On August 9, 1975, the Odiyan land was dedicated: the first stage in creating a center to preserve the heart of the Buddhist tradition. It had taken years to find the perfect property, about 1,000 acres of ridges and meadows, located 1,400 feet above the Pacific Ocean, at 108 miles from Padma Ling, Berkeley. On chosen ground, known to the Indians as the Crest of the Condor, a mandala of realization rose.