Dewachen Columbarium
The Dewachen Buddhist Columbarium at Karme Ling Retreat Center was designed in 2005 by the Venerable Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche and constructed shortly thereafter. In May of 2008 when His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa visited Karme Ling Retreat Center, he performed a consecration for this beautiful facility and personally blessed the niches inside. The Gyalwang Karmapa visited and blessed the site again in 2011, 2015, and 2017. Over the years, many other Tibetan masters have also blessed the Buddhist Columbarium land, shrine, and niches, including Traleg Rinpoche, Thrangu Rinpoche, Mingyur Rinpoche, Garchen Rinpoche, and others.
Powerful Blessings
Auspicious Feng Shui
The Dewachen Buddhist Columbarium is situated against a hill, facing a valley, and possesses excellent geomantic qualities with interlocking hills in front and a stream below. It is enclosed by trees on the north & west and open on the south & east.
Shrine and Lamp House
At the center of the building is a Tibetan Buddhist shrine with statues of the the Five Buddha Families. Daily offerings are made at this shrine for all those interred in the columbarium. The lamps in the adjacent lamp house burn continuously, illuminating those whose ashes are interred in the niches inside the main building. Additional lamps may be offered at anytime for the deceased anywhere, for the health of the living, for blessings during times of trouble, or for any other personal reasons (see links on the right to offer lamps).
The Niches
There are four walls of niches in the Buddhist columbarium. Each wall has twenty-one columns of ten niches to hold the urns containing the ashes of the deceased. According to this tradition, the top row is for those who lived to one-hundred or more and for monks, nuns and lamas. The next row is for those who lived to ninety or more, and so on. The price of a niche ($3,000) includes an urn made of African red granite. Each urn has Chenrezig’s mantra embossed on it and below that will be a golden plaque bearing the deceased’s name, birth, and death dates. TO RESERVE A NICHE GO HERE.
Annual Amitabha Puja and Daily Prayers
Every year, a three-day Amitabha Puja and Jangchok Ceremony (purification and liberation ritual) is performed by Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, attended by monks, nuns, and lay sangha. During this ceremony, urns of the deceased are placed into their niches in the Buddhist columbarium. Urns that are waiting for the next ceremony are placed on the shrine in the columbarium. The three-year retreatants at Karme Ling pray for the deceased regularly, in addition to daily recitation of prayers at the Buddhist columbarium by Khenpo Rinpoche and other lamas.
Teachings and Advice
An Explanation of this Tradition by Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche
As a result of the ripened aspirations and flourishing activity of the glorious Gyalwang Karmapa, the retreat center of Karme Yiong Samten Ling, a branch of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra in the United States of America, has extensive land. As this land possesses all the necessary features described in the sutras and tantras, it was my intention to create a Columbarium where the ashes of practitioners, including myself, can be kept after our deaths.
On the right of the shrine are four hundred and twenty niches for the ashes of males, and on its left four hundred and twenty niches for the ashes of females—a total of eight hundred and forty niches. On each side are ten levels. The ashes of those who have passed away between the ages of one and ten will be placed on the bottom level; those who passed away between the ages of ten and twenty on the second; and so forth, with the ashes of those who passed away at the age of one hundred placed on the top level. The reason for this is found in the writings on geomancy: If the young are buried over the old, death will strike the young. There is a great danger of the untimely death of young people if geomancy is ignored. I have seen and experienced this myself. If geomancy is ignored, great obstacles such as misery for the dead and illness for the living can occur. If geomancy is observed, both the dead and the living will be happy. This has been taught by the Buddha, Guru Rinpoche, and others.
Nowadays, it is extremely rare for anyone to reach the age of one hundred, but it is not impossible. In absence of such, the top level will also be used for the ashes of lamas, monks, and nuns.
At Karme Ling Retreat, both burnt offerings and prayers for the dead are offered daily in both the Men’s and Women’s 3-year retreats. Every year, many holy beings visit Karme Ling and pray for those whose ashes are kept in the columbarium. There is also a house for lamp offerings sponsored for the benefit of both the living and the dead.
With my prayers for your utmost well-being and prosperity and for peace and happiness for all beings, this was respectfully written by Karthar, called ‘Khenpo’, at the Karme Yiong Samten Ling Retreat on the seventh day of the first month of the Wood Monkey Year.
The Importance of Choosing a Proper Burial Site
During a question and answer session at the annual 10-day teaching at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra in July of 2007, Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche made several comments regarding the importance of choosing a good burial site. His remarks have been summarized below:
The remnant of a person’s being that tends to stay with the person’s remains for a long time after death is not the person’s consciousness. The person’s consciousness moves on because after a certain period of time it takes rebirth. What remains with the body of the deceased is something else. And this something else is not talked about much, if at all, in the sutras, but is talked about frequently in the tantras. And it is called the person’s “la.” In English, the best word for this is their “spirit” if you understand that spirit does not mean the person’s mind, consciousness, or soul or anything like that.
Now, what is this spirit or la if it isn’t the deceased person’s mind, or their consciousness? One way you can think of it is the god or gods that inhabit the person’s body, that are inherited from both parental lines. In any case, it is this ancestral spirit that inhabits the place of burial or interment of the remains, and it is because of the effect of the place of burial on this spirit, that there is significance in the burial site. And we use the word “burial” but understand that it could also be the place where one’s ashes are kept after death.
If the body is interred in a good place, a sound environment with excellent feng shui, then this strengthens or nourishes this spirit. If the spirit is nourished, the descendants of that person will benefit because the spirit remains there perennially. If the body is buried in an inappropriate place or environment, (a place with bad feng shui) the spirit doesn’t die, but it becomes enervated or weak–it is not nourished. And if the spirit of the person becomes weak, this harms the person’s descendants; they may experience various sorts of mishaps, illnesses, impoverishment and so on. This is one of the reasons, the primary reason, for the importance of appropriate burial sites.
Contact for information
or to arrange a visit:
Lama Karma Lodro
315 Retreat Road |Delhi, NY 13753
(607) 746-3216 | fax (607) 746-9542
karmeling@kagyu.org
As is written in the sutras, the end of birth is death. None of us will escape death. The Dewachen Buddhist Columbarium is open to Buddhists of all traditions. Please use the information on this page to reserve one of the 840 niches, to arrange a visit, or to discuss the benefits and blessings of this special place of interment.
Reserve Niches
You may reserve your niche(s) at any time. Click below for a form to request niches.
Donation Options
Please mail your check (see address above) or choose one of the following online payment options.
Offer Lamps
Lamps may be requested to be placed in the Columbarium Lamp House at anytime for the deceased, for the health of the living, for blessings during times of trouble, or for other personal reasons. Please email us with your lamp requests or follow the links below to request and donate online. Karme Ling is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit tax deductible organization.