New Kunzang Khang (House of All Goodness) Opens at Serenity Ridge
Enjoy the Photographs!
After years of planning, fundraising and more than a year and a half of construction, the new multipurpose building at Serenity Ridge Retreat Center, headquarters of Ligmincha International, opened its door April 12 with a special blessing and ribbon-cutting ceremony.
View of Kunzang Khang from the Garuda House. Photo by Vickie Walter.
Replacing the existing kitchen and dining hall and outdoor dining area, this facility also provides a new registration and welcome area, a large outdoor meditation deck, a recording studio, office space for Ligmincha International, large multipurpose rooms, indoor practice area and a lounge area for residents.
Gathering for the blessing and ribbon-cutting. Photo by Vickie Walter.
The gold-colored roof shines in the clear sky. Photo by Brian Harris.
Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, founder and spiritual director of Ligmincha International, was joined at the ceremony by Khenpo Ngawang Dorjee, head of Tashi Choeling Buddhist Center in Charlottesville, Virginia; Rob Patzig, president of Ligmincha International; and a group of excited participants.
The new facility is called Kunzang Khang—the House of All Goodness. Kuntu Zangpo, which translates as “all good,” is the primordial Buddha, representing the open and spacious nature of mind in the Tibetan Bön dzogchen teachings. (Rinpoche gave the facility its new name scarcely an hour before the ribbon-cutting ceremony began. Since last fall, when Ligmincha resident and visiting lamas had been making offerings for the building to Nampar Gyalwa (“complete victory”), the facility had been called Namgyal Khang (Victory House). But a victory, Rinpoche said at the ceremony, usually includes a winner and a loser, and this new building will be inclusive of everyone—all good.
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche speaks at ribbon-cutting ceremony with Khenpo Ngawang Dorjee and Ligmincha President Rob Patzig. Photo by Regula Franz.
Participants watch the blessing ceremony. Photo by Regula Franz.
VOCL editor Aline Fisher (center) and others prepare to throw rice at the celebration.
Ki Ki So So La Gyal Lo! Photos by Polly Turner.
Participants at the ribbon cutting reflected that inclusiveness. Among those at the gathering were Spring Retreat attendees and other sangha members; neighbors; members of the County Board of Supervisors, swamis and residents from the nearby Yogaville community; and builders, engineers and architects involved in the project. Following the ceremony, everyone was invited into the new building for a special dinner in the new dining hall.
Tenzin Rinpoche cuts the ribbon to Kunzang Khang.
Photos by Regula Franz (left) and Brian Harris (right).
Rinpoche welcomes people into the new building. Photo by Regula Franz.
Rinpoche greets guests in the new dining room. Photo by Rob Patzig.
Khenpo Ngawang Dorjee from Charlottesville with Mataji and Swami Dayananda from Yogaville. Photo by Rob Patzig.
Ligmincha's Executive Director Sue Davis-Dill and Norman Dill inside Kunzang Khang. Photo by Polly Turner.
Marcy Vaughn talks with Swami Karunananda from Yogaville. Photo by Rob Patzig.
The first dinner in the new building. Photo by Rob Patzig.
Kunzang Khang is located in the area between the gompa (meditation hall) and the Lama House. Its spacious welcome and registration area, large dining room with windows that offer an expansive view of the hills beyond, and the new state-of-the-art kitchen can easily accommodate all retreat-goers. A large practice and meeting room can be subdivided for smaller groups, and an expansive rooftop meditation deck offers a quiet environment for practice. A professional-quality recording studio is located on the top floor of the building.
Head cook Pat Leavitt prepares dessert trays. Photo by Rob Patzig. 
Rinpoche talks with guests during the first dinner in the new building.
The new building will help meet expanding needs and open up new possibilities for the Serenity Ridge and international communities. It will allow Serenity Ridge to offer smaller retreats on focused topics, including an increasing number of practice retreats. Ligmincha’s resident lama and other teachers will be able to offer regular meditation session for the nearby community even when the center is rented to other groups. More community-building events are being planned. And the new recording studio will allow Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and other Bön lamas to record teachings and practices to better support the cyber-sangha and to help preserve Bön Buddhism for future generations.
Side view of new building. Photo by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche.
View from below the building.
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche has been involved during every phase of design and construction, including his choice of the three highest rooftops to be gold and copper colored according to the Tibetan tradition, rather than blue, the original plan. An arts committee is working under guidelines from Rinpoche to decorate the interior of the building, which is still ongoing. Two walls of the main floor in office entrance will contain reproductions of two beautiful mandalas from Mexico, the Bön Mother Tantra and Sherap Chamma, the Mother of Wisdom and Love. Lama Kalsang Nyima and Lama Yungdrung Lodoe, resident lamas for Ligmincha Mexico, will join Serenity Ridge for the Summer Retreat, and also will be doing decorative painting for the new building.
Relaxing on one of the porches. Photo by Regula Franz.
Relaxing in front of Kunzang Khang.
Kunzang Khang at night. Photo by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche.
We are grateful to all those who have helped guide this project to manifest—too many people to name! Thanks to our many generous donors, including sangha members and others, who helped make this dream become a reality, and to others who contributed their time and energy in so many ways. A group of talented architects, engineers and builders took the new facility from concept to completion. Special thanks go to longtime sangha member John Massie, who designed the new building, and to Sue Davis-Dill, executive director of Ligmincha International, who was involved day to day in all phases of the project.
Construction superintendent Grover Harris (yellow shirt) and building designer John Massie (right). Photo by Brian Harris.
Kunzang Khang is currently open under a temporary Certificate of Occupancy as finishing work, walkways and other final elements are completed. It is expected that a permanent occupancy certificate will be in place before the Summer Retreat.
The new building still needs many things to help making it a welcoming place for all. This includes new tables, chairs, china and cutlery for the dining hall, along with audio-video equipment, meditation cushions and yoga mats for the practice areas, and more. Please consider making a donation to help the new facility reach completion inside as well as out. Every contribution, no matter how small, is important.
You can donate directly here.
