Longchen Jigme Samten Ling, our long-term retreat center located in the spectacular foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Crestone, Colorado, is the jewel of our organization. The name means a meditation place of the fearless great expanse.

The great 13th century master Longchen Rabjam said that nature provides a perfect support for resting in the mind of uncontrived naturalness which lies at the heart of the Buddhist Vajrayana tradition. The rugged beauty of this location, overlooking the vast expanse of the San Luis Valley, makes an ideal environment for retreat. What occurs here is, in Rinpoche’s words, “the very core of what we do.”

Longchen Jigme Samten Ling has been supporting retreat in our sangha since 1995. A dozen retreat cabins, each sponsored by an individual donor, and the 8 retreat rooms in our Tara Dzong Retreat Complex are occupied year-round by both long-term retreatants and a continuous rotation of students in 100-day or 30 day retreats. Rinpoche guides each individual at his or her own level, and there are three drubpons, or retreat masters, available to help clarify any instructions or otherwise support retreatants.

Samten Ling is a self-sufficient world, offering retreatants a balanced mix of solitude and support that facilitates their deep engagement with the practices of this path. Retreatants gather daily for work period and group Protector practice.

Through the maturation of the practitioners on the land, and through the communication between them and Rinpoche, what has evolved at Samten Ling is a refined understanding of what works best to support Western practitioners in retreat. Our aspiration is for Samten Ling to be a fertile ground on which the essence of the Longchen Nyingtik lineage may ripen in many beings, now, and long into the future.