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News from Eva Wong's Most Recent Visit Given the large number of people entering the Boston Shambhala Center's doors every day Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche has encouraged the community to work with feng shui master Eva Wong on finding a space in Boston that would allow us to continue to grow for many years to come. We are very much in the exploratory phase of a potential move but would like to share the transcript of Eva Wong's most recent visit in the vein of transparency.
May 19, 2007 Boston drive around with Eva Wong and Gina Stick Carolyn Krusinski- driver John Bailes- navigator David Williams- recording
EW—Alright. OK. So we’re talking about Cambridge and Boston as two alternate sights for the Shambhala Center. Each of them are going to be manifesting in a different way for the center situated in either of those spaces. First of all if you have it in Cambridge…Cambridge is much more inward looking because it’s looking at the Charles River; whereas Boston has an outward orientation towards the harbor and therefore a connection to the ocean giving more an expansive approach. In Cambridge the tendency, if you were to have a center there, the tendency of the center is going to become a little bit more in-group and cliquish and less able to magnetize people from the surrounding areas. So, for example, it would find it more difficult to get people to come in from say Lexington, Medford, Concord or even Dedham and even Somerville. Also because of its more academic, intellectual dralas associated with that you’re going to tend to be a little bit academic, scholarly, and more mind oriented. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. In Boston (a center location in Boston) you tend to be a little bit more worldly. I think Boston Shambhala Center’s orientation needs to be more worldly wisdom and a little bit more connected with the ocean and going overseas, especially given that Boston and NY and seaboard Shambhala Centers are jump-off points in connecting with Europe. I think Boston is critical in supporting the European centers especially the one in Ireland. There’s always been a very close connection between Boston center, and the Irish centers. Whereas I think in Cambridge it tends.. it’s going to be much more toward..you would be reinforcing each others views rather than taking in views from other cultures and subcultures…would be less ethnic. I mean I think the best way to describe it would be you would have a WASP-ish setup-Shambhala WASP-ish (if in Cambridge) or you would be able to absorb streams of influence from other cultures which Boston can get very rich in. So that would be the characteristics, general characteristics of the centers.
So we’re looking at areas within Boston. One thing about the South End and Back Bay is that they are quite connected to the other communities and neighborhoods in Boston, whereas the convention Center and the Waterfront are cut off; they are a pocket. So what you see is an area that may look very vibrant in and of its own, but it would be very difficult to get people to go in there because it’s what is called a touristy trend zipp?? place. If you look at the map it’s obvious..Mass Pike cuts it and isolates it. It’s too isolated and away from Boston. If you look at the map the Seaport area is looking away from Boston rather than looking towards the communities of Boston. We’re in Back Bay. Back Bay has the feel of neighborhood that is still up and coming; it’s still transforming. GS- I like the feel here,not too residential (has) institutional power. Back Bay has a lot of promise. EW- Well Shambhala Publications is near here. And then of course Christian Science is here. The South End is going to be..it’s a very neighborhood type of place so if you’re in the South End you will tend to be..shape yourself more like a neighborhood type of center, whereas I think Back Bay allows you to radiate more to be more as Gina says you will be an institution rather than just a special interest group. I think (in the) South End you would end up taking on the characteristics of a special interest group whereas here you’d radiate better in Back Bay. Back Bay is more international, bigger. This is a very vibrant area and obviously of course the real estate is going to be expensive, however, you could be still on the outskirts of this area. I would recommend instead of going towards more the business side if you were to look here… go more towards the brownstone side. People buy up these old buildings, renovate them and they become instantly million dollar properties. GS- If you wind up in a more residential area, a free standing building that has more embassy, stately presence where it stands out in the neighborhood… EW- That would be good. Yes, you, will. We’re looking at a green building on a corner, but something on the corner that gives you exposure; that would be good. Then of course the next, if you want to be even better is you get a stand alone building and you take over the entire building, which is what the people in Vienna did. So they have a three level building. So they have sort of a Shambhala Café downstairs, the social area. They give lots of public programs there, so it’s an outer.. Then they have administrators in the second floor and the shrine rooms on the top. GS- It’s more embassy-like. EW- Go into more a little the residential zone. GS- If you did it here… you’d be a floor with a lot of other people. It’s equally powerful if you have your own building. You stand alone; stand out. Those also have a lot of elegance sometimes. EW- Yeah, they do. I think that if you look at and have seen some very beautiful practice centers of other spiritual traditions that convert three levels… The Zen Center in Toronto. It’s an absolutely gorgeous space. CK- Up and down Marlborough. (Marlborough and Dartmouth.. area of 53 Marlborough Street) EW- Like something like these- these buildings. If you are able to design your opening entrance then it will stand out. You have to deal with zone problems too if indeed you can have…Like this one- obviously a commercial building- they did it different; they’re standing out. (now) These don’t have horizon. (Marlborough and Berkley St) You don’t want to be on Storrow Drive anyway because it’s an expressway. Looking on this side (south of Storrow drive) is fine, but you don’t want to be straight up against Storrrow Drive. Now this on the other side of Beacon, that’s the side away from Storrow Drive. These are fine, not a problem. They open up to sky; they are pretty good on sky energy. Again you have to check what the zoning is like. GS- Is there interest in co-housing in Boston? JB- Cambridge is more co-housing. EW- …that suits Boston completely because of the scholastic and intellectual dralas around here this would be a study place and destination… Urban campus with a Mipham Academy. GS- Some of these things aren’t needed but enhancements if they could help financially if you found a building. EW- for businesses GS- or for housing (Driving close to Boston University) EW- Too big…cut by railroad…(the MBTA) We’re crossing the BU bridge. If we have time on the way back we can visit the South End. Actually, this is getting close to where Jonathon Green lives. Until you hit Central Square, then it starts to open up. Inman Square and that area…is very neighborhood dependent. Kendall Square..this is very neighborhood specific. I think you will be buried by MIT if you are here because they are the dominant force. Hi -tech, bio-research..you don’t want to be buried by an institution that is too big. If you were by Harvard Square, you’d be buried by Harvard. If you were near BU you’d be buried by them. The overwhelming dominance of a certain type of activity can swamp us. We need to be in an area where it’s very diverse, where everybody quote has a good chance of doing uniquely what they do instead of being buried by a corporate university. JB- ..building is Frank Gehry..you’ll see it. EW- It looks pretty bad. Look at that. It’s so bad. It’s so bad. GS- He’s so popular. He’s the latest genius. ..deconstructionist. EW- Well, whatever name it is it looks bad. That’s enough. JB- what they do in there is synthetic biology. EW- Equally scary. GS- This is inhuman. EW- University hi-tech. You will be buried by them and swamped by them. GS-It’s a zone separated by the fabric of Boston. It’s dead at night. JB- residential and retail commercial. Genzyme won awards for sustainability (for the building) EW- It looks pretty bad- You can have a sustainable building and be very destructive. None of these have the yun factor. These buildings are OK but in the wrong neighborhoods. (close to Science Museum) Go away from the Science Museum because going in that direction is going into bland land. Good land, bad land, bland land. Another kind of building to consider is are defunct bank buildings. Bank buildings have a squat??? type. That’s very elegant. Now this has some sky energy. JB- Inman Square GS- patchwork-is it a transitional area? EW- decaying area. It’s not corporate university. You would still have that very cliquish…would enrich itself rather than look outside. GS- may be more innovative… EW--Yes it’s innovative, but innovation within. Sometimes when you go out you need less innovative. This would have center enriching each other and attracting same kind of people. In Boston you have a chance of attracting more diverse group of people. The dam is very destructive to the Charles River drala system. ( Longfellow Bridge area?) These are the duck vehicles. Have you ever seen them? They’re amphibious. They go into the river. CK- Tony, Charles Street. The Brahmin Back Bay, Beacon Hill spot. EW- Very historic. This is very difficult to get into in all aspects. It’s very closed-in area. And very exclusive, so if you do end up having something here you’d be excluding people. It’s not cut-off- they’re very narrow. Beacon Hill is very, very exclusive. We’re heading to open area. Boston Gardens. Expensive, prime. Newbury Street is like…hum.m.m. But Wisdom Pubs is on Newbury St. They got a good spot. The spaces are small. What are you gonna do? Hey lots of possibilities. GS- First floor of charter school looks vacant. Entering South End—Tremont and East Berkeley EW- Once again. I don’t think we want bohemian. I think those days are over. Boston Ballet here. That’s a nice building. (19 Clarendon Street) It’s such an elegance to it. Cambridge is much more bohemian. It still needs taming. I think that we’ve tamed. We’re not at the stage of taming anymore. We want to be at the stage of at least enriching if not magnetizing. Taming has to do with dignity. I think we’ve got dignity. Enriching has to do with elegance. We need to work on that. Opulence has to do with magnetizing. Those three energies… So I think we should..we’re at the elegance stage. I think South End has that. Cambridge doesn’t have that because it’s too mixed and still too bohemian. The scale here suits your development at this point. Even if you can get into a side street of South End it would work. The nature of parking is that you have to get to the outskirts to get your parking. This looks like an old church. Let’s take a look. Yeah. (Concord Baptist Church- 190 Warren Street) So far this (area) is still very good. I’ll tell you where the boundary is when we get to it. Yes a brownstone of this nature (would work) and you have a three level center. Mass Ave is a barrier because it’s such a big street. WE should go a bit further and I’ll tell you to see where it really drops off. A lot of what today is an educational experience for all of you is to see where it drops off. It’s just dropping off now. (Columbus and Camden street??) The thing is to see where it absolutely won’t work. (heading towards back side of Northeastern University) Again that’s another big educational institution; you could be swamped by them. We’ve gotten there. This is
Northeastern land. There’s plenty of parking here. We’re still off the drala map. This is a wasteland. GS-Well it doesn’t have character. No yun. EW- We’re still in the low zone. We’re not back up. Beginning to climb up. That’s good . You guys are learning. You’re picking up the lungta of the neighborhoods. That’s a dignified building. This is transitional and has a lot of promise. You don’t want to be next to a cemetery, but if you are at least 2-3 blocks from it it’s alright. This depends on how they renovate it. You need to see the front. ( Franklin Square …Washington and E. Newton Street) This one is lha- something like this one.. a more unique building. So you could occupy one floor and still be able to be workable. Stone has got power. JB- an area of community gardens. EW- Well this is pretty problematic. The lungta is low even if it is a community gardens- squatters, shack energy. The community gardens where Charlie is- oh those are beautiful. Small banks…I’d be very nervous about those. This needs a lot of work- that is definitely a fixer-upper. (Waltham Street….left on Washington Street --1234 Washington Street) So you’d have to build up a huge project. Yes head back because of the Werma feast. We don’t want to hold that up. That’s nice; I like that building. I like those buildings ( close to 553 Tremont Street) JB- an old church… GS- It’s pretty hard to convert a Christian space. EW- Very very hard. You’d have to spend a lot of energy transforming it. But why spend all that energy when you can get a space that you don’t have to transform and you spend that same energy enriching…very practical. (Some comment about the previous church space in Newton) EW- You weren’t strong enough to occupy that other one. You may be able to do it now. (in the symphony plaza west area) That’s the Shambhala Publications building. It’s all occupied. Well, the Symphony Hall and the Berklee School of Music is not too far from here. Christian Science Monitor and their publications are also there. Eleven Fenway, twenty two. I took classes at the NE Conservatory of Music … full transcript not posted
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