Miyo Samten Ling, Crestone, Colorado
Contemplatives of all traditions have long sought out natural places of great beauty. Miyo Samten Ling, or the “Hermitage of Unwavering Samadhi,” rests on 110 acres of ancient sacred land near the town of Crestone, Colorado, nestled beneath the soaring peaks of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, and hovering at the edge of a vast high-altitude desert, the San Luis Valley. The landscape is adorned with piñon pines and miniature flowering cacti, and is home to elk, deer, black bears, rabbits, coyotes, and many species of birds in their natural habitat.
Drölkar Ling Hermitage, Castellina Marittima, Tuscany, Italy
The land in Castellina Marittima, Tuscany on which Drölkar Ling Hermitage and Sita Tara Villa are situated was purchased by the Santa Barbara Institute in 2019 to become the first CCR. It is overseen and operated by an Italian nonprofit, La Fondazione per la Ricerca Contemplativa (the Foundation for Contemplative Research), and is closely affiliated with the Center for Contemplative Research in the United States and the Centre for Contemplative Research Aotearoa, in New Zealand.
Jhampa Ling, Murchison, New Zealand
The retreat centre property rises up from the river flat to merge seamlessly with the Kahurangi National Park, which surrounds the valley and crowns most of the northwest region of the South Island. There are some forty farming families in the lower reaches of the valley. Higher up, the hills and mountains are clad in native forest along with some plantations of pine. In addition to indigenous birds and a particularly rare species of carnivorous snail, the forest is also home to wild deer, goats, and pigs, and is carpeted with mosses, lichens, ferns, and orchids.
