Bhutan in the Morvan

The Kagyuling temple in La Boulaye

For years now the Morvan, and hence Burgundy can boast hosting one of the biggest Buddhist temples in Europe.
This temple can be found in La Boulaye and attracts apart from practising Buddhists also a fair share of tourists. The temple was founded by a community of monks who are practising a form of Himalayan Buddhism. The building stands out in the Burgundian landscape, although it is certainly not out of tune with it.
One of the yearly attractions is the period when a number of monks is creating a mandala over a number of days, a sort of square mosaic of approx. 0.5 m x 0.5 m made of coloured sand.
In this blog one can read in more detail about these mandalas.

The making of a mandala

In the near future La Boulaye can boast having still another Himalayan attraction. In the year 2000 the Conseil Général (General Council) of Saône-et-Loire bought the Bhutan pavilion of the Expo 2000 in Hannover for the sum of € 280 000. Since the purchase the pavilion has been stored in boxes and crates in a warehouse near Mâcon, waiting for a building permit. The association "Himalaya en Bourgogne" wants to use the pavilion as a cultural centre about the Himalayas. This centre will have nothing to do with the temple of 1000 Buddhas Kagyuling, however. The building permit has been given, and most likely assembling the building, which was erected without using one screw or nail, will start before the end of 2012.
The only thing "Himalaya en Bourgogne" still has to do is find somewhere 1.2 million euros in order to finalise the project.
Well, maybe while they are at it, would it be possible to incorporate a small Asian supermarket in the same building?
Because that is certainly something we are in need of!

The former Expo 2000 pavilion of Bhutan

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