Trinlay Khachöd Ling
Big Indian, New York
Bodhivastu’s Big Indian Meditation Retreat and Healing Sanctuary is a place where teachings are transmitted concerning the various physical and spiritual practices used within the context of awakening.
The center serves as a gathering space for a broad range of community activities including group meditation, prayer, mind training, retreats, volunteer initiatives, and body movement instruction.
As a community, we are continuously developing TKL as an artwork of life, devotion, and purification.
“Spiritual places don’t belong to individuals, they belong to the world,
and it is us who are the custodians, that’s all— no one really ‘owns land’.”
- Lama Rangbar
History
From the 1970s to the 1990s, TKL was previously known as the Swami Rudrananda Ashram (RUDI’s Big Indian for short). Rudra is an epithet for the deity Shiva. Upon Rudi’s passing, the ashram was purchased by Dr. John Mann who continued running it as a spiritual learning center for several decades.
In 2014, the first portion of the land was donated to the Bodhivastu Foundation so that it could continue to serve its main purpose as a meditation and retreat sanctuary. In 2018, Bodhivastu purchased the remaining portion of the land, and thus became the sole custodians of the entire property.
H.H. Dudjom Sangye Pema Shepa Rinpoche arrived at our center on July 5th, 2019 and offered its profoundly blessed name: “Trinlay Khachöd Ling.”
Trinlay refers to the Four Miraculous Enlightened activities of Vajrakilaya, one of the main practices of our center. It also refers to Method or Compassion.
Khachöd refers to the Wisdom Principle, and our practice of the Black Wrathful Mother (Tröma Nagmo).
Ling refers to the place where all this happens: in non-dual pure vision.
The name therefore blesses the center as: Pureland of the Dakinis benefitting all beings.
Lama Rangbar recounts an interesting piece of history related to the land transition:
“Circa the very early 1980s, I was on a one year meditation retreat under the guidance of His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche at his meditation center in Greenville, NY. Word got into my retreat that some visitors had come from the Rudi community carrying a huge Phurba fabricated from the airplane from the crash that took Rudi’s life. They had come to request His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche to bless the Phurba to be used as the central shaft (Tsog Shing) of the Stupa they were building in Rudi’s honor. Who could have guessed that the same property and Stupa would come to be under the auspices of the Dudjom Tersar Lineage some three decades later? Wonders never cease.”
Visit Us
The center is open dawn to dusk as a pilgrimage site for the public to enjoy year-round. You are welcome to visit any day, however if you would like entry to the main Meditation Hall, please contact us ahead of your visit to ensure access.
Car
Bus
Adirondack Trailways offers a service to Pine Hill, NY from the 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal. Please prompt the driver to drop you at the intersection of Route 28 and Oliveria Rd.
TKL is about a 2.5 hour drive from NYC— just off the main Route 28, about 30 minutes past the Woodstock exit.
No Wi-Fi or Cell Phone connectivity at TKL.
One may think that not having these things is a nuisance when in fact, it is one of the many natural positive and healing characteristic of the center. The deep feeling of peace everyone experiences at TKL is one of its most palpable features.
If you need to make a call or connect to the internet while at our center, we have a landline and easy access to places such as Peekamoose Restaurant (1 mile from our center) who have Wi-Fi.