The Early Years
1989 – 1998

Beginnings – 1989

In 1989, Venerable Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche brought his family from India to the United States to begin a 5-year tenure as a professor of Buddhist Philosophy at Naropa Institute (now Naropa University) in Boulder, Colorado. As he became established there as the world wisdom chair, a number of students asked to personally study outside of the classroom setting with him.

During this early time at Naropa, Rinpoche returned to Nepal and Bhutan to visit his root teacher, His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. He asked His Holiness to  start a Dharma center and a sangha, and was given the blessing to do so. On 28 September 1991, a month after this meeting, Dilgo Khyenste Rinpoche passed away . Kongtrul Rinpoche immediately returned Bhutan for the funeral, and during that time in Asia, he also made a pilgramage to one of Longchenpa’s retreat centers in Paro, Bhutan. On the way there, Kongtrul Rinpoche decided to found the Mangala Shri Bhuti Sangha, named after the Sanskrit name of His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

 The original sangha consisted of eight or nine students, including Nicholas Carter, Roy Nemoto, Scott Gallagher, and Vern Mizner.     Initially the sangha met at Naropa Institute. Rinpoche suggested to Roy, Vern, and Nicholas to find a house to rent in which to live together and form the first MSB community. They found  and started renting 2265 Dartmouth Avenue in 1993. This became the first physical seat of the Longchen Nyingtik lineage. Kongtrul Rinpoche named the center Phuntsok Choling (from phun sum tsok pa choling, meaning Dharma place where all good things gather).

Dartmouth House circa 2024

Some time later, Nicholas and Vern moved out, and Roy and his wife bought the Dartmouth Avenue house. MSB continued to have a presence there by renting out the basement.

Roy Nemoto became MSB’s founding president. Roy and the students who lived there graciously allowed the co-habitation of our fledgling dharma center. In the basement were located a shrine room, a room for Rinpoche’s office, a bathroom, and a room for an admin office.  A number of students over the ensuing years lived at the Dartmouth center in south Boulder as it matured with our growing community of students.

Beginning In 1993, Rinpoche began holding annual pilgrimages to India to visit the holy sites of the Buddha (a tradition that continues to this day with Dungse Jampal Norbu now leading them).

In 1999, in honor of the passing of his mother and great practitioner, Mayum Tsewang Palden, Kongtrul Rinpoche initiated a program of traditional offerings, prayers, and Dana (generosity practice) in India. Known as the Offering and Dana Pilgrimage, this practice each year would take Rinpoche and other participants to Bodhgaya, Sarnath, and other sacred sites in India, to present myriad offerings and carry out Dana activities with the positive intention that they bring benefit to countless beings.

Longchen Jigme Samten Ling, Crestone – 1993

In 1993, Rabjam Rinpoche informed Kongtrul Rinpoche while he was visiting Nepal about some land in Crestone, Colorado, that was offered to Khyentse Rinpoche. Rabjam Rinpoche was not planning to do anything with the land because he was busy carrying out Khyentse Rinpoche’s vision and activities in Asia and if the offer for the land still stood, Kongtrul Rinpoche could use it.

Upon returning to the United States, Kongtrul Rinpoche, Vern and another student named Rick went to see the landowner, Ms. Hanne Strong, who extended the offer to Rinpoche. Originally, a different piece of land was offered to MSB. Rinpoche asked Vern to do a survey of all the land in the area to see what other land was available.  Vern found the current location of  Longchen Jigme Samten Ling. Ms. Strong, her daughter Chris, Rinpoche and Vern to this new location, but Ms. Strong responded, “Oh no, no, no, this piece of land can’t be given away. This is the heart of the Manitou Institute’s land. We cannot give this to you.” In response, Rinpoche said, “It is very appropriate because our lineage is Longchen Nyingtik, the Heart Essence of Longchenpa and it would correspond well with your vision.” Ms. Strong intended to build a cabin for her daughter Chris and was not convinced.  However, after reflecting on this, Chris came to her mother, saying, “This is more important. We should give it to them.” And so, this is how the land for Samten Ling was obtained.


Future site of the  Sangdo Palri Temple

The first building on the land was Rinpoche’s cabin.  The location of where the cabin is located came to Rinpoche in a dream of His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. In this dream, Khyentse Rinpoche pointed to a spot next to two unique trees and indicated that the cabin should be built there. The next day, Rinpoche and a few students climbed up and found the two trees seen in the dream.  This is where Rinpoche’s retreat cabin now stands.

 Vimalamitra Cabin

Over the next few years, retreat cabins for other disciples were made on the mountains that surround the area. Long-term retreats  started in 1995, after Rinpoche started imparting the Longchen Nyingtik lineage and its rituals to a handful of students.

 

      Growing into the Future
     1999 – 2020

 

Phuntsok Choling, Ward – 1999

Over the course of seven years (1993-1999), the simple but steady growth of Mangala Shri Bhuti necessitated a change in venue for our center. The beginning of this transition happened in the spring of 1999. Around the time of the Rigdzin Dupa sadhana retreat in late April 1999, Rinpoche had mentioned to a student, Michael Girodo, that it would be good if we could find a new property for our center in some secluded location in the mountains. Michael actually didn’t have to look far. He was working for a business called Leapnow, an educational non-profit that had its home in what is now Suite A, the Zimchung’s kitchen and attendent suite combined. The business owner was Sam Bull who Michael met at Naropa where Sam was teaching. Sam’s wife, Janice, was a dance therapist, also teaching there. Auspiciously, Sam and Janice decided to move to California which happened to coincide with Rinpoche’s search for a new seat for the lineage. Michael then proceeded to make a video of the property to show Rinpoche, who took immediate interest in the property.

Upon further investigation, Rinpoche and Mark and Kelly Smith discovered a property situated on a 5-acre strip of wooded mountain land with a very sturdy barn and a rather neglected 100 year old cabin in need of fixing up adjacent to it. The cabin was built at the turn of the 20th century but then was moved in 1935, to its current location. It was a weekend cabin for the Folsom family, the same family after which Folsom Field is named at the University of Colorado. The Folsom family then sold the property to another family that turned it into a llama farm. At that time, the current shrine room was a barn for the llamas. It stayed a llama farm until the early 90’s when Sam Bull bought the property, after which it became a dance studio.

Mark Smith negotiated the contract on behalf of Mangala Shri Bhuti and purchased our new center that early summer of 1999. Work began right away so we could make the transition from Boulder to Ward as soon as possible.  There was a lot of building that needed to be done. Katherine Nicholas Carter was a newly apprenticed carpenter working with the chief carpenter. Gary Simonson was a lead carpenter and installed the heating system, while Michael Wasserman installed the plumbing.

This building project involved attaching an addition to the existing barn that became what is now the post-meditation hall with a kitchen, an office and four retreat rooms upstairs with an added kitchen and bathroom. The teachers’ suite also needed a kitchen and attendant’s room which were remodeled from the existing office space. An outdoor deck with landscaping was added to the exterior of the building to accompany the teacher’s suite. Okabayashi Katsutoshi and Dai Inaba came up from their then residence Crestone, and temporarily moved into a  shoji-screened enclosure in the shrine room to help Andy Nicodemus with the painting of the new addition and remodeled teacher suite.

 Phuntsok Choling
 Dzongsar Rinpoche in 1999

At the beginning of our remodel in July, 1999, Rosemary Swanson volunteered to move in and become the first resident. She put together a make-shift bedroom up in the loft. Michael Girodo also was a resident for a brief period around the same time.  Just below Rosemary in the loft, the painting team of Andy Nicodemus, Dai, and Oka stayed in the unfinished shrine room. Next door in the cabin, Dana and Clare Ming with their young son Nyima, moved in and stayed for about two years.

Following the Mings’ departure to Crestone, Rebecca Zepp and her son, Aaron, as well as Laura Budz became long time residents. Around that time, Chris Riggert created a place to live on the land just on the edge of a cliff, which came to be named Milarepa’s cave by Rinpoche. (Chris later headed up the tent platform project in the summer of 2000, which is where our annual summer program Nyingma Summer Seminar is still held to this day.)

The building work  was started in mid-summer of 1999 with the aim to finish by Losar 2000. That goal was accomplished and the first guest of our newly minted meditation center was Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche in February 2000. Rinpoche fulfilled our request to bless the center which included a vase filled with many blessings that were buried somewhere on the property.

Just as that first phase of building was finished, our Vice-President, Scott Gallagher joined the three year retreatants at Longchen Jigme Samten Ling including  Rinpoche, Elizabeth, Gretchen, Chris Riggert, and (Vern Mizner?). The three year retreat that started in February 1998.

The founding of this new property of the Longchen Nyingtik lineage seat now called Phuntsok Choling and Samten Ling both became new signposts for our continued spiritual growth, individually and together as a community and organization.

 Three Roots Empowerment 2001

Phuntsok Choling means ‘Auspicious Gathering’ or more precisely, ‘Abundantly Auspicious Place of Dharma’. When our teacher, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche asked his teacher Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse what the name of his meditation center should be, this is the name he bestowed on our lineage seat. After the blessing from Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche led us in our first lhasang at the new center.

 

Pema Osel Do Ngak Choling , Vershire – 2003

In July of 2003, Rinpoche visited the site of what would become Pema Osel Do Ngak Choling in the hills of Vermont and prophetically said, “This is a place where many beings could be benefited.”

The name Pema Osel Do Ngak Choling translates to ‘The Radiant Lotus Center for Dharma Teachings’. It incorporates the names of the last two Khyentses, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Rinpoche’s root guru, His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

Paddy McCarthy bought the land in 1993 on the real estate market from the Federal Government, as it was seized in the War on Drugs. At this time, there was no way to drive onto the land because there was no bridge yet over the creek and the lower part of the land is wet, and so anyone who made it across the creek found themselves in a swamp. But the upper land is beautiful mature hardwood forest.  When he first visited here on July 7, 2003,  Rinpoche remarked that the woods looked “like a Japanese garden.” 

On October 11, after Rinpoche’s visit in July, Rebecca Henry and Paddy had their wedding in the meadow where Pema Osel now stands.  Paddy and Rebecca wanted to offer the land to Rinpoche to build a new center.  Rebecca played a critical role in forming the vision for offering the land. Without her, Pema Osel would not be here today.  Rebecca had already been a student of Rinpoche for over 10 years at that time. She did not want to be away from the Sangha in Boulder, but she also wanted to be close to her and Paddy’s parents. She therefore had the foresight of developing an East Coast sangha and center. This idea really appealed to Rinpoche, whoaccepted the gift of the land and moved forward, dedicating many years and resources to develop Pema Osel

Rinpoche saw the East Coast as highly suitable for the study and practice of dharma because it offers many opportunities for people to support themselves while pursuing the path as a long-term goal. Rinpoche has said that the development of this new center should come about naturally through auspicious coincidence, rather than follow an imposed schedule. Therefore,  through the aspirations of the teacher and the students, the magical workings of the lineage and lineage protectors, the needs of beings, and many other factors interplaying in its growth, Pema Osel was founded with the first mention of it at 2003’s NSS, at which time $20,000 was raised for developing Pema Osel.

Construction for Pema Osel was started in the summer of 2004. This first building was very minimal with three small bedrooms and a shrine room upstairs, kitchen and dining room downstairs, and a dorm in the basement. As more funds came in, construction started in November of 2004.  The continuation phase added Rinpoche’s residence upstairs spanning the Breezeway, the Post-Meditation Hall (PMH) and the larger shrine room on the lower floor.  This new addition was completed in July 0f 2005. 

Pema Osel Construction

Once the build-out was completed, numerous volunteers worked diligently  to paint and furnish the addition prior to the first teaching event, the 2005 Vajra Assembly, that occurred in August 19 and 20 of that year. 

 Pema Osel Volunteers

In 2012, another large addition was put on the north end of the building, for the community room downstairs and what is now the Teno room and the caretakers’ kitchen upstairs (previously a living room for that new upstairs bedroom).

In 2018, the MSB sangha and friends began a new construction  project on the Temple at Pema Osel do ngak Choling, naming this The Three Jewels Project. This project expanded and transformed the existing large shrine room that had already been blessed over the years by the many teaching and practice programs by Kongtrul Rinpoche, Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel, Dungse Jampal Norbu and Ani Pema Chodron. The project extended the current shrine room, adding a raised dais for the teaching throne, and making space for the stunning Maitreya statue that had originally held the space in the main shrine room prior to the project. This rupa was later joined by Guru Rinpoche, a statue that had blessed the Sangdo Palri Temple, and a third rupa of Buddha Shakyamuni. In 2021, thee installation of 1000 smaller buddha statues to fill the interior of the temple space were added to complete the project.

 Completed Three Jewels Project Shrine Extension
 

 

Longchen Jigme Samten Ling, Crestone – 2010

Longchen Jigme Samten Ling, is a long-term retreat center located in the spectacular foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The name Longchen Jigme Samten Ling means ‘The Meditation Place of the Fearless Great Expanse’. Samten Ling is home to The Sangdo Palri Temple of Wisdom and Compassion and the Tara Dzong, along with a number of retreat cabins.  

Originally the land only contained cabins for Rinpoche and other retreatants. In 2010, the design of the Sangdo Palri Temple began.   Many teachers came to Crestone and blessed the land. O.T. Rinpoche told a story of when His Holiness Dilgo Khyenste Rinpoche was touring America and came to Crestone. They drove around in a four-wheel drive jeep to a spring and then along a steep hill to a meadow on a top of a hill.  Khyentse Rinpoche got out of the jeep and blessed the land by placing his phurba in the center of the meadow.  From everything O.T. Rinpoche described, there is no doubt that this was Samten Ling where Sangdo Palri Temple now stands. 

Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche visited in 2010, and again blessed the land by placing his phurba into the ground and the building of the Sangdo Palri Temple started just one month later.

The Sangdo Palri temple features a traditional four-sided mandala shape, yet its style is more Japanese. The wooden structure’s plain outer walls, Japanese-style roof lines, and simple colors complement the other buildings on the land, and blend naturally with the general coloration of the environment. Tibetan motifs, such as the traditional colored blocks above its windows, give the temple a distinctly Tibetan flavor.
The initial development of the Sangdo Palri temple was completed in 2016, in time for the first group of disciples to reside in the dormitory in the temple for the entire Sessions retreat with Rinpoche.

 Rinpoche and Lobpons with Session retreatants in 2016

In 2018, construction of the Tara Dzong retreat center began adjacent to the Sangdo Palri Temple.  The Tara Dzong contains an Arya Tara shrine, eight retreat rooms, common kitchens, and bathrooms.  The Tara Dzong is used for 30-day and longer term retreats.  Construction was completed in 2020.

 Rinpoche reviewing plans for Tara Dzong

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.

 The Sangdo Palri Temple (right) and the Tara Dzong (left)

Expanding Worldwide

Tashi Gachil – 2001, Tashi Choling – 2006; Japan

In the spring of 2001, Eiichi Okamoto, Oka-san, Dai-san, and the members of Kyoto Dharma Study Group invited Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche to visit Japan and give teachings. Rinpoche kindly accepted the invitation. Accompanied by Roy Nemoto, he visited Kyoto that year to give a series of talks entitled Breeze of Simplicity. During this first teaching visit, Rinpoche encouraged us to establish MSB Japan, which was officially founded soon thereafter.

In the fall of that year, Rinpoche returned to Japan to give another series of teachings entitled, The Essence of Buddhist Meditation. In 2002, he taught on The Four Immeasurables and, in 2003, on The Nature of Mind. In 2004, Rinpoche bestowed the lung transmissions for Chapter 9 of The Way of the Bodhisattva, for Mahayana Uttara Tantra Shastra, and for Abhisamayalankara, as well as the wang empowerments for the Rigdzin Dupa and Dechen Gyalmo sadhanas.

Beginning in 2005, Oka’s home in Kyoto became the MSBJ Center, and they began holding tsok practices there twice each month. That year, Rinpoche gave a teaching in the spring entitled, A Summary of the Words of My Perfect Teacher, and bestowed the transmission for the Longchen Nyingtik Ngondro. This was followed by Commentary on the Bodhisattvacharyavatara Chapters 1-6 in 2006 and, in 2007, Commentary on the Bodhisattvacharyavatara Chapters 7-8.

Over the following seventeen years, for all their meetings, Tsok practices, and teaching events,  a house in eastern Kyoto belonging to two Dharma friends from Taiwan, Kelly and Frank, was used. Rinpoche gave this center the name Tashi Gachil (‘Auspicious Coil of Joy’).

During the first two years at the new center, Rinpoche continued his teachings, with Commentary on Bodhisattvacharyavatara, Chapter 9 in 2008. In 2009, he  completed teachings on the entire Bodhisattvacharyavatara. From 2010 and 2019, Rinpoche gave extensive teachings on Buddha nature based on the Mahayana Uttara Tantra Shastra. From 2020 to 2023, Rinpoche’s annual teachings to the Japan sangha were conducted online. During those years, he taught on Compassionate Heart, Awakened Mind (2020), The Teachings of the Four Noble Truths (2021), and The Essence of the Mahayana – Wisdom and Compassion (2022). Rinpoche visited Japan in 2023 to continue the teachings on wisdom and compassion he had begun online in 2022 and returned to Japan in 2024 and 2025 to teach on “Compassion Without Limits.” In more recent years, Dungse Jampal Norbu has also come to Japan to give teachings. In 2016, during his first teaching visit, Dungse-la offered Dharma talks in a Q&A format. He visited again in 2017 and 2018, and in 2023 gave teachings on The Eight Verses of Lojong.

After moving to the new center, two significant changes in our situation occurred. First, in 2006, through an auspicious coincidence, an MSBJ member unexpectedly came into possession of a traditional Japanese home overlooking the Pacific in the mountains at the tip of the Izu Peninsula. Rinpoche accepted use of the property as our retreat center, naming it Tashi Chöling. Since then, Rinpoche has kindly led annual drupchös at Tashi Chöling and has also guided an annual Life Release practices at nearby beaches. In 2016, Rinpoche bestowed the Dukngal Rangdröl empowerment at Tashi Chöling, after which that sadhana was included in the cycle of sadhanas used in the annual drupchös, together with those for Rigdzin Dhupa and Dechen Gyalmo. Since 2023, Rinpoche has led a Dukngal Rangdröl drupchö each year at Tashi Chöling.

Tashi Choling in Izu

The other significant change for MSBJ was that on November 2, 2015,  under Japanese law  we became a general incorporated association with name Mangala Shri Bhuti Japan. By becoming a non-profit corporation in this way, MSBJ became able to own property as an organization.

In 2025, MSBJ purchased a traditional Japanese home in Kameoka, Kyoto, which now serves as the formal center of our activities. A neighboring house has also been acquired and is being renovated to serve as a dormitory for visiting sangha members and their families. The facility is scheduled for completion in 2026.  Rinpoche has encouraged the members of the Japanese Sangha to create a small micro-community, supporting one another as they deepen their study and practice of the Dharma. We are now working wholeheartedly to realize this vision.

Tashi Gachil

At present, we also hold regular nyinthuns, courses, and study groups and are publishing Japanese translations of Rinpoche’s books. Through these activities, we strive both to provide opportunities for people in Japan to encounter the teachings of Dharma and to contribute to the revitalization of Buddhism in this country.

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