ABOUT US
The Tibetan word “gompa” (often rendered as “monastery”) translates the Sanskrit term “araṇya” which literally means “forest” or “wilderness.” Many Buddhist texts from the time of the Buddha onwards praise the wilderness as the ideal environment for those wanting to cultivate their hearts. And many early Buddhist monasteries were called araṇyas. Whether to those who understand their spiritual cultivation in personal and individual terms or to those who locate their cultivation within the bodhisattva-ideal, the virtues of cultivating at araṇyas apply equally. And it is in this sense that the formal Tibetan name of Drikung Forest Hermitage’s is “Drikung Kunzang Naktsel Gompa.” We are building a forest hermitage to provide the Buddha’s ideal environment for male and female monastics and laity to cultivate the heart. Here, at the “Ever-Excellent Forest (“Kunzang Naktsel”), we choose a life of simplicity in the forest, studying the Buddha’s teachings and cultivating freeing our hearts from the afflictive emotions, and doing this for the greater good of all.
While our long-term residents are monastics (anchored in the Drikung Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism), Drikung Forest Hermitage welcomes anyone with an interest in the Buddhist way of cultivating the heart to join us. As established by the Buddha, in his fourfold community (i.e. sangha), lay and monastic disciples relate to each other with mutual generosity and trust. The laity’s generosity of resources maintains the lives of monastics and in turn, this increases their trust in the integrity of the intentions and actions of the monastics. The monastics’ generosity of Dharma–both in formal instruction and in personal example–further instills in the laity trust in the liberating Dharma realized and taught by the Buddha.
In the context of Tibetan Buddhism, Drikung Forest Hermitage is an attempt to return to the roots of the Dakpo Kagyu tradition, to the example of the practice-communities gathered around Gampopa, Pakmodrupa and Jikten Sumgön. These early Kagyu masters chose lives of simplicity in mountain hermitages–Tibetan equivalents of Indian araṇyas. These communities emphasized receiving guidance from teachers and pursuing personal meditation practice and study, all within the context of a monastic, communal life.
To date, with the auspicious interdependence of causes and conditions, we have purchased land in the Green Mountain area of North Carolina–a special lot of close to 88 acres. We are about an hour’s drive north of the small mountain city of Asheville. By the end of Summer 2024, our first building big enough for the community to gather will be ready for use. This will be our Dharma Hall 1.0. We envision a number of small, basic, cabins for individual occupancy to follow but we want to be natural and sustainable in the way we build structures on this land. Within five years, we foresee monastics living here, anchoring the hermitage for everyone else and becoming a bright but quiet beacon for all who seek clarity of mind and kindness of heart.