The Early Years
1989 – 1998

Beginnings – 1989

In 1989 Venerable Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche brought his family from India to the United States and in 1990 began a 5-year tenure as a professor of Buddhist Philosophy at Naropa Institute (Now Naropa University)  in Boulder Colorado.   During this time a number of students had asked to personally study, and not in just the classroom, with Kongtrul Rinpoche. During this time at Naropa Rinpoche returned to Nepal and Bhutan to visit His Holiness Dilgo Khyenste Rinpoche for a month.  During this time  Kongtrul Rinpoche asked Dilgo Khyenste Rinpoche whether he should start a Dharma center or a Sangha with these students.  Dilgo Khyenste Rinpoche gave him two thumbs up. So, with his blessings Kongtrul Rinpoche returned to the United States but a month later Dilgo Khyenste Rinpoche passed away on 28 September 1991. Kongtrul Rinpoche immediately returned Bhutan for the funeral.  During that time there Kongtrul Rinpoche made a pilgramage to one of Longchenpa’s retreat centers in Paro. 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, Rinpoche’s root teacher.  

 The original sangha consisted of eight or nine students, including Nicholas Carter, Roy Nemoto, Athena Thompson, Andy Nicodemus, Scott Gallagher and Vern Mizner.     Initially the sangha meet at Naropa Institute where Rinpoche was a teacher. Rinpoche suggested to these three students to find a house to rent to live together and form the first MSB community. The house they found was on 2265 Dartmouth Avenue in 1993. This became the first physical incarnation as the 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, Nicolas and Vern had moved out and Roy and his wife bought the Dartmouth avenue house and MSB rented 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 with the students living upstairs and the dharma center downstairs. In the basement there was 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 Buddhism; 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 takes Rinpoche and other participants to Bodhgaya, Saranath, 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.

 

Disciples began taking Long-term retreats beginning in 1995, when Rinpoche began imparting the Longchen Nyingtik lineage and its rituals to a handful of students.  

 

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Longchen Jigme Samten Ling, Crestone – 1993

Kongtrul Rinpoche traveled to Nepal and meet with Rabjam Rinpoche, Khyentse Rinpoche’s grandson and dharma heir. Rabjam Rinpoche told Kongtrul Rinpoche about some land in Crestone Colorado that was offered to Khyentse Rinpoche, but that Rabjam Rinpoche was not planning to do anything with the land because he was too busy carrying out Khyentse Rinpoche’s vision and activities in Asia and if the offer for the land still existed that Kongtrul Rinpoche could use it.

In 1993, upon return to the United States, Kongtrul Rinpoche, Vern and another student named Rick went to see the landowner, Ms. Hanne Strong.  Ms. Strong indicated that the offer still stood so Kongtrul Rinpoche reported that back to Rabjam Rinpoche, who said that “If you want to do something with the land, it’s yours”.   Kongtrul Rinpoche told Ms. Strong this news and she was fine with it.

Originally, a different piece of land than where Longchen Jigme Samten Ling is now, was offered to MSB. Rinpoche asked Vern to do a survey of all the land in the area and see if a better piece of land was available.  Vern found the current location of Samten Ling and so Rinpoche, Vern, Ms. Strong and her daughter Chris, went new to this location and asked for this land instead of what was originally offered.   Ms. Strong said “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”. Rinpoche said that “it was very appropriate because our lineage is Longchen Nyingtik, the Heat Essence of Longchenpa”, and that it corresponded well with her vision.  Ms. Strong was still against it because she were going to build a cabin for her daughter Chris on this land; but after Chris thought about it for a while she said “This is more important. We should give it to them”. And so, this is how the land where 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 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 they 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, at Rinpoche’s suggestion, retreat cabins for other disciples were made on the mountains that surround the area.

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      Growing into the Future  
     1999 – 2020

Phuntsok Choling, Ward – 1999

Over the course of seven years the simple but steady growth of Mangala Shri Bhuti necessitated a change in venue for our center and Michael Girodo turned out to be the one who came upon our future property in Ward, Colorado. 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 made mention to Michael Girodo that it would be good if we could find a new property for our center in some secluded spot up in the mountains. Michael actually didn’t have to look too far. As it happened, 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 whom Michael met at Naropa where Sam was teaching. Sam’s wife Janice was a dance therapist at Naropa Institute as it was called back then. But 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 from which he conveyed immediate interest in the property. The video convinced Rinpoche to take a further look.  And 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 that bears the namesake of Folsom Field 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.

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 Teahen’s first husband, Pete was the general contractor and carpenter along with Nicholas Carter as a newly apprenticed 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. Oka Okabayashi and Dai Inaba came up from Crestone where they were living at the time 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 became a resident for brief period at that time as well.  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 Ming’s exit to Crestone, Rebecca Zepp and her son, Aaron and Laura Budz became long time residents. Chris Riggert soon after found a place to live in Milarepa’s cave as Rinpoche named it. Chris headed up the tent platform project when it began in the summer of 2000. Chris also remodeled the cave and gave it the retreat ambience that it still retains today.

The 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 was 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 and the founding of this new property of the Longchen Nyingtik lineage seat now called Phuntsok Choling, 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 lead us in our first lhasang at the new center.

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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.” and 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. The land been 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, so anyone who made it across the creek found themselves in a swamp. But the upper land is beautiful mature hardwood forest.  When Rinpoche first visited here on July 7, 2003, and he and Paddy were walking in the upper part, he said the woods looked “like a Japanese garden.” 

On October 11th after Rinpoche’s visit in July, Rebecca Henery 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 and without her Pema Osel would not be here today.  Rebecca had already been a student of Rinpoche for over 10 years and did not want to be away from the Sangha but also wanted to be close to her and Paddy’s parents, so she had the foresight of developing an East Coast sangha and center. This idea really appealed to Rinpoche. He accepted the gift of the land and moved forward, dedicating a lot of 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, 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 must all interplay in its growth.  First mention of the new center was at 2003’s NSS at which time MSB raised $20,000 for developing Pema Osel.

Construction for Pema Osel was started in the summer of 2004. This first building was very minimal, three small bedrooms and a shrine room upstairs, kitchen and dining room downstairs, and a dorm in the basement. Dave Sweet was the contractor and as more funds came in construction continued starting 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 19th and 20th 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 Tenno 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 existing large shrine room that has been blessed over the years by the many teaching and practice programs offered at the center 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, 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
 
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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 until 2010, when 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 and 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 where Khyenste Rinpoche got out and blessed the land by placing his phurba in the center of the meadow.  From everything O.T. Rinpoche described that there is no doubt that this was Samten Ling that Rinpoche visited and is now where Sangdo Palri Temple now stands. 

Khyenste Yangsi Rinpoche visited came to visit 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, gives 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 eight retreat rooms, a Ayra Tara Shrine, a common kitchen and bathrooms.  The Tara Dzong is for 30 day and 100 day 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)
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Expanding Worldwide

The Japanese Sangha – 2001

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 and, accompanied by Roy Nemoto, 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 after.

In the fall of that year, Rinpoche returned to Japan to give a further series of teachings, “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 we began holding tsok practices there twice each month. That year, Rinpoche gave a spring teaching 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 our meetings, Tsok practices, and teaching events, we used house in eastern Kyoto belonging to two Dharma friends from Taiwan, Kelly and Frank. Rinpoche gave this center the name Tashi Gachil (‘Auspicious Coil of Joy’).

During our first two years at the new center, Rinpoche continued his teachings, with “Commentary on Bodhisattvacharyavatara, Chapter 9” in 2008 and, in 2009, completed his teachings on the entire Bodhisattvacharyavatara. Between 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 us in annual drupchös at Tashi Chöling and has also guided us in 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 our 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 in our situation was that on November 2, 2015, we acquired status under Japanese law as 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.