The Beginning
In contrast to the other retreat centers in North America, the Northeast Retreat Center (NRC) is not a physical place we have bought and own and whose infrastructure and facilities we are in the process of building and developing. In fact, it is an ongoing project, a strong wish that has been in the hearts and minds of the dedicated practitioners of the northeast region of North America for years. To have a Diamond Way-owned retreat center has been an aspiration since 1999. It was at that time when a few friends from the New York Center decided to spend a long weekend away from the city, meditating and just being together, resting in and sharing all the good feelings and clarity that comes from focused practice. We stepped away from the distractions of life in the big city, from the noise of traffic and sirens that penetrate all building structures in New York, from appointments that need to be kept and phone calls that need to be answered. The New York City sangha had already established a reputation as meditators and the unofficial motto of the group was, “If you can meditate here, you can meditate anywhere.” Despite the fact that distraction was seen as both a challenge to be overcome and an opportunity for further development, the wish for a retreat center was clear and obvious. As more and more groups started popping up in the region, the need for a place where everyone could come together became even more prominent.
The Northeast Region of America
The “Northeast region” for Diamond Way Buddhist activities spans eleven US states and the southern parts of two Canadian provinces. It extends 700 miles from north to south and 550 miles from east to west. It is an area that would roughly cover Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic combined.
The main center in the region is New York City. Currently, it is a key center in midtown Manhattan, located a short walk from Park Avenue, the Empire State building, and Grand Central Station. Over sixty members contribute financially, with more than 108 friends in the outer mandala. New York City is considered the biggest sangha in North America. In addition to our mother center, there is a thriving region developing throughout the Northeast. Several groups meditate on a regular basis. Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Washington DC are on the south end; Montreal and Toronto join the region from Canada to the north; Albany and Oneonta are in the heart of the region with New York City, and the Boston group is suitably located between Harvard and MIT.
The Project
The collective wishes of this regional sangha were formally expressed during our first regional vision meeting over the weekend of August 14, 2009, at the home of two longstanding members in Naugatuck, Connecticut. Over thirty practitioners representing all of the centers and groups in the Northeast came together, and the groundwork was laid for our vision for future activity and the establishment of a retreat center. What emerged was the Northeast Retreat Center project, and the decision to officially recognize the spacious Naugatuck, Connecticut home as the interim retreat center. The vision was articulated clearly and concisely:
We aim to establish the first Diamond Way retreat center in the eastern region of North America as a hub for lay Buddhist practice, sustained by the friendship and joyful effort of our sangha. This project is a living expression of the thousand-year-old Karma Kagyu transmission and the activity of our root teacher, Lama Ole Nydahl.
This vision was described and documented in much more detail; the ultimate goal is to function as a central point of activity for the region, focusing on meditation practice as well as dharma events and courses. From this vision document, more detailed features of the land and supporting facilities were derived, which were then translated into scouting criteria: beautiful grounds of at least twenty-five acres, sufficient infrastructure and capacity to build more, central location reasonably within two hundred miles of New York City, and privacy.
Developments and The Interim NRC
Since even before the regional meeting in 2009, the privately owned home in Connecticut has been fully functioning as a regional center. Events, courses, and group and individual
meditation retreats have been held there on a regular basis. Because of this successful activity, it was decided at first that Connecticut would be a good place to buy land. However, after continuous scouting and investigation, it eventually became clear that the area was simply too expensive and the zoning too restrictive to accommodate our needs and budget. The active searching subsided at that point until the conditions were revisited and a new target area was identified.
In the meantime, the New York Center had moved to a prime location just off Park Avenue in a beautiful duplex space. It naturally became the central point of regional activity and all focus of events and courses shifted there with great success. The role and responsibility of the interim retreat center also became more focused on fulfilling the need for group and individual meditation practice retreats. Ngöndro and 8th Karmapa retreats continue to be held regularly.
Conditions came together during the summer of 2012, which would incite a powerful revival of the Northeast Retreat Center Project. Some of the sangha members traveling with Lama Ole received some encouraging advice from him. Over Labor Day weekend, some friends traveled to the Heartland Retreat Center for the national “Living Buddhism” course and others got together in Connecticut to meditate. While the sangha was not together physically, a unified wish manifested simultaneously to bring focus back to the NRC project. By this time, the fundraising efforts of the past two years had brought us much closer to our goal and, along with redefined search criteria, we began scouting once again—this time just north of the Adirondack area of upstate New York.
“It should be possible to get a good hill with a good view, and some trees to take down, begin to build and make some cabins and so on. I’d like to get a big axe or a chainsaw and come and help.”
Lama Ole Nydahl
During the national course over Thanksgiving 2012, the northeast sangha bought a solid chainsaw for Lama Ole and gave it to him as a symbol of our commitment toward this vision. Since then, intense and inspired scouting has taken place with about thirty friends. Over fifty prospective properties were scouted and two offers have been made, which fell through because conditions were not met. We see this as a clear manifestation of protective Buddha activity guiding and bringing us closer to the perfect retreat center for the northeast.
The Future
The whole process so far has been an amazing experience where friendships have deepened, so much has been learned, and commitment and resolve toward beneficial activity have grown immensely. In the end, the most important thing is to realize that things function on different levels, and the deeper we go, the more meaning we find. An outer physical retreat center provides the external conditions that can enable inner development through personal practice and working with others. This in turn leads to the ultimate goal of realization of the nature of mind, which becomes beneficial activity that allows others to go beyond their limitations and achieve true freedom. All this is possible only through the endless, loving, protective, and all encompassing influence of the lama.
Editor’s note: Very shortly before press time, Buddhism Today learned that the northeast sangha has just found and purchased their retreat center near Albany, New York (image below).
Photo credit: Marcin Muchalski – Diamond Shot Studio | Photo Studio, NYC
