe Nyingpo Temple to start installing the parts of the upper section of the shrine:

While the shrine was being installed, Sonam Wangdu and his group began fixing the public bathroom in the temple. They began by removing the bathroom tiles:

On November 1st, the Shrine was completely installed:

On November 3rd, the group started to install the foundation and new pipes for the bathroom:

On November 16th, new tiles were placed on the floor and on the wall of the bathroom:

Five days later, new tiles were placed on the floor and on the wall of the bathroom:

On Tuesday, November 23rd, Sonam Wangdu and his group started to remove the passage blocking the upper part of the ceiling towards the shrine to open up the temple and its view from the back. They also remove old walls and install new ones:

After the walls were completed, on December 5th, the group worked on replacing the ceiling:

Once the ceiling was ready, the group placed the Mandala, painted by Lopon Tandin, and the Tsa-tsas, painted by Sangyum Sonam Chokyi la, Semo Dechen and Semo Tseyang la. Lopon Jampal, then, inspected the shrine to choose the color of paint for the shrine's designs:

The work continued for the next few days with volunteering sangha members coming by to help the painting process:

Within a week, the details of the shrine were fully painted:

A Comparison of the temple before (2019) and after (2021):

Once the temple was completed, the Tibetan Construction Group moved onto to renovate the Lama's floor to complete Rinpoche and the Lamas' bathrooms:

While these rooms were being done, the Tibetan Construction also worked on the hallway of the floor by putting up new panelings and removing the old cabinets, oven and cooker and installed new ones:

On April 14th, the Tibetan Construction Group started to set up the kitchen in the back of the temple. They first removed the installments that were put in the back and patched a wall to close the connection between the two rooms: