Dharma Centre Memories from the Sixties/Early Seventies

As I reminisce on the latter sixties when the Kinmount Dharma Centre history began, my recall is just a sketch containing fragments, bits and pieces culled from my memory bank along with the help of a few friends recollections mixed in who were there at the same time.

Some of the initial people involved in establishing the property were as follows: Ted and Marina Bieler, Ivo Bishof, Helga, Peter and Rose (Caulder) Dederichs, Catherine Boudreau, Brian Bamford, Morley Chalmers, Ann Marshall, Francie Downing, Jeff Olsen and Douglas Moram. My apologies for anyone I may have left out of the equation. To the best of my knowledge Anne Jane Grieve was a key ally to the Bikkhu, who scoured the area with a Realtor in hunting down and securing the Kinmount property.  Barry Golden and Sonam were the messengers relaying information to the Bhikkhu as events unfurled. He was in England when the property was discovered at this time. Please refer to Lama Sonam’s ”deer story.”

We were a diverse group (to say the least!) of dedicated people eager to work together on a journey to “unfold”; young and old were drawn together through the Bikkhu’s insatiable quest and magnetism towards pointing the way to Liberation. Meditation practice was key. It was not long after the Bikkhu’s initial talks held at Dr. Branard’s house that this unique property was established via his enterprising Vision. The first meditation retreat on property began in mid-summer of 1966. We brought our own pop-up tents as meditation and sleeping stations, as the existing buildings were unfit to use.

The Main House was barren of floors, both upstairs and down. There was something quite beautiful in seeing tall, mature grasses filling the entire kitchen as a floor. The house had obviously been derelict for quite some time as was true for the Hill House and a cluster of mink sheds. Many issues needed to be addressed to clean up the grounds, keeping an eye on aesthetics, as stated in a report by Ian Lang (Dharma Notes 1970) who took on the role of property manager at some point. A series of wooden mink huts were sprawled across the lawns towards the now Tea House and Bathhouse as the property had been used as a business to farm mink pelts. The huts were long and narrow, providing practically perfect meditation huts. Because of their length we installed a wall at the halfway point in each building to provide two “meditation huts in one.” The length to these six buildings had a suitable narrow corridor between the mink cells on either side, to do a walking meditation in between sitting practice. The only drawback was there was no screening and the cracks in the wood were a welcome mat for mosquitoes to enter. Thus began reflection on the precepts!

A 1970’s “Building Report “ published by The Dharma Center of Canada and compiled by both Ian Langs and Morris Hackman can be found in the DCC Archives, should anyone choose to go into more detail. It is full of interesting information!

Thanks to donations for materials, the advice of a few who were skilled in construction and repair along with a lot of busy hands the buildings were brought back to livable conditions and the Temple, the Tara cabin and the Log house were established during 1967-68. Once the house had floors established, rotting wood in the basement  replaced and a flurry of other repairs completed, a basic kitchen was set up with a large wood stove to cook on. Another stove was purchased for the front room to keep the Property Managers and guests warm during the long winters. Jim and Daisy Bell, a young couple and their three children moved in as property managers. Fortunately Jim Bell was an avid outdoorsman and had brought enough wood in from the forest during the early 

summer of their arrival to keep the main house warm. The Minister of Natural Resources had assessed the quality of the forest and deemed that although no profit could be made from harvesting the timber for sale he assured us there was plenty of wood for maintaining a suitable life on the property.

Some say the Temple was originally planned to be built on top of the existing foundations of a barn. Eventually it was erected following a set of construction plans Ted Bieler located, provided by Weldwood Canada, a large international plywood and lumber producer. Their engineered plans detailed a complete building including reinforced concrete footings, concrete block basement walls and the open space main floor with its structural plywood gusseted timber portal frame structure. This portion of the building was amenable to being built by unskilled labour, an important consideration at the time.

Ivo Bishof oversaw the construction of the temple in 1967 while the first trip to India was launched. But that’s another story! 

The Beaver Dam cabin was built by Helga Deitrich and her family. The Tara cabin was designed by Ted Bieler and constructed with the help of many, including Jeff Olsen (Lama Lodro) and Brian Bamford. Sonam Gyatso initiated and laid the foundations for the Mahakala Cabin (the Log Cabin) with Irwin Burns as his advisor. It was built from wood harvested from the surrounding forrest. Ted Bieler built his own cabin single handedly on the property before the temple went up.

Saddhaloka, a German monk, was invited to live at the property soon after the main house was made livable. A handful of students including myself, joined in to reside at the centre that winter as well.  I recall a notable experience during that winter when one evening as I was loading the cookstove with wood to make supper, I discovered a colony of ants living in one of the logs destined for the fire. Saddhaokha stepped in with a large cardboard box and placed the log into it. This colony of ants served as an important meditation tool over the winter to understanding the precepts. It certainly was a pivotal moment for me towards understanding more deeply the power and interconnectivity of all life. Upon Saddhaloka’s departure the Bhikkhu made arrangements for him to travel to Thailand with Douglas Moram, (an early student of the Bikkhu’s,) for further studies. Doug became ordained as Joti Dharma once there.

That’s about all I can currently share about the Dharma Centre’s somewhat wild and crazy  beginnings! The Bhikkhu used to say his follower’s were his  experiment. My main role during this time was as “cook” and occasional construction helper. I feel blessed to have been part of the Bikkhu’s “vision” with this sacred property. As Ted has pointed out, the Bhikkhu was anxious that the property be developed so he could get on with his teachings.

May All Beings Reach the Bliss of Liberation, each through their own unique journey!

Heather Rigby (Ravalokha)
hrigby5@icloud.com

*The 1970’s “Building Report” published by The Dharma Center of Canada was compiled by Ian Langs and Morris Hackman. It can be found in the DCC Archives.