This
floor plan of the main floor shows the 20 individual rooms,
two retreat masters' rooms, bathrooms, and a shrine room to
hold 30 persons. Participants will come together to do morning
and evening prayers and attend occasional teachings in the
shrine room. They will also meet in the dining room for meals
and be able to contact their families in emergencies in the
office or conference room. Rinpoche has said that the center
will be open for individuals to do retreats of different practices
and for varying lengths of time. Since most participants will
be lay persons, he did not see the need for rigid separation
of male and female retreatants in the dining and shrine room
and that retreatants could contact the outside world in emergencies.
The retreat center is designed, however, so that a retreatant
could do a three-year retreat at Vajra Vidya if he or she
were inclined to do so. At present Vajra Vidya has $141,000
in actual funds and pledges. The entire building will be built
as shown if the full amount of about $ 750,000 can be raised.
Thrangu Rinpoche would like to have retreat center open and
operating very soon. He has therefore suggested a plan to
design and construct the retreat center in phases.
PHASE
ONE (estimated cost $ 350,000)
If the full amount is not raised, then phase one would be
built which comprises the north wing with kitchen, dining,
laundry, and male and female bathroom facilities in the basement.
The space that has the upstairs bathrooms may be used as a
temporary shrine room. If approximately $ 200,000 can be raised
before April of 2003, then construction would begin on phase
one and by the end of 2003 there would be a fully functioning
retreat center with ten rooms for retreatants.
PHASE
ONE AND TWO (estimated cost $ 500,000)
It would be the most desirable to begin with phase two consisting
of building the north wing and the Shrine Room. If about $
350,000 can be raised then the North wing and the shrine room
would be built. This would allow for some bathrooms to be
upstairs and the beginning of the Library of Ancient Wisdom
below the shrine room.
PHASE
THREE
This would obviously be building the North Wing, Shrine Room,
Library, and the South Wing and also doing extensive landscaping
on the outside. Hopefully, there will be vegetable gardens
and other landscaping to make the outside as beautiful as
the inside of the building. Also if a grant is obtained, solar
voltaic panels will also be added so that the retreat center
will be as self-sustainable as possible. By making the retreat
very efficient, the daily cost of doing a retreat at Vajra
Vidya can be kept down. There has been information gathered
from retreatants from other centers on what is important to
someone doing a retreat for a long time. The architect is
experienced in designing sacred spaces and a lot of thought
is going into the design of the rooms themselves as well as
their integration with the other spaces.
How
to Donate and to Volunteer Services
Vajra Vidya is a nonprofit corporation under the Namo Buddha
Seminar which is a 501(c)(3) corporation so all donations
are tax deductible. Vajra Vidya is directed by a five member
board and has legal council and a chief financial officer.
All persons working for Vajra Vidya do not receive a salary
and all funds raised will go directly to the building of the
Vajra Vidya Retreat Center with no overhead costs. If you
would like to volunteer services or expertise, please feel
free to contact us. If you would like to help in the fundraising
for this valuable project, we have a ten-minute video, a brochure,
and description of the project which we can send to you which
you can present to your dharma group. If you would like to
donate money please send a check or money order along with
your name and address so we can send you a thank you letter.
Some individuals have chosen to make a regular monthly contribution
and that is welcome also. You can contact us at:
Clark or Pat Johnson
Vajra Vidya Retreat Center
P. O. Box 1083
Crestone, CO 81131
Phone: (719) 256-5367
Email: cjohnson@
ix.netcom.com
