Re-introducing ZPI Affiliate: Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center

To strengthen our planetary network, ZPI will feature newly affiliated groups.    

Join us here at https://hive.zenpeacemakers.org  to explore some of the offerings of the organizations affiliated with ZPI.

Re-introducing a long-time ZPI affiliate group:

Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center

What is your organization’s name?

Rocky Mountain Echodharma Retreat Center.

What is your mission?

We offer meditation retreats and workshops in nature, hosted by teachers from a wide range of spiritual traditions, and lasting from days to weeks. We bring Buddhism and Dharma back into the natural world where they originated, and in doing so, regain the connection and energy necessary to effectively address ecological and related social crises. We welcome participants from all walks of life. Retreats are affordable and scholarships are available. Click HERE to learn more.

Where is your organization based?

We are located in the mountains near Ward, Colorado, about 30 minutes drive from Boulder, with 180 acres of private river, meadow, and woodland at an altitude of 8500 feet adjacent to National Forest and just a few miles from the Indian Peaks Wilderness. The land is set aside as a nature preserve and home to an abundance of wildlife, including deer, elk, moose, bear, and beaver.

How many regular members do you serve?   500.

Tell us a bit about how the group was conceived?

The center began in 2016 when a group of dharma teachers and practitioners bought 180 acres (with forest trails, meadows, and a creek, along with a lodge, cabin, and barn) as a place to meditate and heal in the natural world.

Tell us about one exciting project, retreat, or other offerings that you are currently working on.

Each summer we offer Ecodharma retreats that focus on meditation in nature, the ecological implications of spiritual teachings, and how to respond appropriately to the ecological and social challenges that confront us today.

How do the Three Tenets inform your social engagement?

Our ecological situation today is grave, but none of us knows how «the Great Unraveling» (Joanna Macy’s term) will unfold. The task for each of us is to «respond appropriately,» to do the best we can without knowing whether anything we do will make a difference.

 

What is the most meaningful challenge your organization faces?

Ecodharma is a new development in contemporary Buddhism, and there is still resistance to this type of social engagement.

Your main website URL:  https://rmerc.org

Main contact: David Loy, vice-president: davidrobertloy@gmail.com

David Loy, is the vice-president of Rocky Mountain Echodharma Retreat Center and one of the leaders/teachers at its retreats. David identifies his spiritual roots as primarily in the Japanese Zen tradition. His Zen practice began in Hawaii in 1971 with Yamada Koun and Robert Aitken and continued with Koun-roshi in Japan, where he lived for almost twenty years. He was authorized to teach in 1988 and has led retreats and workshops nationally and internationally in places such as Spirit Rock, the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center, Terre d’Eveil in Paris, and Dharma Gate University in Budapest. In 2014 David received an honorary Ph.D. from Carleton College, his alma mater, for his contributions to socially engaged Buddhism. To continue reading click HERE.

Share :

Re-introducing ZPI Affiliate: Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center

Deja una respuesta

Tu dirección de correo electrónico no será publicada. Los campos obligatorios están marcados con *

Click Subject for Related Content
Our Journal