In March 2024, the Tergar Meditation Community invited Earthville founder Mark Moore to write a guest editorial for its blog and its Path of Joy newsletter on the theme of “compassion for planet earth,” which is the topic of world-renowned meditation master Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche’s video teaching of the month for April, 2024. You can watch Rinpoche’s video below (or on YouTube) and read the original blog post here (under the title “What Can We Stop Doing to Help the Planet?”).. Mark’s guest editorial is reposted below. You can also read Tergar’s interview with Mark and fellow Dharmalaya Institute cofounder Mai-Linh here.

A Buddhist proverb advises: “Stop throwing stones in the water. Soon enough, the ripples will fade, the surface will return to calm, and once again the moon will be clearly reflected.” Usually this is understood as a metaphor for what in Mingyur Rinpoche’s tradition we call “non-meditation”: less about doing, and more about what we stop doing. The less we do to disturb the mind, the more mind’s nature manifests automatically.

Can we understand our relationship with all of nature in this way? What might it mean to “stop throwing stones” on a planetary level?

Like the mind, the earth is imbued with resilience enabling it to return to harmonious equilibrium if only we allow it enough time undisturbed. During the COVID-19 period when industry and combustion slowed for a time, we saw how dramatically air pollution dissipated in just two or three months. Skies cleared, and people in the plains of northern India enjoyed views of the Himalayas from their homes for the first time in their lives. That was a taste of what our world can be like when we simply “stop throwing stones.”

So, what can we do — or, more to the point, stop doing — to allow nature to return to equilibrium as Rinpoche describes in this month’s video? Climate science shows that the most helpful things we can stop doing include two big ones:

1. Consuming anything that requires burning (for example, anything made in a polluting factory, or that crosses an ocean to reach us); 

2. Consuming animal products, which in the aggregate contribute more to climate change than any other single cause (when transportation and deforestation related to the meat and dairy industries are factored in).

Stopping (or even greatly reducing) these two consumption patterns can do more to help nature recover than all other efforts combined. And there’s much more we can do simply by doing less: we can buy less, fly less, drive less, use less nonrenewable energy, and so on.

Giving Things Up vs. Simply Giving

 The catch, of course, is that — whether we’re talking about our own minds or the planet — to “stop throwing stones” means changing some habits. And when it comes to practicing compassion for our world, sometimes we feel as though we have to “give up too much.”

As I’ve gradually thrown fewer stones over the past 30 years (and, in my “day job,” helped others do the same), one shift that has proven helpful relates to what Rinpoche says about intention and volition. The more we connect with compassion for the earth and its beings as the intention, we feel the naturally arising wish to help however we can, and we come to experience our “doing less” not as “giving things up” but simply as giving. We give nature the gift of undisturbed nature. We offer space and time for her to recover.

The more we experience ourselves as inseparably part of the whole of nature, the more it feels like the most natural thing in the world to take care of the whole world, the way a hand naturally does what it can to take care of the whole body.

About the Author

Mark Moore has been leading meditation retreats and sustainability programs in the Himalayas and beyond since 2010, including Joy of Living retreats for Tergar. Cofounder of Dharmalaya Institute in India and Earthville Institute in the US, he has been exploring wisdom traditions and sustainability solutions since 1995. He began his studies of meditation and philosophy with the Dalai Lama and other master teachers in the 1990s and has deepened his practice through trainings with Mingyur Rinpoche since 2007. An educator by day and artist and writer by twilight, Mark divides his time between the Himalayas and the Colorado Rockies. He loves nature, music, service, and fair-trade vegan chocolate.

Mingyur Rinpoche’s short video on ‘Compassion for the Planet’

We have some big news to share with you about the future of Dharmalaya Institute, and the headline is that we want to invite you to be a part of it!

As Dharmalaya Institute moves into its 15th year, we reflect on all we have learned from our experiences with the thousands of participants who have made the journey to this special place to join us in explorations of sustainable and compassionate living. One observation that stands out is that there are so many good people — across India and around the world — who want to make a positive impact, and who would rather devote their lives to creative and meaningful pursuits than to the rat race and endless, purposeless, mindless consumption.

One of the biggest questions that our programme participants bring to us is, ‘How do I make a living doing something that makes the world a better place instead of making it worse?’ Some of these are students or recent graduates searching for a life path, some are mid-career professionals looking for a more satisfying change of pace, and some are retirees looking for ways to make the best use of their time. What all share in common are big hearts, big dreams, and the need for various kinds of support in making that wish for a positively impactful life a reality.

To meet this need, Dharmalaya Institute is launching a new series of programmes tailor-made to support this noble mission and the larger movement it reflects.

‘Building a Better World’ brings together everything Dharmalaya Institute is best known for and weaves it into a supercharged series of programmes for personal and professional development supported by a community of kindred spirits and empowered by an incubator-style environment designed to nurture creative and compassionate inspirations and launch dreams into reality. We created this programme in response to requests from our community and alumni and shaped it with their input, and we are offering the programme in partnership with Earthville Institute in the USA, creating a global village campus and community.

In recognition of the diverse needs of the people expressing interest in the programme, we are providing flexible modes of participation ranging from short workshops and retreats to our new flagship fifteen-month course, which is the most comprehensive programme we’ve ever offered. The most rewarding option for many will be to take the deepest dive — the fully immersive 15-month residential course — but for the benefit of those with other preexisting commitments we also offer the option of a ‘come-and-go’ hybrid format where some modules can be done online when being present on campus isn’t possible.

And here’s where ‘the future of Dharmalaya’ comes in: One of the main streams of learning and practice within the programme will focus on a win-win opportunity wherein participants will be empowered to use Dharmalaya Institute itself as a platform for hatching and hosting their own inspirations for events, activities, projects and programmes, and in so doing will be participating in shaping Dharmalaya itself. Likewise, those interested in learning to manage a projects (such as a school or nonprofit organization or ecologically responsible business) will have the precious opportunity to gain education, training and real-world experience by joining Dharmalaya’s leadership team, with the supportive guidance and mentorship of Dharmalaya Institute’s cofounders.

We are launching this program with a first round of courses starting 6th March, 2024. For information and registration details, see our Events Schedule.

This short video gives more detail on the course:

Introduction to Building a Better World, including interviews with the cofounders of Dharmalaya Institute

Using natural materials for building is an exciting journey of self-discovery. It usually starts with thirst to learn to live in harmony with nature. Gathering information is the first step, and immersing oneself in these materials to gain experience with them is next.

There are as many techniques for building with locally available natural materials as there are traditional cultural groups. Throughout human history, each culture has used materials differently depending on their context and its particular challenges, and on the relative strengths and differing properties of the materials available on or near their sites. But one thing most of them have in common is the use of soil — the earth beneath our feet. 

No two sites have the exact same composition of soils. Thus, earthen builders need to gain experience with multiple soil types to understand how to work with the soils available on a given site. With any type of building material (natural or industrial), one needs to be aware of the qualities and limitations of the materials and the narrow scope for experimentation that any given material allows, as it can be highly risky to build a structure without sufficient attention to the details of best practices. Once we become intimate with the materials and how they behave — what they can do well and what they can’t be expected to do — we become more empowered to explore, experiment, and learn from experience.

Dharmalaya Institute’s How-To Series provides a collection of articles related to different aspects of natural building and other related crafts, to help you find your way through this fascinating landscape.

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Quick facts

OUR BASIC BRICK SIZE

12”x6”x3”

OUR MATERIALS

1) Earth mix with the right balace of soil constituents:

• coarse sand

• fine sand

• silt

• clay

2) Rice husk*

3) Pine needles**

4) Water

* Rice husk can be substituted with finely -chopped straw.

** Pine needles can be substituted with straw cut to short lengths, i.e. 3-5 inches.

OUR TOOLS

Shovel

Mattock / pick

Sieve with ˜0.5"x0.5”mesh

Buckets

Large bowls or trays

Brick frames (details in article)

COST

Potentially none! (If all materials are sourced on your own site)

TIME

Approx. 15-25 days

STEPS

1. Dig suitable soil

2. Sieve the dry soil

3. Pug (mix well with water)

4. Form bricks using moulds

5. Let bricks dry in sun

How-To Articles

Overview

Earth can be used in many shapes and forms for construction, but around the world one of the most common (and well-proven) methods is to shape the earth into the form of bricks and then dry them in the sun. These sun-dried earthen bricks are widely known as ‘adobe’. (The word adobe comes from the Spanish language and is pronounced ah-DOH-beh.)

There are adobe buildings around the world that are still standing after many centuries, even millennia, making adobe one of the most time-tested, well-proven building techniques in existence — but only if one follows best practices! As the saying goes, ‘a chain is only as strong as its weakest link’, and the same is true for buildings. So, with that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the very first element of an earthen structure using adobe bricks: the brick itself.

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Main ingredients

The main material for an adobe brick is the earth. An ideal adobe brick begins with a well-mixed combination of:

• a suitable soil containing coarse sand, fine sand, silt, and clay (with the clay content ranging between 15-20%); and

• fibrous plant material (e.g. straw, pine needles, rice husk, et al.)

• water

Sand & silt

The sand particles look like smaller broken pieces of rock that range in size between 2mm-125 μm. Silt is nothing other than sand with even smaller particles. One should be aware of the distribution of differently sized particle in the sand and silts.

The more the variation in the grading (particle size) of the sand and silt, the better, as during the process of mixing them thoroughly with water all these variously sized particles will find their way into the most compact arrangement they can have with one another, resulting in a stronger brick.

Clay

The clay particles, on the other hand, look like broken pieces of glass, with the size ranging between 0.98–3.9 μm.

These particles help in creating the magic of binding which sticks together when water particles come between the clay particles and the force of surface tension causes the water to bind the clay particles together in the adobe mix.

You can imagine this exactly as the common high-school science experiment used to teach about surface tension by witnessing the cohesive force of water when placed between two plates of glass. The cohesive force between the glass and water is so strong that it is difficult to pull the pieces apart. The same principle of surface tension works here for us to create a great bond between our clay particles and the water, making a strong earth mixture, and therefore strong bricks (assuming other best practices are also followed, as we’ll get to below). 

Sand and clay are the key materials that need to be checked accurately to get a perfect brick mix. To prepare a good earth mix for our building material we need to get the benefits of both the sand and the clay. This is important because sand and clay have different jobs in the mixture, the sand is the aggregate and the clay is the binder. The first best practice is to ensure the ratio of the two is in the ideal range.What we really want is to have a sufficient amount of clay well-bonded with water, which in turn glues together the various sizes and shapes of sand and silt particles to help us achieve a compact and heterogenous mix of earth.  

Effect of particle size & grades of aggregate

Any typical soil is composed of different sizes of particles that vary from the size of a boulder down to rocks, gravel, sand, silt and clay. All of these (with the exception of pure clay) may be similar in composition, but vary in size and shape, so they are essentially different grades of aggregate.  A brick is stronger when the gaps between larger particles are filled by smaller particles, and the gaps between those smaller particles are filled by even smaller ones, and so on. Different sizes and shapes of aggregate help in creating a tightly packed mixture with no discernible gaps in between the particles, which helps in creating a strong and compactable  earth mix.  If the mixture were more homogenous, containing  only particles of roughly the same size, then the bricks made with such a mixture would be loose and easy to break because of the lack of variation in particle size.

Additional ingredients

In addition to the main ingredients above, other materials are often included in the brick mix as well, depending on the requirement of the brick and the availability of materials. In many regions it is common to add small cuttings of straw to a brick mix, which adds tensile strength and insulating value while also reducing the weight of each brick. You can think of them as countless miniature re-bars, each of which provides little added strength on its own, but with tens of thousands of them together, it adds up.

Pine needles

In our region of the Himalayas, however, it is more common to use pine needles for the same purpose (tensile reinforcement) as they are abundantly available here. Pine needles also bring an extra benefit not provided by straw, which is that the oils in the pine needles serve as a repellent for some insects, helping to protect the adobe bricks from some kinds of burrowing pests. 

Rice husk

The other material that we add to the brick is in our area is rice husk, which is an agricultural by-product that we get from the farmers in nearby villages. Rice husk  adds both thermal and acoustic insulation to the bricks and also further reduces brick  weight, making them easier to handle without dropping. 

The amount of both the pine needles and the rice husk should be worked out depending on one’s requirements. We generally add around 5% each of pine needles and rice husk to our earth mixes. 

Preparation of the ingredients and testing for the correct ratios

This part of the process is very important as this helps us ascertain whether the soil on our site is actually suitable for adobe or, if not, then what other techniques might be better suited for building with the available soil.

You can get your soil samples tested in a lab for a detailed report (which isn’t a bad idea for less-experienced earthen builders), but there are also several traditional and low-tech methods that can be used effectively after some experimentation, observations and experience. These traditional field tests include:

Bottle test

1. Pour a small soil sample into a clear bottle that is about 3/4 filled with water

2. shake it vigorously, and then

3. place it standing up on a flat surface to rest for a while.

4. Wait for a few hours. The heaviest particles (sand) will sink to the bottom, the lightest particles (clay) will float to the top, and middling particles (silt) will stay in between.

This will give you a clear visual understanding of the ratios of particles in your soil sample.

The sign of an ideal mix for adobe would be that the clay band at the top takes up about 15-20% of the total space, while the rest underneath is a fairly heterogenous mixture of sand and silt, visible as a gradual change in particle size from bottom to top.

The bottle test can be used to test soil samples from different spots on your site, and should be used again after making your mix piles (but before adding water to them).

‘Laddoo’ test

1. Take a handful of your earth mix and slowly add drops of water to it while repeatedly squeezing it in your palm (by making a fist around it).

2. Keep adding water slowly until it retains the shape of a ball after squeezing it. (Pro tip: Be careful not to add too much water or else the test won’t tell you anything useful; it’s important that you use just barely enough water so that the earth will hold together in the shape of a ball when squeezed).

3. Once you’ve made the ball, stretch your arm straight out at shoulder height, and drop the ball on the ground.

4. Examine the ball to see how it broke when it hit the ground.

> If the ball crumbled to dust that means either there isn’t enough clay in the soil (compared to the sand and silt) or you didn’t use enough water.

> If the ball splats into a single flatter blob without breaking at all, that means either there’s too much clay in the mix (compared to the sand and silt) or you used too much water. (Its important to get the water amount just right so it doesn’t spoil the test.)

> If the ball breaks into just a few pieces — neither crumbling to dust nor holding together in a single blob — that’s a pretty good sign that your sample has a decent and usable clay-to-sand ratio (but, again, this is only reliable if you used the correct amount of water as described above).

Compression test

1. Use your hand to make a ball out of the earth mix by squeezing it as tightly as possible in your palm.

2. Let it cure for a day or three by leaving it to rest undisturbed (ideally in the sun).

3. After curing, place the ball on a flat surface and put pressure on the ball.

This will give you a hint of the compressive strength of the mix (which influences how much load the bricks made from this mix might be able to support).

This test is most interesting when done as a comparison between balls made from mixes of different compositions, such as you might find from different locations on your site. Again, more insight is gained through more experimentation and careful observation.

Observations through touch, smell, and colour

The texture and colours of the soils change drastically depending not just on their composition but also on water content (whether they are dry or slightly moist or completely saturated with water). Thus repeated close observation over time helps us explore the soil in terms of its texture and smell, helping us understand the properties of the earth, and how those different properties correspond with different behaviours.

Different amounts of clay and/or sand work differently in the mix, so a good understanding of how each material behaves is important. For example, if the mix has a lot of clay then it can crack easily.

Thus, there is no substitute for experimenting and testing to build deeper understanding through experience over time.

It is very important for any earth mix to pass these tests to qualify for use in making adobe bricks for building purposes. If it does, then we can go ahead to start our process of making an adobe brick.

Tools & materials to gather on site

The tools we use here are: 

• Shovel: for digging, gathering, and shaping the earth mixes. 

• Mattock/pick: for digging, gathering, and shaping the earth mixes. 

• Sieve with 0.5”x0.5” mesh (or something very close to that): helps in sieving out the gravel and larger pebbles from the mud, which makes the soil easier to pug and makes it easier to make bricks with smooth surfaces. 

• Buckets: for carrying water to be mixed into the earth mix.

• Large bowls or trays: for passing the material from one spot to another.

• *Brick frames/moulds: give the shape to the adobe brick. 

*Size of bricks and brick moulds

Note that different sizes of bricks are used in different places for different needs. Here, for convenience, we make our standard bricks 12”x6”x3”, so those are the inside dimensions of our standard brick frames/moulds.

The outer dimensions of our full-size brick frames are 14”x8”x5”, but of course frames made with varying thicknesses of would have different outer dimensions; what’s more important is the inside dimension.

The materials we need are:

• The earth mix that has passed all the above-mentioned tests, with appropriate ratios of coarse sand, fine sand, silt, and clay.

• Rice husk (can be substituted with finely-chopped straw)

• Pine needles (can be substituted with straw cut to short lengths, i.e. 3-5 inches)

• Water

The process of making bricks

We’re ready to start making bricks!

It’s worth emphasising again that we must be mindful about each and every step of the process right from the start to the very end until the brick becomes a part of the structure, because being aware of each step can make the difference between the building standing or falling!

The process happens in four steps:

1. Sieving

2. Pugging

3. Forming

4. Drying.

1. Sieving the soil

The sieving helps separate the large particles of gravel from the finer particles. (We want to avoid large rocks in our bricks as it disturbs the texture of the mix, can create air gaps, and makes it harder to keep the brick surfaces smooth, so the large rocks are sieved out and can be set aside for another purpose, such as a natural pavement for trails.) 

Once we’ve identified a spot on our site where the soil has the right composition for adobe (as described above), the soil in this spot is dug up using a pick/mattock and shovel.

• First, all of the topsoil is carefully removed and preserved for use in the garden beds. Topsoil is the most precious resource for growing plants, and thus never to be wasted by using it in construction.

• Next, the subsoil is dug up, moved to the depot (the brickmaking site) and sieved using the 0.5x0.5” mesh.

Notes:

- Propping the sieve on an angle allows gravity to do some work for you. As you shovel subsoil to the top portion of the sieve, particles run down and, if small enough, fall through the mesh.

-The soil must be dry to pass through the sieve, so if there’s a chance of rain you’ll want to keep your dry soil piles covered until after they’ve been sieved.

2. Pugging

The next step is pugging the sieved soil. The term pugging comes from the Sanskrit term ‘pug’ which means ‘feet.’ Why feet? The traditional way to mix the soil mix with water is using our feet! This step can and should (in my experience) include dancing, singing and playing with mud while mixing it, for a more joyful experience, not to mention better results!

• First, the dry soil is made into a big pile and then the pile is hollowed out from the centre to make a volcano shape. Then water is poured slowly into the centre of the volcano and allowed to soak in slowly for a while (it can even be left overnight like this, covered with a tarp or something similar to reduce evaporation of the water from the centre of the volcano). 

• Now comes the fun part! We take off our shoes, roll up our pant legs, and step into the centre of the volcano.  Pro tip: Most of us prefer to pug barefoot, but you may prefer to wear rubber boots if the soil is too rocky or the weather is too cold, or if you have cuts on your feet.) With our feet, we gradually mix the water into the soil until it becomes a mud mix of more-or-less even consistency.

• While pugging, we learn to ‘see with our feet’, to keep an eye on the mix for any dry lumps of mud. Wherever we find dry spots, we mix more water into them. The mixture is periodically rotated by using a shovel to shift the mud from the bottom up to the top, only to be stomped back down again.

• Every day, pug the mix for at least an hour. Then use your tools to shape the mix into a mound (which we call ‘closing’ the pile). Generously sprinkle water on the mound and then cover it for the night to prevent it from drying out. 

• The next day, remove the cover and ‘open’ the mound by breaking it apart with your tools, adding splashes of water as needed to keep the smooth-yet-firm muddy consistency. If it was kept well covered overnight then it should still be moist and not too difficult to break open. (Pro tip: If the pile is too dry and hard the next morning, try adding more water next time you close the pile, and cover it with something that will provide better protection from evaporation, like a tarp or a couple of layers of wet canvas.)

Do this every day: open, pug, close into a mound, keep moist and covered overnight.

• On the fourth day, pine needles (or straw) and rice husk are mixed into the mix as well. This is usually done in the morning right after opening the pile. You’ll probably need to add a little more water at this point. 

• By the fifth day, the mix should be feeling pretty smooth and homogenous (even though we know that on the microscopic level an ideal mix is actually quite heterogenous, still, to the eye and to the feet it will seem more homogenous now after being thoroughly pugged for five days). After being pugged on the fifth day, the mix is ready to be made into bricks! 

How much pugging?

This repetition of pugging and folding is one of the best-practice keys to ensuring that the mud is very thoroughly mixed, which is critically important because that’s how the water particles get in between the clay particles, which in turn is what creates the strongest bond between the aggregate (sand and silt) and the binder (clay). In fact, this is so important that it should be done for at least four nights and five days. The formula is simple:

more pugging = stronger bricks = stronger building. 

What you’ll notice is that, with each passing day, the mix will become smoother, more pliable, and usually stickier as well. This means the mix is gradually approaching the consistency that will make it ideal for best-quality bricks. 

Once you experience this, you’ll understand why no one should ever ‘cheat’ by pugging for only a day or two. There’s a quite dramatic improvement in the quality of the mix (and thus the quality of the bricks made from it) after the third and fourth days of pugging, as the water keeps mixing with the clay particles, while sand and silt keep filling the gaps.

This process is similar to kneading dough. We keep kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic enough, with water and other ingredients mixed with all the particles of the flour. We basically are trying to achieve something similar with mud here.

Note: There’s no harm in pugging a mix for even longer than five days, but after the fifth day the improvement brought by additional pugging is comparatively minor, so there’s no significant advantage to pugging for more than five days.

However, if you’ve made a pile so big that you can’t use it all in one day for brickmaking, don’t worry: whatever is left over at the end of your day of brickmaking, you can simply close that back into a mound, moisten and cover it, and open it again the next morning to continue. You can keep doing this day after day until the mix is all gone.

3. Forming the bricks

We use three standard wooden brick frames:

1. full bricks

2. corner bricks

3. queen closer bricks (half of standard brick width)

Having custom-sized bricks help us save both time and material as we don’t have to break bricks on site so often.

•  Before we start are brick-forming session, our frames are soaked in buckets full of water.

• While the frames are soaking, the flat area where bricks are to be made is cleaned and re-levelled if necessary so that the bricks can lay as flat as possible on smooth ground and don't get deformed. One can also cover the ground with extra rice husk (or similar) so that the bricks don’t get stuck to the ground (though this isn’t so necessary if the bricks can be allowed to dry in place).

• The brick frames are then cleaned with a wet cloth, and placed on level ground.

• A big chunk of pugged mud mix is then thrown inside the frame and pressed thoroughly with a flattened hand to squeeze out any air gaps, thereby making the brick more densely compacted (which will contribute to its strength). 

• A small amount of water is then sprinkled onto the top surface of the brick, and then immediately one hand sweeps across the top of the brick to smooth the surface.

• Just after the surface is smoothed, the tradition we follow is to create what is called a ‘frog’, which is a unique pattern that each brickmaker creates as a kind of ‘signature’ on the brick, which is usually carved gently into the top surface of the brick with one or two fingers. Aside from being a fun way to personalize our bricks, the frog also provides a place for the top surface of the brick (which is otherwise smooth except for the frog) to catch mortar during masonry, which in turn helps make a better bond between courses of bricks (which contributes to a stronger wall).

• Right after the frog is made, the brick frame is lifted up carefully while holding the frame with two hands on the opposite corners. One needs a bit of practice to lift the frame without causing any deformation of the brick. It is important to do this process mindfully and patiently, but on the other hand the mud mixture and the frame shouldn’t become too dry, so the time taken to complete this whole process plays an important role as the mix may tend to stick to the frame more if we wait too long to finish the process. Don’t worry: one naturally gets the hang of it with practice!

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4. Drying

• Once, the frame is removed, the adobe brick is left to dry in the sun. It’s important to leave the new-born brick completely undisturbed (not touched at all) for at least the first day or two, starting from the very moment the frame is lifted away from the brick. This period is called ‘curing’, and this is another crucial time in determining how strong the brick will be (and thus how strong your walls and building will be). If a brick is disturbed too early, before it has cured enough, it will forever be weaker.

• But after curing properly (usually 1-2 days if the sun is strong, or maybe 2-4 days if the sun is weak), it is then safe to rotate the brick gently onto its side, using both hands and being very slow and mindful. After the first rotation, leave it undisturbed again for at least another day before rotating again.

• After two or three weeks of continued drying in well-ventilated stacks, the bricks should be fully cured and safe to move (carefully) to be stored in stacks any location where they’ll be protected.

(Pro tip: if there’s any chance of rain, keep a cover nearby that’s big enough to cover all your baby bricks, as rain can quickly destroy them while they’re still curing — and it’s wise to cover them overnight if there’s any chance of night showers.)

Drying time

The total time it takes for a brick to dry completely in the sun will vary greatly depending on the climate, the temperature, and the strength of the sunlight. In very hot, dry, and sunny climates, the bricks might be completely dry (or at least dry enough to move safely) within about five days of strong sun and clear skies. But in colder, damper, and/or cloudier situations, it could take up to 10-14 days. Your senses (aided by experience over time) will become the best instrument to determine when the brick is ready.

After the bricks are completely dry to the touch, they may still be wet inside for a few more days. During this period they can be stacked carefully in a way that keeps plenty of space between them for ventilation. It’s best to stack them this way right on (or right next to) the brickmaking site itself if possible so that they can continue to dry completely before being handled too much).

Quality testing

• Make a few test bricks by following all the instructions above, and then let them dry completely without being touched at all (other than to turn it on its side after the 2nd or 3rd day). After they are completely dry (usually 4-7 days in good sun, give or take),

• drop them (one at a time) from shoulder height onto a hard, flat surface and check how they behave when they hit the ground. 

If the brick shatters into smaller pieces, the mix is not good (either not enough clay or not pugged thoroughly enough, as we’ll explain below, or often both). In this case, study some of the bigger pieces of the broken brick to learn more about its properties. Do they feel crumbly and brittle? If so, maybe more clay is needed, and/or a lot more vigorous pugging.

If the brick breaks into just two or three pieces, that means you’re pretty close, but there’s still room for improvement (probably by doing another day or two or three of pugging, or possibly by using a mix with a bit more clay content). Bricks like these (that break into 203 pieces when dropped) can be used in simple structures like benches or non-load-bearing walls, but are not safe for use in load-bearing walls in inhabited structures.

If the brick doesn’t break at all, that means the mix has a good sand-and-silt-to-clay ratio and really good tensile strength, and the brick was made well.

Congratulations! Your bricks are ready to be used in a building!

Conclusion

One of the recurring themes here is that one needs to be patient and mindful with the whole process to achieve the best possible specimen of an adobe brick.

Each step along the way provides opportunities for either laziness and sloppiness or care and diligence — and each of those steps will determine the quality of your bricks, and therefore the quality of your walls and your building. So it follows that some of the most important ‘skills’ to learn in earthen brickmaking (as in all aspects of earthen building) are patience, gentleness, and careful attention to detail. The results of cultivating this caring approach are so well worth it, and it makes the whole process more enriching, too!

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Dharmalaya Institute cofounder Mark Moore discusses the power of contemplative experiential education and service learning to awaken compassion and help empower sensitive and effective agents of change.

Can compassion be learned?

Compassion is the very essence of our nature, and thus compassionate living is our most natural way of being. It’s the way of all of us would live if we were embraced and nurtured from birth without ever having encountered the kinds of selfishness and aggression that trigger our self-preservation instincts, causing us to seek (but never truly find) refuge in the fortified individual pursuit of our own desires, rather than living in our natural state of harmonious empathy and cooperation.

Fortunately, because compassion is in our nature, it can’t be damaged or lost and thus doesn’t need to be repaired or replaced. We need nothing else but simply to recognize it in ourselves again.

‘Education needs not only to develop our intelligence, but also to support the basic human values of warm-heartedness and compassion.’

— H.H. the Dalai Lama

So it follows that compassion can be learned through experiences that help us recognize the best qualities of our nature. The more we engage fully with such experiences — and reflect on them to glean all we can from them — the more we return home to our natural compassion, as gradually it becomes more the rule than the exception. Dharmalaya Institute’s educational programmes — and the supportive environment in which they take place — are designed to facilitate this process with caring attention to the unique experiences of each individual.

Developing three dimensions of compassion

The path of developing compassion and refining the practice of compassionate living can be viewed in three cumulative aspects:

1. Restoring our natural sensitivity and empathy: Compassion begins with opening the heart, learning to let ourselves feel in a safe and grounded way. With learning and practice over time, we become more able to feel both the fullness of our own experience and our natural empathy for others, and we gradually allow our natural sensitivity (which becomes diminished in a world in which desensitization is a universal mechanism to cope with stress, aggression and trauma) to be experienced in its full capacity. The more we feel what others feel, the more we automatically feel compassion for them (and likewise for ourselves). This restoration of our innate sensitivity and empathy gives us access to a wealth of internal resources from which we’d been cut off by our conditioning, and enables further development of the aspects below.

2. Cultivating informed and discerning compassion: The compassion of the heart becomes much more useful when paired with the clarity and discernment of a well-informed intellect. The better we understand the complex causes and conditions behind a given situation, the more our compassion is focused precisely where it belongs — on what’s actually happening rather than on what we might assume or imagine if less informed. This greater clarity with regard to causality in turn enables a sharper sense of exactly what needs to be addressed to improve the situation. Even the most caring doctor is more effective when able to make an accurate diagnosis that leads to an effective prescription.

3. Developing skill in applying compassion: Having connected with our innate compassion and illuminated it with awareness and discernment, the next step is application — putting compassion in action, hopefully with beneficial results. Even with the best of intentions and a good understanding of what needs to be done, there’s still the matter of how we actually do it. A surgeon needs mastery of her skills to achieve the best results for the patient, and the same goes for the work of engaged compassion. For developing such skill, there’s no substitute for experience: in the best cases, we improve continually through cycles of practice, reflection and feedback, again and again for refinement over time.

Dharmalaya Institute provides a supportive environment to catalyze all three of these stages. All of these threads of sensitivity, insight and application weave together in Dharmalaya Institute’s educational programmes, facilitating richly integrated, deeply nourishing, supportively challenging and potentially life-changing learning experiences that help us flourish as individuals while we do our parts to help the world flourish as a harmonious whole.

Bringing these concepts to life: Contemplative service learning

For the purpose of bringing the lived experience of compassion alive in us, one of the most helpful catalysts is service. The act of putting our time, energy, and heart to work for the benefit of a greater good helps us transcend our habitual preoccupations with personal concerns and tap into the very best parts of ourselves. This is one of life’s greatest win-win propositions, as we discover the deepest happiness life has to offer while also helping to make the world a better place for others.

‘All the suffering in the world comes from seeking happiness for oneself.

All the joy in the world comes from seeking happiness for others.’

— Shantideva, 8th century CE

Dharmalaya Institute’s contemplative service-learning programmes provide unique opportunities for participants to gain precious experience putting compassion into action through real-world charitable activity in a caring community context. Our culture of compassionate and constructive communication offers useful feedback that increases our self-awareness, bolsters self-confidence, and aids refinement, while also providing inspiring companionship. And our contemplative approach helps to deepen the integration of heart and mind and of inner life and outer work, enhance learning through extensive reflection, and help ensure the best intentions lead to the best results.

Empowering changemakers as a force multiplier for good

Society is the sum of its individuals, so nurture the one to nurture the many.

Making a better world starts with each individual, so the first step is always to look at our own lives honestly and do our best to reduce the harm we cause, and keep refining our own practice of compassionate living. Societal ills and imbalances are interpersonal yet rooted in the intrapersonal, so collective well-being must begin with personal well-being, and then it naturally expands from there as personal empathy, awareness and empowerment give rise to action in harmony with the collective good. As we improve our own practice of applied compassion over time, we become better able to serve as a force for change, working with sensitivity, skill, and wisdom to help create a more compassionate world.

The residential learning community at Dharmalaya Institute provides an optimal sandbox in which to learn through interaction with others in a safe environment that provides affirmative and constructive feedback and the incomparable inspiration of being a part of something greater than ourselves. Our focus on empowering changemakers fosters understanding of how change happens and how we can make a difference, and our experiential approach provides opportunities to develop wisdom and skill to make change more effectively. And again and again we see that graduates of our programmes go on to do great work and inspire other compassionate changemakers.

Educational pathways for awakening compassion

True compassion can’t really be ‘taught’ (at least not in the sense of being imparted through books or lectures) — but it definitely can be learned. In fact, it’s a joyful process of lifelong learning. The ideal of ‘compassionate living’ may sound like a lofty goal, but it’s a more of a journey than a destination — and that’s where ‘education for compassionate living’ comes in, as lamps to guide the journey.

In summary, insightfully crafted educational experiences can activate compassion in four stages:

1. Awaken one’s innate sensitivity and empathy through contemplative practice.

2. Cultivate deep and clear understanding of the experience of self and others, so one naturally feels greater compassion.

3. Put that informed compassion into action through service, thereby deepening compassion and gaining experience.

4. Develop the wisdom and skills of a sensitive and effective changemaker through experience combined with reflection.

› Read more about Dharmalaya Institute’s approach to experiential education

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Quick Facts

BRIEF

Design and construction of one or more outdoor benches and associated elements in order to create a unified seating and group discussion area. The design shall seek to integrate with, and enhance its surroundings.

TIME & LABOUR

Design phase: 2 interns, 3-4 weeks duration (as part of Internship for Vernacular Eco-Architecture).

Construction phase: 10 people, including local masons, interns and volunteers. 1 month duration (as part of a series of workshops).

COSTS (material)

(breakdown)

Total material costs: approx. 7000₹

—-———-

Mud: 0 ₹ (from site)

Slate: 500₹ (25₹/tile)

Bamboo: 1000₹ (100₹/bamboo)

Dressed stone: 840₹ (14₹/stone)

Infill material: 0 ₹ (existing plastic & glass waste)

FRP sheet: 2400₹ (60₹/sqft)

MATERIALS

(main)

(secondary)

(waste materials)

Adobe bricks (150-180 pieces)

Plaster and mud mortar

Cob mix

waterproof plaster finish (lipai, a local technique similar to tadlakt).

Dressed stones (50-60 pieces)

rubble

slate

bamboo

cement

fine gravel

sand

rebars

varnish, oxide for pigment

FRP (fibre-reinforced plastic) for sheet coverings.

used plastic bottles (130-150 bottles)

soft plastics (approx. 15kg)

broken glass (approx. 5kg)

AREA & DIMENSION

Footprint of total bench area: 320 sqft

Double-tiered bench

• surface area: 58.70 sqft

• height of bench a (first tier): 18"

• height of bench b (second tier): 36"

C-shaped bench

• surface area: 18.9 sqft

• height of bench: 18”

Canopy

• surface area: 270 sqft

• highest height (at existing wall): 12ft

• lowest height ( sloping away from wall): 10ft

How-To Articles

Overview

As a part of our training in the Internship for Vernacular Eco-Architecture, Dhanya and I were assigned to create an informal, multi-purpose outdoor space with seating areas for people to come together and collaborate or rest, or to hold outdoor classes or discussions. Already existing on the site were an L-shaped bench, a wall façade at one edge of the space, and the surrounding gardens and landscape, with all of this being key aspects of the context we needed to consider in the design process.

BEFORE: Our starting point was an existing bench constructed by a previous group. They experimented with, and wanted to showcase many techniques in one form. The result was an L-shaped bench with differing elements. Together with the tall side wall of the dormitory building, the footprint we had to work with was strongly demarcated in a 'masculine’ language.

AFTER: Our completed project responded in a 'feminine' manner. Soft, curved forms were sculpted from observations of circulation pathways, height mediations and providing a sense of 'welcome’ from various locations. Bamboo roof beams fitted into existing holes in the neighbouring wall while loose pebbles that were easily available on-site were a simple strategy to unify new and old elements through the floor surface.

Design Phase

The collaboration between the two of us was quite interesting because even though we were like two seeds in a pod, our personalities and perspectives can sometimes be quite different, but our friendship, mutual respect and imaginations encouraged us to see valuable things in each other’s perspectives about the project.

It wasn’t just about what the eyes saw, but also how we felt experiencing the space itself. Even though there were many similarities in the ways we each felt into the space, each of us also had unique and complementary observations. This was a win-win in that it helped develop our sensitivities and skills while also enhancing the results for the project. Through this collaborative design process, we were able to arrive at a design for the space that felt in harmony as a whole. Our collaboration gave birth to a space that harmonises well with the surrounding environment and represents our personalities and our relationship in a playful and natural way, inspired by the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi — imperfect and beautiful, with a longing to be perfect, maybe someday but not just yet.

The very first step to create a space where the users and the surroundings feel in harmony is to be in harmony with yourself, to be present, to be aware, to feel grounded enough that you sync with the environment of the space such that you don’t force your preconceived idea on the space, but ask the space what it wants and let it be that.

How did we start doing that? We use meditation to calm our conceptual minds and drop any kind of perception we might already have for the space and its design. This is tricky to do as what one has already learnt, practised or experienced in a similar context before can tempt one into thinking that our own idea is what the place wants, too. So the aim during this phase is just to observe and experience the space with an open mind and body. The head-mind observes and analyses the technical aspects of the space, while the heart and gut minds experience the space in non-conceptual ways.

The next phase is about being playful in and around the site and creating what the space wants, which can be done only when we allow ourselves to understand the space like a friend, while continually asking ourselves if that is what feels the most natural, and thus the best for the space.  

Careful observation of the existing context helped us understand the space like a friend, and after a lot of playful experiences in and around the site, we developed a clearer feeling of how the space wants to be expressed.

The existing L bench, with its masculine design aesthetic, was the starting point for us. To balance the angular masculinity in the space we needed something that was feminine in its character. The form, the way the structure interacts with the user, as well as the materials used to make it, needed to balance the L bench aesthetically. So we imagined a curved-profile bench, to balance the L-shaped bench with the soft character of our main, simple and beautiful material: mud.

The positioning of the L-shaped bench against the swale also helped us question the placement of the new benches. One of the new benches needed to sit somewhere where it didn’t disturb the movement in the area, and would have a good view, while another curved bench wrapped around the building to soften the corner of the tall building. This was chosen as our design response after studying the movement patterns, existing paths, views, human comfort, and so forth.

The space between the benches was also something that needed to be observed and analysed. This helped us create a design that can alter the experience of the place substantially. The distance between the benches and the profile of the new benches was decided after playing with different possibilities and mapping the new structure that needed to be developed. This was done to understand how the new bench structure might feel before the construction even began, which helped us consider the whole. 

The next step for us was to work out the technical aspects of the design process. The total time that went into designing the project — including various observation exercises at different stages to help us understand the site and its needs, analysis, and working on the technicalities — was about three to four weeks.

Construction Phase

Construction took about a month of work. This included training the team and building the structure with a total of ten people including the local mason, interns and volunteers.

1.     Soil testing

For any kind of earthen construction, the very first step is to gather our main material, the mud. The very first step should be to test the soil for your needs, which will help you to be sure if the soil available on site is suitable for your requirements. (Note that, for ecological reasons, it is preferable to use soil from your own site if possible rather than bringing it in from another location.) If the soil you have on site is suitable, then preparing the soil for use in construction is the next step.

2.     Sieving the mud

First, the earth is dug. (Pro tip: Ideally, one would take the soil from a site where you would need to dig or level for another project, because that would allow you to accomplish two tasks at once.) Before digging begins, the topsoil is removed and preserved for the garden beds. Then the subsoil is sieved for the making of adobe bricks and mud plaster.

After digging, the larger particles of rock are separated from the earth mix with a sieve. For this project, the dimension of the mesh used for sieving is 5x5mm for adobe bricks and 2x2mm for the second coat of mud plaster.

3.     Pugging

The term ‘pugging’ comes from the Sanskrit word pag, which means ‘feet’. So, the pugging process is basically about playing in the mud with our feet to let all the components mix together well. This is one of the most important steps to ensure the strength of our mix. One can imagine pugging as kneading dough: the mix needs to becomes smooth and water should be absorbed thoroughly with no dry patches or clumps left in the mix.

For our construction process, the mud mixture is comprised of rice husk, pine needles, and soil in the ratio 1:2:10 (the ratio can be modified depending on the requirement of your design and construction). We use pine needles to provide tensile reinforcement in the bricks, and we use rice husk both for insulation and to make the bricks a bit lighter. (As always, context matters: these materials can be changed depending on what materials are available in or around your site.)

The mix was pugged in the daytime and then left to settle overnight for five consecutive days so that the particles in the mix have the chance to bind together at the molecular level. For this, one gets the best results from having many feet pugging together, while singing and dancing and playing in the mud. And, at the end of all the fun, thanking the earth for helping us build is always a good idea.

4.     Making adobe bricks (sun-dried earth blocks)

We use custom-sized wooden frames as per our requirement which gives us full-sized bricks , queen closers, chamfered bricks and half-bat bricks. Our full brick size is 12” x 6” x 3”. The custom sizes help us save time and material during the construction process, as with multiple sizes pre-made we don’t have to break the full bricks when smaller sizes are required.

Adobe bricks were made in the following manner:

a)     The frames are soaked in water and cleaned thoroughly before starting the process of making the bricks.

b)     A big blob of pugged mud is then thrown in the frame (while it is still quite wet) and gently compressed by hand to make the bricks compact enough.

c)      Any extra material is then removed with one stroke that leaves the top face of the brick smooth, immediately after which a frog (a unique design, stamp or signature unique to each brickmaker, drawn by finger) is created on top, and then the frame is removed in one smooth motion.

d)     The bricks are then sun-dried completely, which takes a few days (depending on the strength of the sun), and stored to be used later.

Learn more about the steps and process of how we make our adobe bricks at Dharmalaya here.

5.     Line-out and Foundations

The process of digging the foundations begins with a demarcation step we call ‘line-out’ because we draw on the earth to outline the edges of the foundation trenches to be dug. During this stage, always refer closely to the design drawings to be extra-sure that the dimensions are correct, as any mistakes made at this stage might be difficult (or sometimes impossible) to correct properly later.

We outlined the footprint of the bench structures by referring to the drawings, measuring the footprint on the site and marking it in situ with lime dust, cross-checking frequently to make sure all dimensions were correct. Once the line-out was finalized and reference poles were put up, a 6” deep trench was carefully dug out (Note the building foundations require much deeper trenches, but since this is just for a bench, 6” is adequate). Random rubble masonry was used to fill the foundation trenches.

After filling in all the gaps with smaller pebbles and soil, we compacted the foundations, bringing them to the required level, keeping in mind the existing ground level.

It is always important to think about the whole structure while constructing each stage of it, so as never to lose sight of the whole.

Here, because we wanted a bamboo roof, vertical rebars were placed in position while filling the foundation trenches, to provide support for the bamboo members of the shade roof to be built in the last stage.

6.     Plinth: stone masonry with upcycled plastic waste

The height of the stone plinth should be enough to raise the earthen elements of the structure far enough above ground level to avoid water damage in case of heavy rains.

Dressed stones were used to build the plinth above ground level, held together with mortar made of sand and cement in a ratio of 6:1 (note we would have preferred to use lime mortar if slaked lime were available in our region but since it isn’t we used a small amount of cement as a substitute). The insides of the bench were filled with plastic bottle ‘bricks’ that were made by collecting soft plastic waste and stuffing it into plastic bottles until they are densely packed (one possible solution for upcycling any unavoidable plastic waste). The voids between the bottles were filled with broken glass pieces (also upcycled waste), rubble, and soil to achieve maximum compaction. This upcycling of waste as a building material in a small, uninhabited construction project is one of the ways we deal with the waste that we still generate while we’re still making progress on the path toward our zero-waste goal, recognizing that in the popular mantra of ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’, the most important words are the first two: reduce and reuse. 

The estimated number of dressed stones used for the construction for the project was 50-60.

7.     Adobe masonry

Above the plinth, the rest of the masonry was done with mud, using the adobe brick and mud mortar which is a mix of roughly sieved mud and water.

A good masonry practice includes being mindful of the horizontal and vertical levels, avoiding joints during the masonry and minimal wastage of the material.  During this masonry process, the levels of the structure are continually checked with a plumb bob and water-level pipe at various stages to avoid going out of plumb or off level.

The estimated number of bricks used for the construction for the project was 150-180 bricks.

8.     Cob Technique

Cob, another popular technique of earthen construction, was also used here to achieve the desired top level. Instead of breaking each brick in half to attain the final level, the better choice was to use cob. The cob mix was made by mixing the straw cut in small lengths with pugged mud in a ratio of 1:5.

Blobs of this mix were made, placed by hand, and then shaped in situ as per the requirements of the design. 

9.     Slate placement

For waterproofing and stability, a PCC layer was placed over the cob (after it had dried) to create the required bed for slates on top. The PCC consisted of cement, fine gravel and sand in the ratio of 1:2:8 (again, this ratio might be changed depending upon your materials and requirements).

The slates were cut precisely to create a lip for the top of the benches and were set in place using cement mortar. The slightly cantilevered lip, which must provide enough strength at the edges of the benches to resist cracking or chipping, helps protect the adobe structure below.  

Grout was applied in the gaps between the slate tiles. The grout consisted of green oxide, cement, and water. Green oxide is used for colour only, because who doesn’t like a little more green in life?

For the remaining surface, the mud plaster was then applied, which had lime and mud in a 1:2 ratio.  A mix of flax seed husk with water was then smeared on the mud plaster to protect the mud with its water-resistant properties, and the top face was burnished to achieve the smoothness that we wanted for this context (burnishing also helps with water resistance by decreasing the porosity of the earthen surfaces).

The slate tiles were sanded thoroughly with pumice stone until all the tiles were smooth, and were later varnished.

10.     Plaster

Plastering is done to protect the structural components (i.e. the adobe bricks and other earthen material here) from wet-weather conditions. Plastering is done in three phases. The first coat of earthen plaster uses coarse mud and water. This is done to give a proper shape over the bricks to the structure. This coat’s thickness ranges from 5mm to 10mm. Second-coat plaster is made by first making a well-pugged mix of finely sieved earth and then adding flax seed husk soaked in water, lime, and cow dung (in a ratio of 10:1:2:4, in this case). The thickness of this plaster ranges from 2mm to 5mm.

For the final coat, lipai is done, which is a traditional finishing layer in our region. For this, cow dung and water are mix together to form a gooey slurry and is then applied on the surface.

The general application process of plaster is as follows:

a)     The surface is made wet so that the plaster mix can easily stick to it.

b)     A thin coat of plaster mix is smeared onto the surface with a trowel or hands to achieve the desired finish.

c)      The whole surface is then covered with the plaster and an even (but slightly rough) surface is created.

d)     Once the first coat dries thoroughly, the process is repeated for the second coat similarly, but with a smoother finish this time if desired.

e)     The third coat (lipai) is done once the second-coat surface becomes dry and is cleaned well. The way of moving the hand while doing lipai can be experimented with, as lipai leaves imprints of our hand movements on the surface, so this can be used to create pleasing patterns if done sensitively. (It can also be removed if you prefer, leaving a smooth surface by carefully cleaning the surface while the lipai is still wet.)

11.     Roof

a)     Bamboo smoking

A bamboo roof was planned for this space, so we needed some treated bamboos. Bamboo treatment is done to protect the bamboo by removing starch from these grass plants to reduce the chances of insect infestation (since otherwise some insects eat the starch in the bamboo, which can weaken it over the course of years).

The bamboos should be harvested only during the winter, and not at any other time, as the starch content is very high during the warmer months due to the presence of sun for longer hours and thus more photosynthesis, resulting in high amounts of starch in the bamboo if harvested during non-winter months. For best results, follow the tradition of harvesting bamboo only during the new (dark) moons of winter, when the bamboo plants are exposed to the least amount of sunlight and thus have the lowest sugar levels, which means they’ll have the lowest starch levels when they dry.

Treatment Process:

1.     The bamboos need to be cut and cleaned properly.

2.     Bamboo poles are then stacked inside a bamboo kiln or other improvised sealed structure that retains smoke (doesn’t let the smoke vent out) so that all the bamboos can be smoked in the most efficient way.

3.     For the purpose of smoking, almost any plant matter can be used, but certain plants are preferable for their qualities, depending on your region. In our area, the invasive weed called Basuti (Chromolaena odorata, a.k.a. triffid or ‘devil weed’) comes in handy. The pungent smell and toxins in the weed help to keep the insects away.

4.     The bamboos are smoked for at least three weeks (relighting fires twice a day or as needed to keep the structure continuously filled with smoke). 

5.      After the completion of the bamboo smoking, the bamboos were wiped clean and used for the roof.

b)     Bamboo joinery

The vertical bamboos were placed over the existing reinforced steel rebar rods that had been installed during the foundation stage (see above), so that the rebar slides inside the center of the bamboo poles. The vertical rods give the bamboo support, helping them to stay upright and fixed in position.

The horizontal bamboos are then laid as per the design and joints are made for easy attachment of all the bamboos to one another. All the bamboos were covered with thin strips of FRP (fibre-reinforced plastic) sheets to protect the bamboos from the direct rainwater and sun, otherwise the rain-exposed bamboo would eventually weather and crack. They are then nailed together to create the final structure.

12.     Planting

Plants, creepers, trees, shrubs etc are then planted as per the design.

Completion

The whole construction process was a great learning process for everyone in the team. From the very beginning of the idea to create a space where people felt held and spacious to be open, to the informative training and construction process and later enjoying the space that was created by the help of so many people collaborating, learning, playing and working together.

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Everything that matters most — from the quality of our character to the survival of our species and the health of our planet — depends greatly upon our practice of compassion. Most of society’s pressing challenges arise from our failures to act in accord with informed compassion, and likewise the best solutions are born from our successes in putting compassion into action.

?

Compassionate living defined

Com•pas•sion | kəmˈpaSHən | : A state of being in which one’s heart is open to feel empathy and caring for all beings.

Compassionate living: A mode of living in which one’s heart is open to feel empathy and caring for all beings, one’s mind is open to understand the experience of others and the interconnectedness we share with all of life, and one acts from that place of informed caring.

Put simply: minimize harm & strive to help

Compassionate living means caring enough to be sensitive to the impacts (both positive and negative) that our choices and actions have upon ourselves, our planet and all the beings we share it with, and doing our best to ensure that our presence in this world does the least harm and the best good possible.

Four practices of compassionate living

1. Non-harming (Sanskrit: ahimsa): As the Dalai Lama says, ‘Try to help others, but if you can’t, at least don’t harm them.’ And this goes not only for humans (including ourselves) but also, equally, for all sentient beings.

2. Service (Sanskrit: seva): It is good to aspire ‘not to be a part of the problem’, yet even better to be part of the solution. Compassion does little good if it’s just a feeling, without action to make it count. The altruistic act of offering service to a greater good is putting compassion into action. And one of the highest expressions of this is working to make the world a more compassionate place.

3. Sustainability: Caring for the planet and its life means caring about sustainability, doing our best to inform ourselves about the impact of our lifestyles on the planet, and always striving to make more sustainable choices in all realms of life (e.g. food, energy use, consumption and waste, shelter, career, etc.).

4. Personal development: Because we care, we aspire to evolve — to be the best versions of ourselves, so that we can make our best contributions to the world, and so that our inner life is healthy and thus our work in the world becomes more fruitful, nourishing and sustainable.

These are referred to as ‘practices’ because they are more a journey than a destination: they are lifelong aspirations to be cultivated in daily life and continuously refined with the insight that comes from reflecting on our experience.

Three guiding insights of compassionate living

1. Compassion is our nature, so harmony is our birthright.
   Everything in nature exists in balance and harmony unless and until it is disturbed — and fortunately once the disturbance is removed, that natural harmony returns automatically. Every human is born with the same potential to be a great force for compassion in the world, but of course every human also encounters disturbances in life, which knock us out of that natural state of harmony. Fortunately, nature heals itself when conditions are supportive. Thus, every person deserves to have that precious seed of natural compassion watered and nourished, and to receive support in overcoming the disturbances we encounter, so that we return to the most natural, harmonious and innately compassionate expressions of ourselves.

2. All is interdependent, so solutions must be holistic and cooperative.
   Nothing exists in isolation. Like a pregnant mother and her child, like every living being and the earth that supports us to live, we all exist as interdependent organs within the larger body of nature — so we’re in this together. No one truly wins until everyone wins. To thrive sustainably, we need win-win collaboration, not zero-sum competition.We need the insight that arises through sensitive observation of our interconnection, as only that can lead us to holistic solutions that recognize the many factors at play in every system, from the micro to the macro, to achieve sustainable flourishing for one and all.

3. Everyone can evolve, yet evolution is a process, so we must nurture self and others with patient grace.
   Warm-hearted spaciousness makes great things happen — when the the time is ripe! When one feels passion for compassion, it can be tempting to judge oneself or others for falling short of an ideal. Yet the reality is that all of us do fall short, and that is always due to complex causes and conditions already set in motion, so we all deserve a little slack, some room to ebb and flow as we grow. Moreover, compassion isn’t a competition! All humans feel stress under pressure and naturally recoil from sharp criticism and aggression but can soften and open over time when consistently embraced with genuine love, so patience and understanding are wiser and more effective motivators than judgment and pushiness. We must give ourselves and others the space and time to ripen on the vine, and meanwhile just keep offering sunshine and water where we can.

› Deeper dive: ‘Pedagogy of the Heart: Education for Compassion’

Trembling with fear, anxiety and panic — that is what hit me when I realized that COVID-19 is here. All I could think was, Is this even real? A world that never stopped had suddenly paused, and the lives that we all had planned stopped working according to plan, leaving the whole world with a feeling of uncertainty. The new coronavirus left us with a gift — the gift of the present — and we weren't sure how to feel about that.

The slow-paced rural life had also changed because of the pandemic. Suddenly, loving people who usually are quite social started hesitating to give goodbye hugs, even though it made them uncomfortable just to say 'namaste' (greetings) and 'apna khayal rakhna' (take care) while sending someone off without knowing for how long. A shift in conversation topics in the village was quite visible, too: People were talking about the updated corona-related news rather than who was planning a dham (traditional feast) next or the other usual village gossip. COVID-19 changed not only the life on the ground, but also in the sky over Bir: The sky, once filled with colourful parachutes, became an empty, bright blue sky with no paragliders accompanying the beautiful birds that migrated here with the beginning of spring.

The already-quiet life now felt extra-quiet, such that I suddenly understood what my school teachers meant when they said pin-drop silence. The green, life-filled mountains and valleys felt a little dead without people. Maybe that was a projection of how I felt inside then. This feeling stayed with me for a few days until I realized the beauty of this time — a time like never before, when we can just be . This indeed was a gift.

The mountains and valleys that I had begun perceiving as lifeless started looking more alive once I started reflecting on how precious this time is.

It helped me see more colours in myself as well as in the outside world. New leaves were growing in the trees, which turned the dark green, dusty, old-looking forest into a fresh, sun-bathed, light green one. Many new colours started coming in with each passing day, with the bright red burans (rhododendron) and pink kachnar (orchid/mountain ebony) flowers blossoming everywhere. Apricots and plums had started growing on the trees, which made me quite happy. Baby lungru (fiddlehead fern), fresh jungli pudhina (wild mint), and many more wild greens layered the forest floor with different shades of green. Colourful berries like the reddish-purple kaafal (box myrtle/bayberry) and golden-yellow hisalu (Himalayan raspberry) were also popping, for the villagers, animals and birds to enjoy. 

The same colours reflected inside me, too. The colours of gratitude, pain, happiness, suffering, togetherness, isolation and faith all grew stronger, and it all made so much sense. It helped me reflect on the transition we all are going through right now, as individuals, as communities, as a species, and the future of our world. These reflections on the inner and outer world also started blurring the lines between them and made me question what I understand by ‘me’ and ‘outside me’, as the reflection was telling me something that was at once so obvious yet not so much.

These reflections also led me to understand that when our life is stripped back to basics, we all share the same basic needs regardless of one’s wealth, power, or privilege : Food and shelter become the most important tangible requirements while emotional well-being is a fundamental (and sometimes-elusive) intangible need.

The Himalayan village life — with its luxury of blue skies, green forest, and air so fresh that you experience your lungs cheering up — can look quite comfortable and dreamlike from afar, but the reality sometimes speaks otherwise. Unlike our highly market-driven urban world, where we rely entirely on the larger economic system for our basic necessities (and even try to find much of our happiness  in consumerism), life in the rural Himalayas, despite changing rapidly, still retains a more local scale where survival depends mostly on strong connections to oneself, to one’s family and friends, and to the natural world. These village communities have practiced and mastered this way of life, though for the financially poor this lifestyle comes with never-ending work, which is truly back-breaking.

The life of a farmer (the default occupation in these villages) is constant work. You plant your crops and must take care of them until harvest. You spend days shooing off wild animals from your farm and then stay up at night to keep an eye on the fields, as you depend on what you grow. And doing all this does not mean your job is done, because all your hard work can be undone in a flash by unseasonal weather. Just last month, a hailstorm struck our village and, in one short hour, all the crops, fruits, and wild berries that everyone was counting on were lost. The pain that farming families must endure in such times is truly heartbreaking, and farmers must face such uncertainty every single season. But these experiences also tend to make them strong-hearted, and soon they are back on their farms, working even harder. This time, though, the hailstorm and its after-effects were quite different for the villagers.

It surely did break their hearts, but it also gave them a chance to reconnect with themselves and others.

The farmers who had started depending on the market for some fruits and vegetables decided to get back to the forests and forage more.

The hike in food prices during the lockdown, as well as having more hands for the work because everyone was at home, helped them relive their childhood memories. In this way, 'social distancing' led to more social connection despite the physical distance.

Many of us right now are staying in isolation but connected through calls, texts and other virtual means. The villagers here take regular morning walks to one another’s  courtyards to check on everyone. All these means contribute to a sense of togetherness for all of us, and that’s something that our world really needs right now. In this way, the sense of interconnectedness that was lost somewhere — even though we all share the same sky, breathe the same air, and drink the same water — is felt once again in our lives.  Reading about people helping people and our animal friends, with selfless kindness, animals reclaiming their habitats, and parts of the earth healing, helps me ground the recognition of our interconnectedness even more strongly than before.

The isolation has also provided a precious opportunity to practice greater self-reflection, and to question many things. One of my questions has been this: Despite the hardships of this lockdown, is it not a great learning opportunity for us all? When our lives are less cluttered and we aren't overwhelmed by our daily routine, we have time to stop, breathe and rethink. This is the time when we can reflect on ourselves, our choices and actions, our thoughts, and our future — an uncertain space and time, which is now open to evolution in whatever new directions we might choose. This is the time when all of us can adapt to changes, and maybe even create a better future than before — a future where maybe patience, kindness and compassion will become our new normal. A future where we more easily find joy in our lives. A future where we appreciate more and complain less. A future where we choose to bring light into times of darkness.

I imagine a future in which we do less planning and more living, when we enjoy warmth of the sun with the breeze in our hair while sharing a beautiful breakfast with bees around the flowers, or notice the fresh dewdrops on a fallen autumn leaf slide slowly down to be part of the earth once again, or observe the little plant in your window grow as you sing to it. A future where ‘we’ become more important than ‘me’. A future where we care for those who are less fortunate, and share what is common ground, with a nation, with the world. A future where we get back to the basics of life and understand that no one is more powerful than nature.

If and when we as a society reflect on these things, there will come a greater wisdom — wisdom that can help us learn a lot about ourselves and the world we want to create — and that is what will help us grow and evolve.

We as a species are in a very interesting time, when (whether one sees it this way or not) the whole world is together in the experience of fighting one common enemy. We are feeling such strong emotions and navigating unfamiliar experiences. Different people are processing it differently. Many people are frustrated and anxious, but many are feeling relaxed and inspired. The positivity born of recognizing our inner strengths has led to acts of heroism, humanity and humility.

Something that has bought me peace is discovering the strength I have within myself. I'm scared, yet I feel stronger than before. I am calm and have accepted the situation, and even though the waves of the unpredictable future hit me, I'm confident that our resilience and determination will transform us all into something even more beautiful, which we’ll see if we’re looking for it.

Neale Donald Walsch said that every human thought and action is based in either love or fear.

We are all experiencing the impacts of fear globally. This understandable fear gives rise to panic, insecurity, and irrational thinking and actions. But imagine how different our world might look if our actions come increasingly from a place of love. By choosing between love and fear, we choose what future we create. The fearful choice would be to drag the lifeless past into the future by carrying on with the products of our fears— our prejudice, hatred, and greed, and our dead rivers, melting glaciers and grey skies. A more loving choice would be to walk lightly with great care and compassion, with little luggage, ready to imagine a new world, and ready to fight for it.

 This time is our portal between the two worlds: one that we're coming from, and another that we'll step into. This is an opportunity for us to reimagine what we can be. The future can look frightening and scary, and seeing the changes in the world right now can be painful, but let's approach it with love.

In this live video teaching, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche helps you learn how to open yourself to the beneficial qualities of the natural elements. The ancient Bön teachings of soul retrieval place much emphasis on the sacredness of nature. The longer you spend in relationship with the elements of nature — earth, water, fire, air, space — the more you can feel their essence coming alive in you and nourishing your soul.

This is Part 3 of a four-part series by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche on Cultivating a Sacred Relationship with Nature.

Part 1: Opening Your Heart with Gratitude / Q&A Session
Part 2: Cultivating Compassion for Our Natural World
Part 3: Retrieving the Elemental Essences from Nature
Part 4: Opening to a Deeper Wisdom

These teachings are based on Chapter 2 of The True Source of Healing: How the Ancient Tibetan Practice of Soul Retrieval Can Transform and Enrich Your Life, by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

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Video Length : 46 minutes

Subtitles available in: Deutsch, English, Español, Français, Indonesia, Italiano, Polski, Português, Tiếng Việt, Türkçe, Монгол, Русский, བོད་ཡིག་, 简体中文, 繁體中文, 日本語, हिन्दी, العربية فارسی پنجابی اُردو

To learn more about Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and his teachings , please visit Cybersangha at https://cybersangha.net and Ligmincha International at https://ligmincha.org

In this video, Mingyur Rinpoche explains the essence of meditation and describes some common misunderstandings about practicing meditation. He also shares some tips for bringing meditation into our day-to-day lives. What is your reaction to Mingyur Rinpoche’s statement that you don’t have to be calm and peaceful in order to meditate?

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Video Length: 2:40 minutes

Closed caption subtitles available on youtube in Czech, Bulgarian, Germany, English, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Nepali, Portuguese, Russian, and Chinese.

To learn more about meditation or Mingyur Rinpoche and his teachings , please visit Tergar Meditation Community at https://tergar.org

NEW DELHI: On International Women’s Day of 2019, Didi Contractor, co-founding Professor Emeritus of the Internship in Vernacular Eco-Architecture at Dharmalaya Institute, was presented with the Nari Shakti Puraskar, India’s highest civilian honour recognising women who have made great contributions to India. The award was presented by the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind.

The Nari Shakti Puraskar was established in 1999 to recognise the contributions of women and of organisations supporting women’s empowerment.

The award, which carries a cash prize of Rs 1,00,000, was conferred upon Didi in recognition of her extraordinary contributions to the field of ecologically sensitive architecture. The award was also given to 43 other women this year.

Didi began collaborating with Dharmalaya Institute in 2009, first by contributing the architectural design for the main building of the Dharmalaya Institute’s Himalayan campus, and then later through a three-year partnership to develop the Internship in Vernacular Eco-Architecture. 

The video of the award ceremony can be seen on the President of India’s YouTube channel (link). Didi is called to receive the award at approximately four minutes and thirty seconds into the video.

Video 1 - What is the Three Pill Meditation?

Video 2 - Rinpoche guiding the Practice

Video Length: 5 minutes

Subtitles available in: Deutsch, English, Español, Français, Indonesia, Italiano, Polski, Português, Tiếng Việt, Türkçe, Монгол, Русский, བོད་ཡིག་, 简体中文, 繁體中文, 日本語, हिन्दी, العربية فارسی پنجابی اُردو

Video Length: 6 minutes

A useful video to listen to while practicing. This recording is part of a free, self-paced course in soul retrieval. It includes free webcasts to a discussion forum, MP3 audio recordings, and downloadable print materials.

Learn about The Three Precious Pills and much more in Rinpoche's book Spontaneous Creativity: Meditations for Manifesting Your Positive Qualities

Find out more about Rinpoche's free self-paced course The True Source of Healing (12-Part Course) or listen to each session individually here.

To learn more about Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and his teachings , please visit Cybersangha at https://cybersangha.net and Ligmincha International at https://ligmincha.org

After the invigorating monsoon season, autumn is a natural time for reflective engagement as we return outdoors to work with the earth. 

Dharmalaya Institute’s autumn 2018 programme season began with a five-day silent meditation retreat, led by mindfulness trainer Ellen van Iersel, which set a contemplative tone. We then welcomed a lovely new group to embark on a nine-day Compassionate Living Intensive workshop-retreat, in which we explored a diverse range of possibilities for reducing our harm footprint and expanding our help footprint.

And, of course, after all this activity we had worked up an appetite, and everyone enjoyed preparing our delicious, healthy, plant-based meals together on our food-themed Sunday, while discussing food our relationships with it.

It’s such a joy to meet kindred spirits from across India and around the world who make the journey to Dharmalaya Institute because they care, because they want to learn ways to put compassion into action in our world — at a time when our world has never needed it more.

Would you like to join us? Head over to our schedule of Upcoming Events and take your pick!

Mingyur Rinpoche gives a profound yet lighthearted talk at the London School of Economics Old Theatre in the UK.

Rinpoche talks about his own path of learning meditation as well as going beyond mindfulness as we take our meditation practice off the cushion and into our world.

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Video Length: 1hr 45 minutes

To learn more about meditation or Mingyur Rinpoche and his teachings, please visit Tergar Meditation Community at Tergar.org

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]]>How to Make Chappalsnatural buildingstoriesDharmalaya InstituteSun, 14 Jan 2018 07:00:00 +0000https://dharmalaya.in/articles/2018/beginnings-dharmalaya-engages-didi-contractor5edb842961cf3018ab910c06:5f0c19fe7185980e1918c13c:5f44324c1961db7868784f76

Reflecting on the birth of Dharmalaya Institute, from the early design conversations between Dharmalaya cofounder Mark Moore and award-winning eco-architect Didi Contractor, and the epic volunteer-driven adventure to bring Didi’s inspiring design Dharmalaya’s first building to life.

Mark Moore and Didi Contractor first met as friends in the 1990s, but it was in 2008 that they began discussing Mark’s vision for Dharmalaya Institute and Didi generously volunteered to design the main building and to help train and guide Dharmalaya’s team of artisans. They had several in-depth conversations over a period of weeks. In these probing conversations, Didi sought to gain deep understanding of the kinds of activities that would be taking place at the institute to be built.

Didi was particularly interested in what those experiences would feel like, so that she could design a space that supported the programmes not only physically but also emotionally and spiritually. 

Those conversations culminated in a visit Mark made to Didi at her home, in which he shared with Didi a utilitarian conceptual sketch just to give her a more practical sense of space requirements and to serve as a visual aid for conversation.

After Didi had heard all she needed in order to understand the vision for the Institute, she sent Mark home and, as Didi tells the story, she dropped the thoughts from her mind, to allow it to rest with a blank canvas, and went to bed.

During the night, the design for the building began to take shape in Didi’s dreams, and she awoke before dawn to begin sketching what she had seen. Before 6:00am, she messaged Mark saying, ‘I’ve got it! Come see!’

Mark rushed back to Didi’s house to meet her and was ecstatic to see her sketches, awestruck by the depth of Didi’s sensitivity that allowed her to connect so deeply with the intentions that Mark and Dharmalaya’s other cofounders had for the Institute.

Mark was particularly inspired by the way Didi had envisioned the movement of light through the building during different phases of the day, and how that would affect the feeling in the space.

Construction begins

We broke ground in 2010, under Didi’s watchful eye, and with the . After months of discussion (both practical and philosophical) and multiple site visits to observe the place and the flows of nature here, Didi designed our main building to meet the Institute’s needs while also demonstrating possibilities for sensitive modernization of the local vernacular architecture, preserving the best of the tradition while also making a few carefully considered modifications to address its shortcomings, including seismic reinforcement, larger windows and skylights for more natural light, and other such improvements.

From the start, we put our commitment to experiential education into practice by making the entire construction process an opportunity for learning and vocational training. We hired local villagers to join the construction team and introduced them to new techniques, expanding their skill sets and thereby enhancing their employability. We welcomed volunteers to learn Didi’s methods of natural construction by working alongside skilled artisans trained by Didi. And this led to the establishment of the Internship in Vernacular Eco-Architecture, which Didi and Mark developed and ran together.

This was a perfect beginning to the ever-evolving work-in-progress that is Dharmalaya Institute’s eco-campus.

Didi Contractor, a celebrated earthen architect and co-founding Professor Emeritus of the Internship in Vernacular Eco-Architecture at Dharmalaya Institute, was honoured with WADe Asia’s Lifetime Achievement Award for her work in natural building in the Himalayas, which has inspired countless architects in India and beyond. 

WADe [World Women in Art, Architecture, and Design] is an international organization recognizing, advancing and celebrating the work of women in art, architecture, and design internationally. Its 2017 conference in India attracted over 700 creatives from across the continent. 

The Lifetime Achievement award was presented to Didi Contractor, now 88 years of age, by award-winning Bollywood actress Bhagyashree. Didi, as she is known affectionately by all, received a standing ovation from the audience.

Reflecting later on the programme, Tanvi Jain, a young architect from CEPT University (formerly the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology), said, ‘For a young architect such as me, hearing architects of the likes of Didi Contractor was truly inspirational’.

Didi began collaborating with Dharmalaya Institute in 2009, first by contributing the architectural design for the main building of the Dharmalaya Institute’s Himalayan campus, and then later through ongoing collaborations to develop the Internship in Vernacular Eco-Architecture. 

Both Didi and the Dharmalaya leadership are very pleased that participation in the internship has been approximately 68% female, empowering a new generation of women as ecologically sensitive architects and compassionately engaged humans.

Though Didi has retired from her position on the faculty of the Internship of Vernacular Eco-Architecture at Dharmalaya Institute, her life, work, and wisdom continue to inspire and guide the faculty, artisans, students and interns of the Institute.