It is hard to describe my visits to Ari Bhöd*. It is a bit of an adventure just bumping up the winding dirt road to get there. But it is hard to encapsulate the experience. I can tell you what I’ve done when up there…

On my first visit:

• Watched four Tibetan lamas create a sand mandala & listened to them chant a prayer and blessing

And as a volunteer:

• Cleaned bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen of winter dust and mouse droppings
• organized a couple of freezers
• organized closets and bedding into categories – family guests, lamas, and rimpoche
• climbed up the hillside to cut fir branches for the smoke offering
• ate wonderful food
• learned to clean and fill butter lamps

The activities have been oddly fun and invigorating but fairly mundane on the surface. Each time I go up there I lose track of time, feel peaceful, and as my friend, Marilyn, puts it, “experience of sense of spaciousness.” Good, sustaining energy.

I am not sure of a purpose for my time there, but I feel strongly drawn. Images that remain:

• White smoke above snowy ground billowing out of the outdoor fireplace chimney (Joey told me the name for this stove, but I’ve forgotten)
• Prayer flags blowing in the strong mountain wind with crisp blue sky as a backdrop
• Evergreen boughs on the ground and the sound of the machete as branches are trimmed and cut
• Linnea (and Yeshe) in the kitchen brewing up nourishing and enlightening foods
• The 3-D mandala, Zangdok Palri
• The wonderful scent in the empty temple
• Radiant faces and smiles

And each time I visit, the lingering sense of peace. The soul-support for just being.

* Ari Bhod is a Tibetan Buddhist retreat center that hosts guests, visiting monks, lamas, and rimpoches. They host a summer camp for Tools for Peace. They are home to several stunning and unique mandalas, including at least two three dimensional mandalas. The center has many volunteers and a small group of residents. It was founded by the Venerable Lama Chödak Gyatso Nubpa.