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photo by Drew Fleming Brightly colored religious ornaments capture the attention of Ashland resident Phil Vasquez (in tie-dyed shirt) and other visitors Sunday during an open house at the Tibetan Buddhist temple in the Colestin Valley. Buddhists open temple doors Ancient wisdom calls to visitors To see the grounds The Tibetan Buddhist temple at the Tashi Choling retreat center is closed to the public except by special appointment. But the garden is generally open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The garden features some of the largest Buddha statues in North America. A 35-foot sculpture of Vajrasattva, the Buddha of primordial purity, and two 20-foot sculptures of Tara, the female embodiment of Buddha, decorate the garden. The easiest way to reach the retreat center is to take the Mount Ashland exit from Interstate 5 and follow the signs to Mount Ashland. About a mile up the Mount Ashland Road, the Colestin Road turns downhill to the left. Follow the Colestin Road to Tashi Choling. You'll see the garden and prayer flags from the road. Please respect the monks' and nuns' privacy. By BILL KETTLER COLESTIN -- Prayer flags flapped in the breeze Sunday as an old Buddhist monk thanked Southern Oregon for helping to keep his religious tradition alive. The Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, 75, spoke to more than 500 people who traveled to the Colestin Valley to see the Buddhist retreat center that he helped organize more than 20 years ago. "What we are preserving here is an ancient wisdom that is still with us," said Gyatrul Rinpoche, "and it is just as beneficial now as it has been." The retreat center, called Tashi Choling, opened its doors to the curious Sunday for the first general open house in its 21-year history. Nick O'Connor, an Ashland Buddhist, said local Tibetan Buddhist practitioners arranged the open house to encourage people to visit their temple and learn a little about their faith. "We just felt this was an auspicious time to share," said O'Connor, who has studied Buddhism for 13 years. "One of the main tenets in Buddhism is harmony," he said. "We're trying to reach out and develop a relationship with the surrounding community." Visitors walked through a formal garden decorated with larger-than-life Buddha statues, turned a giant prayer wheel, and looked at religious objects in the temple. Gyatrul Rinpoche spoke on Tibetan Buddhism's role in the modern world. "What we are making available to the American people, " he said through an interpreter, "is a minor glimpse of this ancient tradition of spiritual development. "Because of your support we have something that is a replica of Tibetan Buddhism here in America." Gyatrul Rinpoche founded Tashi Choling ("Fortunate Dharma Center") in 1978 on 67 acres in the Colestin Valley. Students of Tibetan Buddhism and volunteers have constructed three large Buddha statues and a traditional Tibetan Buddhist temple, along with a garden and a residence. Several monks and nuns now live at the center and teachers visit to help local practitioners deepen their understanding of their faith. For many of Sunday's visitors, the open house was their first direct experience with one of the world's oldest religious traditions and its colorful representations of Buddha, the enlightened one. "I came to see the temple," said Colette Pleich of Ashland. "I'm not interested in Buddhism as a religion. The scenery is beautiful and the temple is gorgeous. The colors are so vibrant." O'Connor, who was raised a Catholic in Chicago, said Buddhism's kernel of truth is the same as all the world's principal faiths. "Compassion is at the root of all great religions." he said. "We all want to be good people. It's a very simple thing, but very difficult to do." Many visitors came to learn more about a faith that has attracted people who have been unable to find spiritual fulfillment in traditional Christianity. "There's a fascination to meet a culture where religion is part of (everything in) the entire culture," said Carolyn Mayer, a Buddhist practitioner from Ashland. Mayer said several hundred practicing Tibetan Buddhists live in Southern Oregon and Northern California. One of them, Kim De Long of Ashland, was making her first visit to the temple. "It's powerful," she said. "It's an incredible blessing for this entire area to have this here." O'Connor said the size of the crowd surprised organizers, who had expected perhaps 200 to 300 people. He said the number of visitors would probably encourage Tibetan Buddhists to open the retreat center more frequently. "Hopefully," he said, "we'll do this on some type of regular basis." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA