Government Relations
Approved! Renovation work begins

After extensive consultations with county, town and village leaders, this February we have received official approval to begin renovations on the Pear Orchard (Ci Yin An) temple. When completed at the end of 2014, the temple will include a visitor’s center, vegetarian restaurant meditatiin rooms, classroom and activity space and a tea garden. Ginkgo project … [Read more…]
Negotiating with local government

In this photo is Mayor Zhang on the left facing me, with a village leader and other township officials in the doorway of the main hall. Note the notices posted everywhere and the skerret (a popular local tuber) drying on the terrace. When I first visited the temple, this area was occupied by old men … [Read more…]
The Jianchuan County Heritage Bureau reviews our proposal
Now that we have submitted out proposal to the Heritage Bureau, we needed to take the officials on a tour to explain where we want to make changes, and there are a lot. We’re upgrading electric, adding windows, skylights and removing cheaply constructed recent additions and adding a public toilet. The response from Jianchuan Heritage … [Read more…]