Tibetan Lama Looks to Build A Retreat Here

To experience summer on the South Fork is to witness the flaunting of materialism and, sometimes, unfathomable wealth. But if the efforts of Dan Lauter and Donna Soszynski-Lauter are successful, residents and visitors may one day experience treasures of an entirely different sort.

Mr. Lauter and Ms. Soszynski-Lauter, former residents of Amagansett who live in Chappaqua, N.Y., are assisting Lama Migmar Tseten, a Tibetan monk who is the Buddhist chaplain at Harvard University, in the search for a site at which to establish a temple and retreat center. With a donation of land, the South Fork would have a place at which the “three jewels” of Buddhism — the Buddha, the dharma (the teachings of Buddha), and the sangha, or community of practitioners — could flourish.

One who becomes a Buddhist is said to take refuge in the three jewels, as Mr. Lauter and Ms. Soszynski-Lauter have done. They met Lama Migmar several years ago at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge, Mass., where he was teaching a program on Medicine Buddha, a Tibetan spiritual healing practice. “We made a nice connection with him,” Mr. Lauter said, “and started to talk about what seemed to be a void with this type of authentic lineage in the metropolitan area.”

In New England, Lama Migmar leads groups focused on Tara, a deity that in Tibetan Buddhism has 21 forms. Mr. Lauter and Ms. Soszynski-Lauter launched a satellite group in Chappaqua, which Mr. Lauter called a great way to introduce people to Buddhist teachings. More recently, in a discussion of the transitory nature of campus communities, Lama Migmar was “kind of lamenting that there wasn’t a real­ sangha community that sticks together and grows,” Mr. Lauter said, and asked the couple if they would be interested in helping to establish a permanent temple and retreat center. “When he said he was interested in the East End of Long Island, it sounded like an ideal place for a lot of reasons,” he said.

The tranquillity and natural beauty of the South Fork, the couple felt, was one reason, its proximity to the New York City metropolitan area another. “Lama asked us to set up a Tara group in New York City,” Mr. Lauter said. “That could also act as a feeder” for a retreat center here.

“We have found that when you have somebody like Lama, who’s very present, there is a real authentic and profound teaching,” Ms. Soszynski-Lauter said. “Also, Lama is very knowledgeable, articulate, intelligent, grounded, and accepting, and can help you break the concepts down. He’s written quite a number of books, and he travels a lot. He’s used to different audiences and interacting with people.”

“To have that kind of presence is pretty special,” Mr. Lauter agreed. When the lama attends the Tara group in Chappaqua, he said, “It makes a big difference to have somebody like that as a central figure. There’s a direct connection when you’re in the room with him.”

For his part, Lama Migmar expressed admiration for his students. “They are now yogis,” he said of Mr. Lauter and Ms. Soszynski-Lauter. “They are daily practitioners. They have opened their home to the Tara meditation group, which is difficult to do.”

A temple and retreat center on the South Fork, he said, would serve as a base for “meditation, prayers, and mindfulness. Spiritual practice.” Human life is complex, he said. “We have many needs — we have sickness, poverty, different karma,” or the sum of actions in our present and past states of existence. With spiritual practice, he said, one can “empower one’s self, bring more strength and confidence, subdue negative forces, and ultimately achieve enlightenment.”

For spiritual seekers, “It’s said that the teacher finds you,” Mr. Lauter noted. “We met with Lama Migmar, and it’s been a deep connection.” Taking refuge, Ms. Soszynski-Lauter said, is about “love and compassion for all sentient beings. That’s the core, loving-kindness.”

Just as they established a Tara group in Chappaqua, Mr. Lauter and Ms. Soszynski-Lauter hope that their outreach efforts will begin the process of establishing a temple and retreat center. “Our goal is to get the word out to people, in the hope that they will help through direct land donation, or to assist us in our efforts to make the proper connections to help donation outreach,” Mr. Lauter said. “This would be so helpful to the process.”

“It’s not about us,” Ms. Soszynski-Lauter said of the effort. “It’s about building a community.”