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RED FEATHER LAKES - Moving quickly from its '70s roots into the '00s, a little-known Tibetan Buddhist retreat center near this mountain community is embarking on a major expansion to lure the mainstream conference business.
The Rocky Mountain Shambhala Center, which spreads over a 550-acre landscape that is mostly granite boulders and ponderosa pine, has for three decades been a haven for people who seek a place for meditation and contemplative homage to a 2,500-year-old Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
But a master plan to spend $6 million on ultra-tech conference facilities, new housing and dining accommodations is aimed at diversifying the center's clientele to include business meetings as well as spiritual gatherings.
The group is hoping to lure groups that seek all alternative to meeting ill well-equipped but sterile hotel conference settings.
"We began 30 years ago developing this Tibetan Buddhist tradition in America from scratch," said Jeff Walteher, who is directing Shambhala's expansion from the centers Boulder headquarters.
"We've decided we want to take this beyond just working on ourselves, so to speak. Now we're ready to create a facility that is worthy of hosting people from the broader community."
Components of the master plan run the gamut from fiber-optic cables to pots and pans.
But central to the Shambhala expansion is the completion of the Great Stupa - a 10-story tall Buddhist sanctum that has been under construction since 1987.
The stupa, which WaItcher refers to as a "container" for the essence of Buddhist teachings, sits at the head of...