Mission, Vision, Values

Tara Mandala · Vast View · Open Heart

Mission

Tara Mandala is an international Buddhist organization led by Lama Tsultrim Allione, based at Tara Mandala Retreat Center in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Its mission is to benefit all beings through teachings leading to the development of wisdom and compassion, with a primary focus on the lineage of the 11th century Tibetan woman teacher, Machig Labdrön. Her teachings offer the revolutionary paradigm of feeding not fighting, which has applications in both personal and collective arenas.

Vision

We envision Tara Mandala generating a global network of meditation centers and sanghas practicing the lineage of Machig Labdrön for the benefit of all beings, using both ancient Tibetan teachings and modern adaptations of these methods.

Tara Mandala is a vibrant international Buddhist Community with its hub at the 700-acre retreat center in Pagosa Springs, Colorado where both group and solitary retreat facilities are available.  We maintain and steward Tara Mandala Retreat Center with careful attention to the spirits of the land and its preservation for future generations. We offer a complete path to realization anchored in Machig Labdrön’s lineage with opportunities for both deep retreat and practice in the world.

Organizational Values

• We recognize the sacredness of all life
• We recognize there is an imbalance in the world creating the current state of ecological and political emergency
• We believe the re-emergence of the sacred feminine through spiritual and social development is key to healing this imbalance leading to partnership between masculine and feminine, in a more balanced and compassionate world
• We support a just and equitable world
• We cut through our hopes and fears by feeding not fighting our demons and thus transforming obstacles into allies
• We see all that arises as a potential path to awakening
• We know compassion is the recognition of interdependence and act accordingly
• We find ways to offer teachings to people in a variety of circumstances

“The loss of feminine qualities is an urgent psychological and ecological issue in modern society. It is a painful loss in our emotional lives and a disastrous loss for the safety of life on earth…It is by empowering the sacred feminine and by listening to the earth as she tries to communicate with us that we will ultimately heal…

…We need to develop the model of mutually empowered partnership with men rather than domination of either gender, societies that promote power with rather than power over each other.”

~ Lama Tsultrim Allione, Wisdom Rising: Journey into the Mandala of the Empowered Feminine

Tara Mandala’s Commitment to Inclusivity

Tara Mandala is committed to being a welcoming, open, and safe community for practitioners and students of all cultures, races, religions, genders, sexual orientations, age, ability, and circumstances. 

The intention of our Participant’s Code of Conduct is to ensure that all people feel welcomed, appreciated, accepted, and safe at all Tara Mandala programs, (e.g. onsite, in-person, or online) as well as foster a shared understanding of Tara Mandala’s commitment to supporting equity, diversity, and inclusion.