Che showed me the way to the Zen Mountain Center. It's one of those days when I felt like praising the the Lord. But it is not my first visit to a Buddhist temple, it's the second in recent years. I was expecting the Ling Yen Mountain Temple kind of grandiosity that I saw in Richmond BC during a visit to Vancouver, Canada a few years back. There were no shaved robe-wearing monks chanting oms all day. There was only this hamlet-like community in the idyllic idyll in the foothills of Idyllwild wilderness.
To this inglorious wanderer, the Ling Yen Mountain Temple and the Zen Mountain Center were a study in contrasts.While the Ling Yen Mountain Center is located in the center of a bustling Richmond BC metropolis, the Zen Mountain Center is nestled to the peace and quiet of Mountain Center, a census designated place at the foothills of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto National Forests.
The palatial Ling Yen Mountain Temple is based on the
pure land tradition of Ling Yen Shan of China. In Buddhism talk, a pure land is the celestial realm focus in Mahayana Buddhism. Mahayana, which means great vehicle in Sanskrit, refers to the path of bodhisattva seeking complete enlightenment for the benefit of all living beings such as ant, flies and worms and this shithead. A bodhisattva is a seeker or wanderer or simply a person who is able to reached nirvana but deprives themselves of enjoying the earned rewards of nirvana, which is like being high as a kite, out of compassion for others who were suffering. The Ling Yen Shan tradition of China follows of the teachings of Master Miao Lien who is also known with the Sweet Dew Chan Buddhism practice in China.
The Zen Mountain Center, on the other hand, has its roots in Japan. The term "zen", however, is derived from the Chinese word "chan" and has its roots to the meditation practice by Siddharta Gautama whose teachings became the core of Buddhism. Siddharta Gautama who was born in what is now known as Nepal was the leader and founder of a sect of wandering ascetics that came to be known as Sangha which means community in Sanskrit. After Gautama's death, the Sangha he founded slowly evolved into a movement which eventually became a state religion in India. The practice of Zen or Zazen where za means sitting and zen means meditation in Japan is the core of Zen Buddhism. Zen Buddhism is a branch of Buddhism dominant in Japan.
The Sangha, which means community in Japanese, is officially known as the
Yokoji Zen Mountain Center. Yokoji, which means sunlight temple in Japanese, was founded in 1982 by Taizan Maezumi Roshi, a Zen Buddhist teacher. Born Hirotaka Kuroda in Japan in 1931, the Buddhist holy shih tzu who later took his mother's name Maezumi was ordered as Soto Zen monk at the age of eleven. The Zen Mountain Center is a Soto Zen Buddhist temple.
Che and I were wandering like lost hikers at the premises of the spartan-looking Buddhist temple when were approached by a stern-looking shaved one and told us that the Zen meditation instruction class starts at 9:30 am. We were led into what looked liked a prayer room and together with Cathy, another first-timer, the three of us learned the basics of zen practice from a blond pony-tailed Sangha member who could have been my glorious holy shih tzu incarnate. I think he introduced himself to us as John or Bob.
Our pony-tailed guru introduced us to the use of small rounded pillows called zafu to help us sit grounded on the floor on different zen positions. The lotus position is the most stable of all positions and the most difficult where each foot is placed on top of the the opposite thigh. With the help of a zafu to elevate the butt so that the knees can touch the ground, the three of us attempted every position that our pony-tailed one demonstrated. Half lotus require only one foot on a thigh but it is recommended that each foot and thigh be alternately used to be for stability and balance on the floor. Most of us were able to do the Burmese position in which both legs are crossed and both feet rest on the floor.The zeiza was my favorite. It reminds me of what my mother discouraged me to do as a girl-child. Without the use of zafu, sitting on ones limbs seemed to give old women the impression that a delicate part of the female anatomy is licking the floor.
The basics of zazen included breathing techniques. We were taught to count our breathing and to focus on our counting so as not to start daydreaming. During zazen, one is to keep his or her back straight, breathe through one's nose. To keep oneself from drooling while doing the zazen, the tongue must press lightly against the upper palate. At first I kept my depth of field a couple of feet downward with my eyelids lowered until I started counting my steps as hiked uphill into the ridge. Our pony-tailed guru used a timer for the practice instructions and I was actually looking out the window the whole time and occasionally glanced at Che who almost looked like an enlightened one.
After the basic zazen instructions, our pony-tailed one led us into what could be the main building for the main zazen and dharma talk by Tenshin Roshi. Tenshin Fletcher Roshi who is the dharma is also the the abbot of the abbey. Tenshin Roshi received his Dharma transmission (authorization to teach) from the White Plum Sangha, a lineage established by the founder of the Yokoji Zen Mountain Center. The dharma talk which is more intimate and participatory is like a Eucharistic celebration for Catholics.
The Jizo statue is not the Japanese or Buddhist version of Jesus. Jizo is Jizo Bosatsu whose Sanskrit name is Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. The most beloved of all Japanese divinities, Jizo-san was a savior from hell's torments and the patron of all children, pregnant Buddhist women, firemen, travelers, pilgrims, migrants, and aborted babies. Like Buddha the enlightened one, Jizo-san deprived himself of nirvana until all can be saved.
What interested me the most was knowing that the wilderness that Yokoji Zen Mountain Center sits on is part of the Pacific Crest Trail, the national trail system which starts from Mexico and ends in Canada. As I counted my breathing while our pony-tailed one taught us the basics of zazen, my thoughts was already wandering on the trails. I tried to count my breathing to ward off shortness of breath and altitude sickness while hiking elevations along the PCT trails of Idyllwild, not far from the area.
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