At this time of great change in the world, in the beautiful mountainous Kootenay region, a seed has sprouted.
Under the spiritual direction of Venerable Zasep Tulku Rinpoche, devoted practitioners of the Buddha Dharma
have purchased land with buildings to create an International Gompa (Temple) in the Gaden tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Gaden for the West Gompa is a sanctuary for meditation and contemplation, where people can find peace.
A gathering place where practitioners can purify their mind and body and attain realizations
of Enlightenment and Buddhahood for the benefit of all living beings.

This Gompa will be both for people who follow the teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa (the Gelug tradition)
and other traditions. The purpose of acquiring a Gompa is so people can do group retreats
and study the Three Vehicles, as well as Buddhist philosophy, debate and logic.
It is our desire that the Gompa will serve many people and will gather support from different parts of the world.
We will invite great lamas and wonderful Dharma teachers who will bless and inspire us through their teachings.

A beautiful Gompa will be built, including a traditional Tibetan altar with a life size statue of Lord Buddha.
Statues and thangkas of Lama Je Tsongkhapa, Guru Padmasambhava, Atisha, Tara,
Chenrezig, Manjushri, and Vajrapani as well as photos of Gurus will be included.
There will be an extensive library of Dharma texts.
On the grounds we will build a Zen garden, prayer wheels and Chortens (stupa or pagoda.)

Great joy and fellowship will be born on this land, a place where people will be moved
to attain their aspirations for the benefit of all beings.
A peaceful, loving community, concerned for the spiritual awakening and welfare of all, is being created.

This Gompa is for the preservation of the Holy Dharma.

Pictures of our Gompa land!
(These pictures take a while to load, but the views of our new retreat house
and gompa land are worth it...)

The new Gaden Tashi Choling Retreat House. Welcome to our Gompa!

The south view from the Retreat House.

The eastside of the retreat house.

The southside of the retreat house.

The little settlers' cabin, to be used as private retreat house.

A closer view of the settlers' cabin.

The Gaden garden!

The gompa's sheep barn for the two Gaden for the West sheep,
Cumulus and Nimbus (as well as the cats, Snowball and Ginger).

The gompa in snow.

The gompa's Dharma wheel.

A lovely view of majestic Copper Mountain.

Another beautiful snowy view.

Highlights of our newly-acquired Gompa Land:

6.4 acres just around the corner from Rinpoche's home

A large brightly colored home with gaily-painted flower boxes in a comfortable greened setting

The land in front of the house slopes down to a large garden with a bountiful raspberry patch

A cave is to the rear of the house as you follow a shady Zen path
toward a rocky outcrop at the top of the richly forested crown land bordered property

A creek streams over the top and off to the side of the cave and bubbles down to create
a waterfall and series of cool mountain pools beckoning to you to stop to rest and contemplate

The existing house, called Gaden Tashi Choling Retreat House, has
a beautiful shrine room on the ground floor with a spectacular view to Copper Mountain

The upstairs bed and sitting room will be available to rent for retreatants
who will have access to the kitchen as well as the Gompa

Visit the Gaden for the West site for an updated schedule for
Gaden Tashi Choling Retreat, and you can contact us for personal retreats

Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice! As students of Zasep Tulku Rinpoche, this is our new spiritual home.
It is a setting worthy of our jewel-like teacher and the precious Dharma.
This uniquely beautiful site of Gaden for the West has come to us through the magic of
Rinpoche's remarkable karma, as well as our own!