The Padmasambhava Stupa was the first stupa built in Colorado.
In 1982, Jim George bought a parcel of land at the end of Carefree Way. He pondered what to do with it; how might it benefit the valley spiritually? He asked the leader of the Nyingma tradition, the Ven Dudjom Rinpoche, who replied, “Build a stupa.” The Venerable Dilgo Kyentse Rinpoche, then on a trip to Colorado, selected the actual location on George’s land.
Hanne Strong, a friend of George, asked Lama Ugyen Shenpen and Paul Kloppenburg to come to help initiate the project. Paul had the diagram for the precise dimensions of what would be an eleven-foot-tall stupa. Bobbie Troutman and Michael Barron supervised the foundation pour and built all the concrete forms of the stupa structure. The thirteen-ringed spire was made on a large potters wheel by Bertha Gotterup and then kiln-fired.
Lama Ugyen Shenpen was instrumental in arranging the interior. As with all stupas, an obelisk-shaped post made from juniper was placed in the center. This tsok-shing (‘life-pole’) was painted red and adorned with mantras written in gold on the four sides. It was further empowered with special relics gathered from Tibet & India. Ten thousand clay tsa tsa’s (miniature stupas) were handmade with clay in brass molds, then sun-dried, painted and placed inside the stupa surrounding the life-post. The stupa was completed in 1982 and consecrated by Sogyal Rinpoche.
In 2002 Paul was inspired to make serious repairs and transform the ‘Little Stupa’ into a memorial for one of Tibet’s most important historical figures, Padmasambhava, an extraordinarily powerful Indian pandita who came to Tibet in the seventh century to establish Vajrayana Buddhism. Guru Rinpoche, as he is also known, is a fitting subject for a stupa celebrating the birth of Vajrayana Buddhism in the contemporary western world.
A beautiful goldleaf Gau, (‘portico’) was commissioned, first sculpted in clay by artist Barbara Falconer and then incorporated into a concrete-poured niche with a gold leaf front. Facing out is a beautiful bronze cast statue of Padmasambhava, empowered with precious relics of prominent Tibetan lamas and yogins..
The stupa endured considerable neglect over the following twenty years, and the immediate area around the stupa was filled with houses, domes and other structures, walled off on one side and difficult to access. The peaceful nature of the stupa and its surroundings was increasingly disturbed and the whole area took on a forlorn aspect.
After several years of discussion and consultation with lamas from Colorado, New Mexico and Tibet, the executive committee of KTTG made the momentous decision to move the stupa to a more open area nearby. In the fall of 2024, the Padmasambhava Stupa was transferred to its current location at the bottom of Cordial Way in the Baca Grande.