In the tradition of our precious Spiritual Director Lama Zopa Rinpoche we work not to just benefit sentient beings in this life, but also through purification and dharma imprints to prepare them for beneficial future rebirths. One one of achieving this goal is to expose them to incredibly powerful mantras and holy objects.
A mantra is a series of syllables, most often in Sanskrit, that is the subject of recitation, meditation, or other spiritual practice. The term “mantra” means “mind protection,” because mantras function to protect the mind from ordinary impure appearances.
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The chosen mantras hand painted on our bee hives are aimed at being of maximum benefit to sentient beings to liberate them from the lower realms as advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. They include:​
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Lotus Pinnacle of Amoghapasha mantra - which purifies 1,00 eons of negative karma each time a bee passes under it.
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Milarepa mantra
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Namgyalma (Ushnishavijaya) mantra
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Tara mantra
Mantra is energy. It is always pure, and cannot be contaminated by negative thought processes. As mantra is not gross energy, it cannot be corrupted the way sensory phenomena are corrupted by our own minds. One can easily discover the power of mantra for oneself by embarking upon a meditational retreat.
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~
Lama Thubten Yeshe


Straw smoke is used to keep the bees busy when the hive is opened. Their antennae are covered with the smoke particles, and they then get busy cleaning them off.


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The European Dadant Hive
There are many hive designs throughout the world, and we are using a design of hive that is called the European Dadant. It was first designed by a French beekeeper, Charles Dadant, in 1863. It is now the most popular design in Europe because of its practical modular arrangement.
The bees greatly appreciate the air flow that the design gives, which allows the bees to easily regulate the internal temperature and humidity. The modular boxes give a beekeeper the ability to gauge and facilitate the development of the colony, and carry out inspections and health checks with minimal stress to the bees. The design also gives the capacity to completely separate the brood areas (where eggs are laid and the young are reared) from the areas that can be harvested for honey without disrupting the Queen’s activities.
The modular boxes have an open base and top that allow them to be stacked on top of one another and contain removable hanging frames on which the worker bees build their comb. Each hive can accommodate around 60,000 bees in a safe and comfortable habitat. Of course, the bees are free to leave at any time, but as long as they are provided with enough space through the modular boxes, they will happily stay for the colony's entire life.
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It is our collective and individual responsibility to to preserve and tend to the environment in which we all live.
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His Holiness XIV Dalai Lama