(When the Buddha died, his followers took his cremated remains and some objects used by him during his life time, and placed them in commemorative monuments called Stupas. These monuments were not merely reliquary shrines, but were considered to embody the very body of the Buddha himself. Thus they localized in time and space, all the pervading reality of the enlightened mind, manifested by Shakyamuni during his life time. For this reason, stupas have always been regarded with great devotion by Buddhists.)
Khang-Tsag Chorten (Stacked House Stupa) was erected in Santa Fe through the inspiration and protection of His Holiness Jigdral Yeshe Dorje Dudjom Rinpoche, Supreme Lama of the Nyingmapa Lineage, in remembrance of this journey to the United States in 1972; the formalities of construction were under the direct supervision of the Ven. Drodrup Chen Rinpoche of the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, who performed the consecration on the new moon of October 1973; it was dedicated to the welfare and happiness of all sentient beings and ceremonially blessed by the Ven. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in April 1974.
Topes, Pagodas, Stupas, and Chortens. Elaborated reliquaries peculiar to Buddhist tradition. Generally circumambulated clockwise. Activity principal varies with the chorten, this one designed for the pacification of all hostility. External architecture used 7 tons of cement, stone and concrete block. Aligned in the four cardinal directions, the interior orientation is to the South. Site was purified, aligned, excavated. Triangular pit excavated within the square. Sword into the earth at bottom. Pit ceremonially filled with five elements, capped with a flagstone incised with crossed Vajras.
At next level a large clay crock in a wooden box containing a seed offering: white rice from Darjeeling, brown rice, wild rice, winter wheat, beans, oats, sesame, squash seed, sunflowered seed, poppy, cardamon, barley, rye, gramma grass, blue corn from Hopi, yellow corn from altar of the sacred cave at So Pema, Rewaisar, India. At next level is mandala of Samantabhadra with traditional offerings: barley flour cones, butter lamps, drinking water, washing water, flowers, incense, perfume and food. Also salt, eagle feathers, old pueblo shards, arrowheads, sacred cactus, ceremonial drum, gold, silver, iron, copper, tin, bronze, brass, meteorite fragments, amrita, saffron, cinnamon, cloves, read and white ginseng, sandalwood, cretaceous fossils, marble fragment from the Acropolis, glass from the bottom of a local glassblower's kiln, small emerald, diamond, natural pearl, lapis lazuli, crystal, Arizonan and Tibetan turquoise, coral, amber, and obsidian from local mountain. All sealed in wooden box, wrapped in red silk and sewn with threads of the five colors.
Next level is tall square box with cedar pole in center to touch the earth through a hole in bottom. Wrapped clockwise around the pole 300,000 images of the Lotus Born Padmasambhava and 1,100,000 written repetitions of the Mahamantra Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padme Siddhi Hum. This covered with protective wrapping and fitted with red silk sleeve and tied up in ascending sprial of five ribbons: blue, white, red, yellow, green, so that only tip of cedar pole protruded at top. Hanging on inside of box are small clay images, vajra & bell, conglomerate of earths collected by various lamas during fifty years of pilgrimages, more rice and incense, texts of Hridaya Prajnaparamita Sutra, Vajrcheddika Sutra, Lankavatara Sutra (English), Guhyasamaja Tantra (Sanscrit), Hevajra Tantra (Tibetan), Sadhana of Mandarava, guru Rinpoche (Tibetan, gold ink on black leather paper), Dudjom Rinpoche's History of Buddhism. Remaining space packed with boughs of Pinon, Juniper, Cedar and Spruce. Box sealed and only tip of cedar pole emerging.
Next (top) level: specially carved wood rod, four sided with a pyramidal peak and painted red affixed to cedar post. On south side of rod the Tibetan letters Om Ah Hum So Ha were painted in gold ink from top to bottom. Various small relics were wrapped in silk and tied to each of the letters. A tiny bone relic attributed to Kasyapa is tied to the syllable AH. Atoms from a Buddha Tooth Relic are attached to the syllable OM, which is approximately at the height of a person's forehead. The entire rod was then wrapped many times in red silk and sewn tight with the threads of five colors and spiralled with silk ribbons in the five colors and knotted at the very tip. A small silver Buddha displaying Dharmacakra Mudra was placed at the foot of the staff. The whole in a very narrow tall box which was then sealed. Outside the box, imbedded in the cement around its topmost point is a corona of turquoises and eagle feathers. The dement work and modelling are completed and the outside walls plastered smooth. A bronze finial in the shape of a bell, surmounted by a lotus, surmounted by a vase, surmounted by a flaming jewel, was placed at the crest of the Chorten.
The above text and illustration are reproduced from a xerox of a page from CoEvolution Quarterly, the date of the issue unknown.