Marpa House: From a Boulder Buddhist Household to a New Chapter

Marpa House- 891-12th st in Boulder, Colorado, holds a special place in the history of Tibetan Buddhism in the West. Named after the 11th-century Tibetan translator and spiritual teacher Marpa Lotsawa, the house became a unique communal living experiment and an important gathering place for Tibetan Buddhist teachers and practitioners. Its history is documented in sources including the City of Boulder historic landmark materials, the Daily Camera’s history of Marpa House, and Shambhala Times.

The Beginning of Marpa House

The building at 891 12th Street on Boulder’s University Hill was originally constructed in 1923 as a fraternity house. In the early 1970s, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche settled in Boulder and founded the Naropa Institute, now Naropa University. In 1973, Trungpa Rinpoche and his students acquired the property through Vajradhatu, the organization that later became Shambhala International. The building was transformed into a residential Buddhist household and meditation community. (City of Boulder, Buddhist Channel, Shambhala Times)

The Household Experiment

Marpa House was an experiment in bringing Buddhist practice into ordinary daily life. Residents shared meals and household responsibilities, maintained shrine rooms, practiced meditation, and lived together as a community. At various points, as many as 30 practitioners lived in the house. Shambhala Times describes the household as part of an effort to explore how Buddhist practice could be integrated into everyday life.

For many people, the significance of Marpa House was precisely this combination of the ordinary and the sacred. It was a place where meditation, study, cooking, cleaning, friendships, visiting teachers, and communal life all happened under one roof.

The Onchen Family at Marpa House

Marpa House was also home to members of the Onchen family, including Lady Konchok Palden, Lama Pegyal, and their son, Gyurme Dorjee Onchen. Their presence gave the house another important dimension. It was not only a residential Buddhist community, but also a place where Tibetan Buddhist family life and traditional practices could be experienced firsthand.

Lady Konchok had been trained as a nun in Tibet and later escaped Tibet with Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. After years in India, she eventually came to the United States and made her home in Boulder. Lama Pegyal brought with him the knowledge and practices of the Onchen lineage, while their son, Gyurme Dorjee, grew up within this family environment.

For those who knew Marpa House during these years, the Onchen family was part of the living history of the house. Their presence connected Boulder not only to the developing Western Buddhist community, but also to an older Tibetan family lineage and its religious traditions.

Lady Konchok has since passed away. The Onchen Lamas eventually left Boulder and now reside in New York, where they continue their Buddhist practice and family lineage traditions. Although they no longer live at Marpa House, the family’s connection with Boulder remains part of the building’s history.

Visiting Teachers and a Growing Buddhist Community

As Boulder became an important center for Tibetan Buddhism and meditation practice, Marpa House welcomed visiting teachers, practitioners, and other important guests. The house became part of a larger network of Buddhist activity developing around Trungpa Rinpoche, Naropa, and the growing community of students arriving in Boulder.

The Dalai Lama also used Marpa House for an official press conference during a historic visit to Boulder. The Daily Camera and City of Boulder documentation both discuss the building’s significance within Boulder’s Buddhist and cultural history.

The End of the Buddhist Household

For more than four decades, Marpa House remained connected to the Buddhist community established around Trungpa Rinpoche and his students. The house changed over time, as communities and families naturally do, while continuing to carry the history of the people who had lived and practiced there.

In 2019, the property was sold to private developers. The sale marked the end of Marpa House as a residential Buddhist household. The history of the building, however, continued to receive attention from people who recognized its significance to Boulder and to the development of Tibetan Buddhism in the West.

The Daily Camera reported on the proposed transition to student housing, while the Boulder Weekly and Home Journal documented later developments involving the property.

Marpa House Today- The Ash House

In 2020, the City of Boulder designated Marpa House as a historic landmark, recognizing the building’s architectural and cultural significance. The property was subsequently renovated and converted into student housing.

The house is therefore very different from the Marpa House that existed when Tibetan Buddhist practitioners lived together there. The Onchen family has moved on, with the Lamas now residing in New York, and the communal Buddhist household has become part of Boulder’s history.

Still, there is something meaningful about knowing what happened inside those walls. For decades, people entered Marpa House to meditate, study, receive teachings, share meals, raise families, welcome visiting teachers, and participate in the early development of Tibetan Buddhism in the American West.

For me, Marpa House represents something larger than a building. It is part of the story of how Tibetan Buddhism traveled from Tibet and India into a very different culture and found a home in places like Boulder. The Onchen family was one thread in that story, bringing an intimate experience of Tibetan Buddhist family life and lineage practice into the community.

The building has changed, the people have moved on, and Lady Konchok is no longer here. Yet the history remains. Marpa House continues to stand as a physical reminder of an important chapter in Boulder’s Buddhist history and of the many people who helped make that history possible.