The Garden of One Thousand Buddhas

Just 30 minutes north of Missoula is a mind-boggling sight: One thousand stark white stone Buddhas lined uP in precision against a backdrop of rolling green hills and blue sky. Rows of serene, meditative statues carry messages of hope and karmic lessons.

As unexpected state novelties go, it’s truly remarkable.

Just past the small rural town of Arlee, and a mile or so jaunt down White Coyote Road, the emerging visual is truly revelatory—a hidden treasure that, at first, seems out of place in Montana. But when one considers this Buddhist shrine is situated on sacred tribal ground, this setting isn’t at all far-fetched.

It began as a vision. Gochen Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche, a Tibetan meditation master and scholar who purchased this site in 2000, had dreamed of a peace garden in a mountainous valley as a small child. The idea eventually manifested in Montana with the Garden of One Thousand Buddhas, a sacred pilgrimage site and Buddhist Ewam learning center established as a landmark of international peace.

With approval from Flathead County’s Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe—and with the participation of volunteers from the community to cast each concrete Buddha—the garden was born. Within 16 years, all of the buddhas were finally completed and placed.

This garden’s careful layout represents the 1,000 buddhas that are believed will actually be born in our religious age. The recurrent layout theme of a grid-like pattern that depicts one thousand buddhas, each sitting atop a lotus platform, can be found throughout art in all of Asia and at many sacred sights.

It’s what’s known as a “wheel of dharma” with a pavilion at its center, seating the female Deity, Tara. Its outer ring features 1,000 white stupas, or temple effigies. Also commonly known as the “Dharmachakra,” its inner structure is an eight-spoke wheel, often called “the wheel of law.” With 125 identical meditating figures per spoke, it is said to manifest an important lesson of Buddhism: that all sentient beings equally have “buddha-nature” and can attain enlightenment.

Nepalese scholar Netra Sharma explains that because Buddhism envisions peace as an inner state of mental tranquility which spreads outward, “attaining a state of inner peace could be an inspiration to all.”

The Garden of One Thousand Buddhas offers more than just a fascinating walk around a stunning property, including additional gardens and beautiful statuary. In spring and summer, the Ewam International center there offers retreats, classes and events. Video teachings from past years can be accessed for free on its website.

People come to the Garden for all sorts of reasons: to sit in a beautiful, tranquil place or just to marvel that anything like it actually exists just beyond Arlee, a town that you might otherwise miss while traveling 40 miles per hour. From U.S. Highway 93, which connects Flathead to Beaverhead counties from north to south, the shrine isn’t even visible from the road.

That something exists purely to inspire, enlighten and invite peace, calm and compassion may be the greatest gift to a tumultuous world. That Rinpoche had a vision that later included Montana, may be the highest of compliments.