Thrangu Rinpoche to Build a U.S.
Retreat Center in Crestone, Colorado
Tibetan Buddhist scholar and teacher, Khenchen
Thrangu Rinpoche has been given 35 acres of land in Crestone, Colorado.
Under his guidance, students will establish a retreat center, Rinpoche’s
first in the US. During his annual seminar in Maine this year, Thrangu
Rinpoche sent this message about the new retreat center to his students
worldwide:
"Over the years many of my students have expressed
a wish to do extended practice. Up until now I have only been able to say,
'That is very good. Please go and do that at home.' I have not been able
to provide proper facilities for them to do a retreat. Over the years I
have thought about having some kind of place where students could come
and practice for three years—or, if they couldn't do three years, then
for three months--or for one month, or even for a few weeks. There has
not been anything until now. Now things are about to change.
“There is a place called Crestone in the southern
part of Colorado where land has been obtained. This place seems to be quite
good for a retreat center, which is in process of developing right now.
Therefore those of you who have an interest in doing retreat in the future
could think about this place. It would be good to go there and do practice
in retreat.
“Also if you can find it in yourself to make
this happen, it would be excellent both for yourself and for others. I
as well as other teachers will go and teach there, inviting many different
kinds of practitioners to come and use this place. If you can help make
it happen, I would be very pleased. So please keep this in mind.”
After teaching in Idyllwild, California in July,
2001, Rinpoche traveled to Crestone, a small town in southern Colorado
where a number of contemplative communities reside—Hindu, Carmelite, Sufi,
Zen Buddhist, Tibetan Buddhist, and others. While he was there, Rinpoche
visited the stupa of His Holiness Karmapa, which was built by local students
under the guidance of Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche and Bardo Tulku Rinpoche
at the request of His Holiness the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa. There, against
the backdrop of the extraordinary Sangre De Cristo mountains, Rinpoche
performed a lasang. Later that evening, Rinpoche gave a teaching at the
nearby Tibetan Project House.
The next morning Rinpoche visited the donated
35-acre parcel of land located below the stupa. While he was still
standing at the bottom edge of the land, Rinpoche said that an auspicious
site for the retreat center lay further up. He pointed to a place on the
map and two of his monks with other students walked further up the mountain
with video camera in hand. There they found the actual spot that
Rinpoche had pointed to on the map, a beautiful meadow of juniper and pine
that is almost flat with beautiful vistas of the enormous San Luis Valley
and the San Juan mountains to the west. The land is well-positioned
for privacy, borders an excellent road, with water, sewer, electricity,
and telephone connections available. As we stood looking across the San
Luis Valley and at the vast expanse from Thrangu Rinpoche's land it was
clear that he, as well as the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, who visited this area
years ago, foresaw this location as a place of great future importance.
Thrangu Rinpoche requested that two of his students,
Clark and Pat Johnson, oversee the retreat center project, begin the fundraising
campaign, and begin preliminary building plans. Clark and Pat Johnson will
be moving to Crestone in late March where Namo Buddha Publications will
also relocate. Thrangu Rinpoche named the center, the Vajra Vidya Retreat
Center. Thrangu Rinpoche will send two nuns and one Khenpo to the retreat
center to teach the vajrayana practices and to serve as resident support
staff for the retreatants. As separate projects under the direction of
another lama, a Tibetan crematorium as well as a nunnery would be built
in Crestone in the near future.
A 12-member board of directors, including business
and environmental attorneys, fund-raisers, business people, and others
who are working on design and environmental concerns, have committed
themselves to the retreat center project. “Satellite” supporters who live
in Kansas, California, Maine, and other places also want to help. By utilizing
the internet we hope to bring as many people as want to share in this vision.
For example, we have a California architect who will guide us on the design
plans. Trying to emulate Rinpoche, the board hopes to build the Vajra Vidya
Retreat Center with the intention of the greater Mahayana—for the benefit
of all sentient beings.
When Thrangu Rinpoche was asked what kind of architectural
design he wanted, he was quite flexible and suggested, and the board has
since acquired, building plans from other centers—Sopa Choling in Nova
Scotia and Karma Ling in Woodstock, New York. The board and its consultants
will analyze these plans and other options in light of
construction costs, appropriateness for the topography,
and protection of the environment.
Planning has begun for a fund-raising campaign,
with the first contribution received from Rinpoche himself. An account
for the retreat center has been set up under Thrangu Rinpoche's non-profit
organization, the Namo Buddha Seminar, established in 1989. All board
members are volunteers, so all funds will go directly toward building the
retreat center. Checks should be made out to the Vajra Vidya Retreat Center.
Please
enclose a return address so a tax letter receipt
can be provided.
Thrangu Rinpoche Will Do a Retreat
Program in Crestone July, 2002
To highlight his belief in the importance of having
a place in the U.S. for his students to do retreats, Rinpoche has committed
to coming to Crestone next summer from July 19-July 28 to give a teaching
retreat. The retreat program committee has secured facilities for a program
that will allow between 100 to 150 participants. During this program Thrangu
Rinpoche will visit the Vajra Vidya Retreat Center site and will discuss
and give instructions on the actual construction of the center. We
encourage all persons interested in the Crestone Vajra Vidya Retreat Center
to come to this program, the topic of which will soon be announced.
If you are interested in attending please fill
out the Registration Form ( in PDF format)
(in MSWord
format)
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