Vajra Vidya Retreat Center - Location of Center

In Tibet the monasteries were built by taking into account sacred principles that are similar to those of feng shui. The elements were always considered as they were very much a part of the over all indigenous cosmology. The most desirable location for a monastery or retreat center was against a mountain and if there was a stream nearby, the stream flow was considered best if from left to right. Almost all monasteries and retreat centers were located near mountains. Local deity protectors usually inhabited these locations and the great practitioners like Milarepa, Padmasambhava, and many other Lamas subdued and converted these deities to be protectors of Dharma and its practitioners.

Crestone is located in the San Luis Valley, one of the highest intermountain valleys (almost at 7,000 feet) in North America. The valley is ringed by the continental divide on one side (looking across the valley to the San Juan Mountains as shown in the above photograph) and the Sangre de Cristo (blood of Christ) mountains on the other side as the back drop.

Crestone and the San Lois Valley were considered sacred by the Native Americans who had began coming to the San Luis Valley over 10,000 years ago. They came to hunt buffalo and to pick pinions, as well as carry out their sacred rituals. At the Sand Dunes, just 20 miles south of Crestone, is Stewart's Crossing which is the second largest archeological site in North America containing Clovis artifacts. Another 20 miles away, along the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, is Mount Blanca, one of the four sacred mountains of the Navajo tribe.

"The Native American peoples have a long and historic relationship with the land that is now known as the San Luis Valley and the surrounding San Juan and Sangre de Cristo Mountains. For the local tribes of the Pueblo, Apache, Navajo (Dineh), Ute and others, it was a paradise for gathering food and medicinal plants, hunting, ceremonies, and other gatherings. Until they were dispossessed, the native people maintained the area as a place for peaceful contemplation and community gatherings.

These mountains have been sacred to these indigenous tribes. Pilgrimages are still made to the Sacred Mountains for medicine bundle renewal, rain, medicinal herbs, and tribal ceremonies. Mount Blanca is one such mountain where yearly gatherings take place. To the Dineh, it is called Sismajinii meaning, "black sash trailing down." The sash is the range extending from Blanca northward to include the Crestone community. It is the revered eastern mountain of the Dineh cosmos. Blanca and three other cardinal direction mountains are mentioned as the pillars holding up the sky-universe in the Navajo spiritual geography." — Paul Tohlakai, Sacred Mountains Foundation

Thrangu Rinpoche first traveled to Crestone in the summer of 2000. At that time there was no road or access to the upper boundaries of the land being considered. Rinpoche then asked for a map. Upon looking at the map he pointed to a specific location on the map and asked his two monks to go up the mountain to the area that he had identified and see if there was a suitable site there. Upon their return they reported that indeed there was a beautiful site and they had recorded it on their video camcorder. This was not the first time that Rinpoche had shown skill in “reading a map.” Rinpoche was able to find the brother of one of his students lost in the mountains by identifying the location where they would find her brother on a map. This visit to Crestone was brief but significant in that Rinpoche demonstrated that he had prior cognition about this future project.

In this photo you can see Challenger Peak. The cluster of buildings below is the Shumei International Institute. The 35 acres of the Vajra Vidya Retreat Center lie below Shumei and a little to the south. Four fourteeners nestle the little town of Crestone. As you look west you see the plain underneath which lies the largest water aquifer in the United States. The area's history is woven with the movement of many native tribes and has continued to be a pilgrimage place for the Ute and Arapaho. There are rocks in the mountains that are formed into meditation seats and several medicine wheel formations have been discovered in the area. On the Vajra Vidya Retreat land, two old arrowheads were found. This Crestone landscape was also identified by His Holiness the 16th Karmapa as an auspicious and sacred location.