Protecting these buildings means protecting a place of practice, a living lineage, and a home for future generations.
Crestone Mountain Zen Center is home to eleven buildings, including a traditional Japanese wood-joinery zendo — one of the most remarkable meditation halls in the United States. Hoto-an, the building where students meet their teachers, carries the quiet magic of the highest level of craftsmanship.
It was founded by Zentatsu Baker Roshi, the successor of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, and is now led by Tatsudo Nicole Baden Roshi.
"Our effort is to make Zen Buddhist teachings conceptually, emotionally, and practically accessible to contemporary Western practitioners."
– Zentatsu Baker Roshi
Inside the Main House lives a beautiful Kannon, the sister statue of one in Hiroshima Peace Park. We are also caretakers of irreplaceable lineage treasures: Suzuki Roshi's handwritten notes, transmission scrolls, robes handed down through generations, his teacher's okesa, a 700-year-old Jizo Bodhisattva.
"These are not museum pieces. They are living artifacts we are meant to pass on. Once lost, they cannot be replaced. Objects aren’t sentient, but they do accumulate history - and they bring a physical thread through time and space. Once burned, this is lost."
– Tatsudo Nicole Baden Roshi
And of course: We need to protect the people who live and practice here. In a recent survey, fourteen of fifteen current Dharma Sangha residents said they would never have committed themselves to practice the way they have, were it not for their time at Crestone.
Given our remote location, we will need a shelter in place for people to be safe.
"It's not if the fire comes — it's when. We are 130 years into a gap that once reset every decade. The question is not whether we'll face fire, but whether we'll be ready.“
– Ben Brack, Former Local Fire Chief
We are creating three interconnected circles of protection and restoration.
Protecting people, lineage treasures, and the main buildings of our campus. For this, we need water on the core buildings and a shelter in place.
We have begun collaborations with companies skilled at restoring our high-desert ecosystem: helping the soil retain water, working with mycelium, and tending to wildlife.
Land-back projects with new partners, and using the Dharma Academy to participate in a wider culture of contemplative wisdom.
These three circles are interconnected.
Every contribution strengthens all three.
This is the driest year in Colorado's recorded history. The question is no longer if wildfire will come, but when—and whether we are prepared.
The least that constitutes a working system.
If funds allow: a standalone shelter for people and lineage treasures: Plus $80,000
The core campus, protected whether or not anyone is here.
Every building on the property, built to last.
Every contribution—large or small—brings us closer to protecting this place and the generations to come.
