The Garden of One Thousand Buddhas, Buddhist garden in Arlee, Montana, United States.
The Garden of One Thousand Buddhas is a spiritual site near Arlee, Montana, on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Its monument is a 500-foot-diameter footpath shaped like a dharmachakra, with an outer ring and eight spokes radiating from a 24-foot statue of Yum Chenmo, Prajnaparamita. Each spoke holds 125 two-foot Buddha statues, and a six-foot vault beneath the central statue contains relics and prayers.
The garden was founded by Gochen Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche, a Tibetan master of the Nyingma school, who chose the site on first sight, recalling a prophetic dream from his youth. His non-profit Ewam received the land as an anonymous donation from one of his disciples, and construction began in 2000. The final Buddha was placed in 2015, completing 1,000 Buddhas and 1,000 stupas, and Rabjam Rinpoche consecrated the garden on October 7, 2023.
The garden belongs to the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism and was founded by Gochen Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche, who was imprisoned for ten years after the Chinese invasion of Tibet. Its center hosts mass and individual prayer, speeches, musical performances and shared practices with Salish-Kootenai people, whose tribal officials in 2011 welcomed the garden's open, nondenominational character.
The garden is free and open all year. The outer rim is meant for clockwise circumambulation, so walk in that direction while meditating. The site lies near Arlee within the Flathead Indian Reservation, in the Jocko Valley; the monument itself covers 750 square feet within 10 acres of grounds.
The central statue of Yum Chenmo, 24 feet tall, sits above a six-foot-deep vault holding Buddhist relics and prayers. The garden's founder, Gochen Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche, chose the site after recognizing it from a prophetic dream of his youth.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,048 contributors worldwide.