Favorite Cabin Gets an Upgrade

Dhritarashtra is my favorite retreat cabin, especially since our Tree Guy took down some big old pines that were leaning the wrong way. It’s really opened up the view, giving what was once a shady front yard a wonderful look at the sky.

The cabin itself was designed by the Vidyadhara, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. He put the shrine on the east wall, beneath a large “skylight.” As you sit in meditation, the woodstove crackles at your back. 

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The bed, on the north wall, is built right into the cabin, creating a nook between two large windows. Dhritarashtra’s layout resembles the Great Eastern Sun cabin, symmetrical and well-designed.

This winter, a crack appeared on the wall above the shrine. Our Facilities team checked it out and found dampness inside the wall. The likely culprit is some faulty flashing around the skylight, which diverted water beneath the tar shingles and ruined the plywood beneath, as well as the sheets of drywall inside.

So Dhritarashtra’s been getting some love these past few months. It’s been refitted with rigid insulation and hung with new sheetrock. It’s getting a new roof, with pine boards over the porch instead of plywood, and is getting topped with new shingles and flashing this month. They’re roofing the wood shed and outhouse, while they’re at it.

During a Feng Shui tour of the Retreat Cabins in 2019, Dr. Eva Wong was drawn to the view opened up by our Tree Guy. 

“You know, I think that’s a very nice spot,” Eva said. “So here’s something to consider. Maybe halve some logs to make a sitting area. I’m sure people will start sitting on those things.”

So the next year, last fall, we made a bench out of one section of a felled pine’s trunk, and hope it will make a comfortable seat for sky gazing. 

Eva continues: “This is a nyen type cabin. It has a sky energy. I think it would be suitable for Werma,” she said. “And also I think — because of its openness, and being less crowded —  beginning (meditators) would also feel safe here.”

There’s plenty more trunk to work with, so maybe there’ll be a chance to make more outdoor furniture. Eva mentioned a power spot at Nirmanakaya cabin, just up the hill, that would make a good spot for a bench.

Have you retreated at Dhritarashtra? If so, thank you for your practice.  It’s soaked up the energy of many great practitioners over the years — such as you. Maybe you’ll be the first to take it for a spin under its new roof.

Do you have a retreat story to tell? We’d love to hear about it.