About Tashi Choling Center for Buddhist Studies

Tashi Chöling was founded in 1980 by the Buddhist master Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche. For over 20 years, students have gathered here to study and practice the ancient spiritual tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism under the guidance of Gyatrul Rinpoche, a lama greatly loved for his wit, compassion, profound insight, and genuine humility.

His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche and Gyatrul Rinpoche
© Robin Lai

In 1980, the great master His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche came to bless the land where Tashi Chöling now stands, saying, “those who practice here sincerely will have the opportunity to obtain the rainbow body.”

Over the course of the years, many other great living masters of Vajrayana Buddhism have visited and taught at Tashi Chöling, including H.H. Penor Rinpoche, Dodrup Chen Rinpoche, Yangthang Rinpoche, and Yeshe Dorje Rinpoche.

temple photo

The Temple

Located in the secluded Colestin Valley south of Ashland, Oregon, Tashi Chöling’s traditional Tibetan temple faces south on an open hillside, much as monasteries once stood on the mountains and cliffs of Tibet. The 4-story temple, with its colorful roofs, ornaments, red pillars and fluttering prayer flags, sparkles like a jewel amidst the rugged Siskiyou Mountains.

The temple’s interior presents a vivid display of traditional Tibetan sacred art and architecture. A complete scriptural library and eight larger-than-life-sized statues fill the long altar. Thangka paintings depicting the life of the Buddha and other enlightened masters hang on its saffron colored walls. This rich contemplative art, along with the butterlamps, incense, flowers, water bowls, and other offerings, combine to create an atmosphere of joyful tranquility within the temple.

A new addition to the temple is the nearly completed east wing. Designed to provide additional space for spiritual study and practice, the east wing will house a dining and assembly hall, kitchen, office, library, and quarters for visiting lamas and retreatants.

The Mandala Gardens
Visitors to Tashi Chöling arrive first at the Mandala Garden, set in a meadow below the temple. The garden is a very peaceful place to meditate and pray. In the spring and summer, its flowers, shrubs and trees bloom in a resplendent display of color and form.

Entering the front gate, one walks down a pathway lined with beautifully painted prayer wheels. These prayer wheels, completed in the summer of 2003, are the most recent addition to the garden..

The garden is also home to a 35-foot high statue of Vajrasattva, set in the center, and 20-foot high statues of White Tara and Green Tara to either side. Vajrasattva, known as the Buddha of Primordial Purity, is dedicated to purification of negativity. The Green and White Tara statues represent two aspects of Tara, the female Buddha. Green Tara is dedicated to the pacification of obstacles and White Tara is for long life.The garden also contains a beautiful Long Life Shrine dedicated to the longevity of our teacher, Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche. The shrine is filled with exquisite frescos and a large prayer wheel.

East Wing photo

The East Wing

Since the temple’s beginnings some 25 years ago, there has been the hope to create a traditional environment for Buddhist studies and the wish that Tashi Chöling could better accommodate participants in annual and private retreat situations. That aspiration is now becoming a reality. Major construction of our new East Wing is nearing completion. We have engaged in the major exterior work, and the interior projects are steadily being accomplished. This includes electrical and kitchen facility installation, heating, insulation, dry walling, tiling, carpeting, painting, hardware and plumbing. Adjacent to the temple, the ground floor of the East Wing houses the center’s kitchen, dining and assembly hall, office, public restrooms, and laundry facilities. An archival library, lama’s quarters and retreat rooms are on the second floor. If you would like more information, click here.

Amitabha Shrine

Amitabha Site

The Amitabha Shrine can be seen on a hill to the west of the temple. The shrine contains three beautiful statues as well as sacred texts. The life-sized statue of the red Buddha Amitabha in the center of the shrine is flanked by statues of the bodhisattvas Chenrezig and Vajrapani.

In the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, practitioners rely upon Amitabha, the Buddha of Limitless Light, at the time of death. The shrine is dedicated for prayer offerings on behalf of the deceased. It is the first of its kind in the West.

A Statement of Aspiration, by Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche

“All the activities of the great lamas such as H.H. the Dalai Lama and H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche are solely for the benefit of sentient beings, who in these especially degenerate times are in need of refuge. The supreme refuge is in Buddha Shakyamuni. Through the union of his compassion and wisdom, his body, speech and mind exist as the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, the Three Jewels of Refuge. The Three Jewels of Refuge are not only for easterners living in Buddhist countries but for anyone who has interest in their meaning. Through the blessing of the lamas who have graced us, and through the merit of this country, many Americans are connecting to the teachings of Buddha Shakyamuni, which are like nectar that heals all suffering.

Tashi Chöling is a symbolic mandala. The outer form is the temple, the inner form is the sangha, the secret aspect is meditation, and the supremely secret aspect is liberation itself. According to our abilities, we have built a place of refuge in which to practice Dharma so that our body, speech and mind can make a connection on an inner level which leads to true understanding of the symbolic representation. Life is short, and in this temporary situation one can learn, practice and purify obscurations to spiritual development. In the future, if one has applied these methods, one will be lead to liberation from all suffering. This is the aspiration of the Buddha.”

Tashi Chöling provides a place of spiritual refuge and an established program of study and practice in order to preserve the authentic living tradition of Tibetan Buddhism for the benefit of all beings.