concepts · updated 2026-07-19
Lama Foundation
confidence: medium volatility: cold verified: 2026-07-19fresh
An intentional spiritual community near San Cristobal, New Mexico (north of Taos), founded 1967 by Barbara and Steve Durkee and Jonathan Altman. Published the Dome Cookbook (Steve Baer, 1968) under its "cookbook fund." Hosted Ram Dass while he assembled Be Here Now (1970-71). Survived the 1996 Hondo Fire; still active as of 2026.
An intentional, interfaith spiritual community near San Cristobal, New Mexico, 17 miles north of Taos, founded in 1967 by Barbara Durkee (later Asha Greer), Stephen “Steve” Durkee (later Nooruddeen Durkee), and Jonathan Altman, who bought roughly 100 acres adjacent to Carson National Forest. The Durkees came out of the USCO media-arts collective in Rockland County, NY; a local artist, Herman Rednick, reportedly steered them to the site. Construction began by hand in 1968, with no electricity; the foundation incorporated in 1969 as an “educational, religious and scientific” organization.
Steve Baer and the Dome Cookbook
Baer designed and directed construction of the Dome complex, Lama’s first structure, working with Little Joe Gomez of Taos Pueblo. The foundation’s “cookbook fund” published Baer’s Dome Cookbook (dated 1968 in this archive’s sources; Wikipedia gives 1969 — unresolved), along with Sol Shot 1 and Flow Shot 1, and a 1972 reprint of Buckminster Fuller’s 4D. Sol Shot 1 poster is in possession, pending scan. Baer’s connection to Lama runs through the same counterculture network that included Drop City.
Ram Dass and Be Here Now
Ram Dass (Richard Alpert) returned from his first trip to India in 1970 and stayed at Lama, where he gave residents a manuscript, “From Bindu to Ojas.” Community members edited, illustrated, and laid it out; first self-printed and sold by the community, it was later republished by Crown/Hanuman as Be Here Now (1971) and has since sold more than 2 million copies.
Interfaith character
One of the first US spiritual centers to formally host teachers across traditions: Sufi teacher Samuel Lewis, Buddhist teachers Jack Kornfield and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Christian contemplative Father Thomas Keating, and Rabbi Zalman Schachter all taught there.
The 1996 Hondo Fire
On May 5, 1996, the Hondo Fire burned roughly 7,500–10,000+ acres of the surrounding Carson National Forest and destroyed most of Lama’s structures — accounts vary between roughly 20 and 23 of the community’s ~23–27 buildings. The Dome complex and kitchen survived. The community rebuilt using fallen timber, straw bale, cob, and passive/active solar techniques, and became a hub for natural-building and permaculture workshops afterward.
Status
Still active as of 2026, per its own site: a winter core residency of roughly 8–15 people, growing to as many as 100 in summer, and it hosts the Roots and Wings Charter School on-site.