Our History

The Buddhist Center was founded in 1996 by Tim Olmsted in an effort to share the Buddha’s teachings and support those who were already practicing Buddhism, or other spiritual teachings in the community of the Yampa Valley and beyond.

Tim has been a student of the teachings since meeting his first teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in Boulder, Colorado in the mid-70’s. In 1981, Tim and his family moved to Kathmandu, Nepal at the invitation of the great meditation masters: Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, and his son Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. Living in Nepal gave him access to the teachings of all of the great teachers of our time. Tim maintained a busy psychotherapy practice during his years in Nepal.

In 1994, Tim returned from Kathmandu and moved to Steamboat Springs. Two years later, in 1996, he founded the Buddhist Center. In 2000, Tim was asked by Pema Chödrön, one the the most loved and respected western Buddhist nuns of our time, to become the director of Gampo Abbey, the largest monastery in the West. Tim and his wife, Glenna, lived at Gampo Abbey for the next 3 years. Glenna has been the executive assistant to Pema ever since.

Tim is one of the founders and senior instructors of the Tergar Meditation Community, under the guidance of the Mingyur Rinpoche, the youngest son of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. He spends much of the year leading the ‘Joy of Living’ meditation and other retreats featuring Mingyur Rinpoche’s teachings.

Tim is also the founder and board member of The Yongey Foundation that supports Mingyur Rinpoche's activities in Nepal, India and Tibet.

Tim is the president of The Pema Chödrön Foundation, dedicated to the support of monastic tradition in the west, and a variety of organizations that assist underserved communities in the West and in Asia.

Tim’s wife, Glenna, is an artist and has been a realtor in Steamboat Springs for the past 30 years. She is active in the community, having served as one of the ‘dekyongs’ who watch over the well-being of the community and respond to the needs that come up. 

Our Tradition

The Buddhist Center is guided by the Buddha’s teachings in general, and by the Buddhist tradition as it was passed down through the great scholars and meditators of Tibet. Specifically, the emphasis of these teachings is the joining of compassion, the wish to relieve all beings of suffering, and wisdom, the insight into the nature of mind and the world it projects.

These teachings make up the Mahayana, or ‘great vehicle’, and are uniquely applicable for householders living in the world, like us. Finally, the view and methods of the Vajrayana, or ‘Diamond Vehicle’ show us how to directly access the very nature of an awakened mind.  These teachings have come down through the centuries in the Kagyu and Nyingma schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The traditions followed by these schools are known as Mahamudra and Dzogchen respectively.