Hello and Tashi Delek dear Sangha! I am so happy to report the good news that Rinpoche and Manjushri Dharma Center have been donated a 30 foot yurt from Rinpoche’s dear Dharma brother, Thay Kozen, spiritual director of the Mount Adams Buddhist Temple!
It has always been Rinpoche’s dream to expand the Dharma Center to the larger space in the backyard. With the donation of the yurt, we now can move forward with plans for a backyard transformation! The yurt will double the amount of space we currently have in our small Dharma Center. Our first step is to find an architect and to submit plans and applications to the City of Pacific Grove. We need your help!
Do you know an architect who may be able to help us design our backyard Dharma Center, and who may be willing to work at a discounted rate? If so, please email us at : [email protected].
We will have more updates as we move along, but for now, your help and good wishes, and any additional donations toward the project are much appreciated! You can donate here–monthly, small and recurring donations are encouraged!
The Backstory
Rinpoche met Thay Kozen at a retreat for the Amitabha Dechen Shingdrup. The Portland Sangha hosted many retreats at the Mount Adams Buddhist Temple in Trout Lake, Washington, a beautiful retreat center in a green valley near the Columbia River Gorge, about 1.5 hours outside of Portland, Oregon. Thay Kozen is the spiritual director of the Mount Adams Buddhist Temple, and both monks say they felt an immediate karmic connection upon meeting.
Thay Kozen (left) and Rinpoche (right) in August 2024.
Most recently in August of 2024, when Rinpoche was leading the 17th Annual Amitabha Dechen Shingdrup, hosted at the Northwest Tibetan Cultural Association in Portland, Oregon, Thay Kozen drove to meet Rinpoche and they visited. Rinpoche gave Thay his yellow jacket, which Thay wears every day now. Rinpoche also donated a large Buddha statue and a thangka of the Wheel of Life to Thay Kozen. Their bond of gifts and good karma runs deep.
The yurt (a Rainier “Eagle”) was a gift to Mount Adams Buddhist Temple from a student of Thay Kozen’s. Thay originally planned to erect it on his retreat property to house a homeless family living nearby in an RV. However, due to the snow load, the yurt would need to have a strong structural roof over it to protect from caving in, and the cost of that exceeded what dear Thay could outlay. The homeless family found a rental home for the winter, and they yurt was sitting in a storage unit with no definite plans.
When Thay Kozen heard that Rinpoche had always dreamed of a yurt in his backyard to expand the Dharma Center, he did not hesitate to offer the structure to Rinpoche, with wishes that the Manjushri Dharma Center and Rinpoche’s activities could flourish and grow.
We are currently working out the exact dimensions of the yurt components, so we can figure out where and how to store it in California. We plan to rent a 16′ moving van to bring it down this fall before the roads become impassable. If anyone owns such a moving van or can offer storage space, please let us know!
Deep bows of gratitude to Rinpoche for his Dharma dream. Deep bows of gratitude to Thay Kozen helping to make that dream come true! Many thanks to the MDC Sangha, our donors, all past and present MDC board members for moving this vision along! Special thanks to Dianna Slattery, past MDC president–who left us very thorough plans and drawings of what it could look like with a 30′ yurt in the backyard.
Best wishes, Tashi Delek!
Rachel
Rachel Christopherson
MDC Volunteer, President of MDC Board
This photo is from a 2017 retreat in Carmel Valley, held in a 30 foot yurt! Dianna Slattery, past MDC President is shown kneeling, second from left next to Susan. The retreat that year was both a smoke puja and teaching on the 9 levels of meditation.
