Former Tibetan monk becomes successful real estate developer

When Lobsang Dargey first came to the United States, he thought he might open a dharma center, but he quickly changed his plans when he looked at his language skills, spiritual training, and the realities of earning a living. Instead, the Seattle Times reports in this profile, Dargey began doing odd jobs as a painter, a salesman, a software designer, and eventually, a successful real estate developer who incorporates Buddhist principles into his work.

After a while in Seattle, it became apparent to Dargey that his blossoming new lifestyle and monastic vows may be at odds with each other and, after consultation with his mother and teachers in Tibet, he gave up his vows and eventually married. Eager to move on from his sales job, Dargey decided to go in to real estate, buying the Everett Public Market in Everett, WA, which he turned in to a suite of offices, along with also a popular restaurant and health food co-op, and later renovating a former government building into a market. During the recession, he developed his first new building, Potala Village Everett, which is named after Potala Palace in Tibet and has 108 apartment units (an auspicious number in Buddhist). His next projects include a large apartment block, a hotel, a community kitchen and an indoor farmers' market.

Dargey, meanwhile, keeps a very Buddhist outlook about his investments.

"I look at it a little differently than ordinary real-estate investors will do," he says. "If tomorrow I have no money and I have to go on the street, I have no problem. That's one of the teachings I've been taught. You can't lose those."

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