Eve Bohnett

Intrigued by a secluded monastery type of Zen hot springs resort in Carmel Valley, California, we begin driving into the Santa Lucia muntains even though it is quite late. We decide nighttime driving will be the best way to endure a long bumpy drive. Tassajara is an extremely isolated and rustic place. The drive is 16 miles off of any paved road through the mountains which then drops into a granite rock and hot springs valley. It is clearly a very remote space to practice Zen. There were dozens of reasons why the zen practitioners might have hidden themselves in this place: most of the personal Buddhist retreats are carried out a far as possible from civilization, and some had found no where else like it to practice in a community.

Suzuki Roshi is the spiritual master that manifested the 126 acre Tassaraja Zen Center. This was the first monastic Zen center outside of Asia, and focuses on a tradition from the Tang dynasty dating back to the 12th century. It is included in a circuit with the San Francisco Zen Center and Green Gulch Zen Center in Marin. These adjacent communities participate in a unique work trade schedule. The students can work for several months, and in exchange meditate for several months at one of their centers. The result is a large community of Zen practitioners who maintain the properties, and cater to guests and residents with an elegant dining experience.

There is a "green" conference center that is newly constructed and one end of the property adjacent to the hot springs pools. The property has a large number of solar panel installations that power the facilities. There are rooms and bungalows that are even spaced throughout the property and range in price from $260 up. In the middle of the center grounds, there is a large Zendo meditation hall where there are group meditations and evening dharma talks. There is a large dining area for students, a separate dining area for guests, and a huge kitchen. If you're on a budget, camping is available in designated camping areas back down on the road. Staying for a day the pass is $35, and that includes soaking in the hot springs and participating in any Zen meditation classes that are offered that day. The center also features week long and weekend courses and retreats about meditation or yoga that are separate and have their own pricing.

The Zen students occupy the facilities during the winter months for intensive monastic practices which is called a practice period. The center re-opens for guests beginning in mid-April - September. During this time the students serve the community at large and earn work-trade credits to participate in the practice periods in the winter. The Zen students engage in a rigorous schedule involving zazen (meditation), study, and work. The central theme of work is preparing gourmet vegetarian food for the guests. The internationally renown artisan Tassajara Breadbook, published in 1970, is a bestselling vegetarian cookbook created by the authors living on site.

"What were we to do first? The hot springs, I think. Yes? And then the river- I want to go to the Narrows- and the Zendo- will they be having a talk today, do you think? Oh, I want to see everything!” He smiles and drew me closer to his side. He loves me for my impatience and eagerness. There are monks and nuns wearing traditional clothing suited for Zazen meditation practices, heads shaved, and disciplined and intentional demeanor. We try to keep the PDA to a minimum, finding it difficult not to seem boisterous or obnoxious in such a well-mannered place. Gradually a sort of peace pervaded us. We know that we need to be grateful for the chance to behold the natural pace.

The hot springs are separate for men and women until after 9pm or so. We decide to go in together since it’s about that time. The bath houses are elegantly constructed chambers, with finely jointed marble floors. The mineral pools are large and have a number of steps to sit on or stretch on. There are large open doors on both sides of the main pool, and outside there are places to soak in milder temperatures and dip into the river. From the main pool, there are carefully designed runnels to drain excess water into the dank wooden sauna. We were struck with admiration for the cleverness of the sauna construction. We peered under the sauna chamber to see how the conduits and ducts were arranged, and the hot mineral water fills the entire room with steam. Soaking for an hour or so calmed our energy. All of a sudden we are so quiet, and neither of us could abide silence for very long. Questions burst into our consciousness while we sit in the hot mineral springs, like Who am I? Why am I here?

Looking for answers after we bathe, we wander the pavilion for tea, and find the tiny library building. Despite the size the library is filled with books about Zen and Buddhism, and other subjects with serious matters of the mind; they have a complete Tibetan Buddhism section, and other treasures of ancient Buddhist literature- memoirs of famous Buddhist reincarnations, large photo books, and art books. Zen Buddhism stresses that enlightenment comes from within and not through any specific doctrine. This place is prepared for those willing to go into a deep introspection and do deep spiritual work, so the library reflects the teachings of thousands of years of Buddhist teachings brought up to date.

It was getting late, and we had forgotten our flashlight. It was completely dark outside, and luckily there are oil lamps conveniently placed near the library, and Zendo. Everyone is asleep by now so we borrow the lamp and walk back to our camping spot. That night, much midnight oil was burned at the camp. I was frankly skeptical that I would ever be able to turn myself into a human capable of seeing more in the present, having already built up an elaborate superstructure of American lifestyle focused on the past, future, and among other ways of conditioned life here. That night I did not sleep well. I dreamed that I was walking along a road that stretched in both directions as far as the eye could see. I had been walking for miles, lifetimes, when I came to a signpost, and when I reached it I found that it was broken and the two arms were revolving in the wind. As they turned I could read the words on the pieces. One said simply: To the Future; the other: To the past. Suddenly I felt like an object moving in two directions at once.

In the morning we soak separately in the mineral springs, where on the ladies side are less than ten people lolling in the water, and dipping into the cool river.

Afterwards, we catch up with each other and walk out into the courtyard. We decide go to “the narrows”, which is a long natural granite rock slide that falls into a large deep pool. The river in this area is so remote that it’s clean and cool. In the heat of the morning we can hike and play in the water feeling a little bit giddy diving off the cliffs into the waters.

Above the dining area towers the Zendo meditation hall where meditators sit, which is organized with Zazen cushions lined up around the walls of the room and next to walled dividers. This practice of meditation is to face one of the divider walls, with eyes barely open and to focus on counting the breaths. Everytime you lose your count, you start over. This practice can take one into a deep meditation where difficult lessons reemerge, distractions, and emotions can all be observed from within.

We hear bells ringing, which signal lunch, dinner, and meditation times. We decide to go in for pre-lunch ceremonial chanting, and carefully step into the Zendo. Gongs are ringing, chanting books are passed around, and we’re finding the full Zendo arrayed: young San Francisco students, black robed monks, and a swarm of visitors. The head resident monk walks fiercely into the room, bows and lights incense. He stretched forth both his hands, and enormous gongs began to sound. We’re standing in rows facing different directions doing prostrations, and reciting the booming Japanese prayers in unison with the practitioners and monks. It is a scene of grandeur, and feels quite overpowering.

Most of the resident monks here are westerners, of European decent, but what we saw in terms of ritual and ceremony was authentic, and a function of the same obsessive discipline that had given Zen meditation its rigidity of form. Not that we had noticed an excessive concern with authenticity on the part of the practitioners, it is full of casual recognitions and bowing towards one another to create a substantial sacred culture.Several rounds of prostrations later, we finish the session and go to the lunch area for delicious beet soup, tea, and Tassajara bread. It is absolutely delicious. In the dining area we sat together at a table, a large wooden slab draped with a maroon cloth, and decorated with a candlesticks.

We stood talking by the side of the dining area for some time before a friend came up to us. She had been staying at the center for the last several months. I started joking to her about a book I found in the library about the Laughing Buddha, and how there were statues around the complex with these image of a fat happy Buddha with his arms raised into the air. She was telling me that the Laughing Buddha was a lot like a Santa Claus in Buddhism and he would laugh, and give presents to the children. He's an incarnation of Maitreya Buddha. There was a long silence. Then our friend spoke in a very thoughtful voice. She said that everything was done intentionally, every movement, every word. She also mentioned that the discipline is revolutionary, preserved by a miracle and brought down the ages for the self-control and enlightenment of mankind. If enlightenment was important as she believed, then their caution, dedication, and behavior is understandable.

The silence was complete. We moved and noticed at the Zendo, at the practitioners, and the overall harmony that had been created for the last 40+ years.

We take to the car again, and driving back down the 16 mile dirt road during the day showed us a vast view over the Big Sur park property. From here we could see far down the valley, and the coast was clearly visible against the mountainous landscape.

The big bright sun of the Maui coast blazed down on Camp Olowalu as I glide into the Mystic Island Festival. The crowd there has been busy setting up a geodesic dome, preparing food, and setting up the stage. During those first few hours of the festival on Thursday afternoon, I was settling by campsite with no more emotions than the other wanderers who were aimless and uninvolved in setting up the festival. It wasnt quite time.
I moved on until I found a spot on the beach. Soon enough people would be singing, and several hundred people uniting to experience the magical activation of the festival. I stop and my head begins to swivel. My internal scanner had found a whale breaching, bristling with water and wrapped in a shimmering aura. It is wonderful to be alive and watching the whales. Alive and amused in the fresh air, between the campsites and the coast of Maui, with tiger sharks and humpback whales under a sea so blue you could almost call it phosphorescent, and under a sky so blue you could almost call it dark.
(But way, way up, where the crowd could not see, the sky was darker still; violet-dark, with stars showing. And in that darkness, a silver green star seed of sorts fell down at lightning speed. ) Just three seconds later, the silver-green star bud blossomed above the festival into a bright magenta flower. The campsites grew brighter and brighter still, with the brightness of the moon. The dome winked reflecting the cooling rays of the moon-flower.
The crowd around me bloomed too. Their clothes puffed into petals of tropical fruit flowers. Their heads of hair became whorls of petals. The purple flower grew, stem and blossom.   I slowly scanned a full circle. They all stand on the shore in the tropical shore watching the sun set and hearing birds and insects cry and buzz from the flowering jungle all around. The silence of the festival was at last broken by an opening ceremony and a few musical acts including the Dharma Bums. The Conjugal Visitors, a bluegrass jug band, with lead singer Gopal surprising everyone with translucent and spiritual lyrics embedded in a thick twang. That night, Jagadisa Prabhu, of Dust of Vraj, held a kirtan revoution at night on the beach. Four or five of us chanted kirtan and went until 2 or 3am, and got to be quite bliss enducing.
Headliners of the event Jaya Lakshmi and Ananda ji did a Kundalini yoga workshop in the dome in the morning. During the festival they also did a kirtronica set, a kirtan set, and blissed everyone out with other Altar of Love Immersion workshops. Afterwards, I stare out over the ocean, sipping on herbal Shakti Chai, and munching on raw blueberry maca cacao balls. As the bright blue ocean verges on its khaki beaches, the water takes on the shocking iridescent hue of a swimming pool. Farther south, Lanai and Molokai Islands are enjoying humpback whale visitations, and covered with foliage over vast 3000ft cliff faces.
Asha gave a Sacred Geometries workshop and had figured out that everything was much simpler if, like Superman with his X-ray vision, you just stared through the cosmetic distractions and saw the underlying mathematical skeleton of the universe. It was a meditation in itself to hear about these geometrists. I stared upon the dome we were sitting in, and only its skeleton: a burst of meridians, curving backwards to cage the inner altar. The perfect geometry was also harnessed by the web tarp covering it.
The main stage area is the size of a small open air night club. It smells like tropical orchids. A mini-throng of A around 300 or so fill the dance floor, in their eclectic clothes, gemstones, and sandals. Jaya Lakshmi and Ananda come onstage as mist clouds tumble gracefully out of the surrounding mountains with the momentum of volcanic mudflows, and a light rain falls from a nearly cloudless sky overhead. Cue that kirtronica music. The dancers go straight from their receptive meditations into a freeing whirled movement, each going through some kind of Bollywoodesque transfiguration into a radiant god/goddess. David Starfire incites the same, featuring Sita Devi on vocals. I orbit the stage again and again, amused, and having eaten nothing but cacao balls all day. The music continues for hours and hours into the night. Saratone and Earth Gospel play that night. The Gathering of the Tribes music scene again fabricated itself, combining members of different groups, solo artists rooted in the authentic visionary music reality, and reflecting the dreams and aspirations of an audience of an evolutionary group of adults on the same chimera hunt. Most of the music is West Coast style, from California, Oregon, and Hawaii. The dome became a very active space that was designed to take advantage of the harmonics of the instruments: a harmonium, kartals, and guitars. The structure looked like an orb glowing in the firelight. We slept in tents, on the beach, cuddle puddled in the dome, beneath mosquito nets if at all.
The next day partner yoga and flying yoga workshops fill the dome. Ram Dass gives a long and devotionally mellow spiritual discourse that leaves everyone feeling completed within awareness. Blue flowers bloom and fade in the sky around them. The isle is richly endowed with tall trees and flowering plants. The entire musical festival grew to the size of the Spiral Nebula in Andromeda- the part where we dissect the Universe with music in one elevating ever changing chord. Cosmic and spiritual philosophies began to exchange. The explanations were like a falcons dive through layer after layer of pretense and illusion, thrilling or confusing depending on what you were. The heavens were riven open. Friends glimpsed choirs of angels, ranking off into geometrical infinity, sitting on the Tree of Life overlooking the stage. Fantuzzi brought out his funky Puerto Rican Kirtan love for everyone to get ecstatic about. Windsong and Diane Patterson both sing soul folk sets, and the arrangement of musicians coupled with deep grace songs touch everyones heart. The vibrations rise above the swelling young coconut palms, while the volcanic rock begins to glow in another mind blowing tropical sunset. Kaminanda brings forward electronic evolutionary dub crunk. Michael Kang and Chris Berry play with a light jam feel comingled with electronic beats. Freedom fills the done and brings forward his shamanic coyote rhythms.
In the morning, I pass through one campsite to another, each one a cluster of tents huddled within a tree grove growing within the sandy loam. I swim in the shallow waters of an isolated part of the beach, swimming in water only 2 feet deep. Afterwards, I zig zag around heaps of fresh coconuts piled at the trailside, spilling out and over the edge into the gravel. More cacao balls and raw foods, soups, and large amounts of curry and dal are served. I check the date and discover that its Sunday morning. I arrive for the Temple of Peace Choir, and I sit down. The heart song call and response choir is singing and Kedar is strumming his guitar. The choir is spectacular and builds to a stirring harmony climax as everyone is called to stand and greet each other with a hug. Each member spreads their wings like eagles embracing each soul. During the service, during the songs and prayers, we are thinking about how we can express our intentions to build a peaceful world beginning with ourselves. Afterwards, flying yoga. hoola hooping, and bollywood dancing classes take the center dancing area.
Maesyn and her band charge up from the beach accompanied by ovations. So much happened during the music during the day. Everyone was standing with faraway looks on their faces, concentrating on her. The music begins to pulse, and she begins to sing a tuneless rap with a gradual coalescing pattern of sound. Her violin began to weave a musical line with a bouncy conclusion. Human Revolution brings forward bluegrass folk vibes. Later, Jah Levi's music accompanied by several horns, drummers, flutes, and nearly 10 people. Yet another angel descended from the Tree of Life, dressed in gold, and carrying plumeria leis for all of the dancers. The crowd was amazed, and did obeisance's. The angel favored Jah Levi with a courly bow. She handed down a package in golden paper, and someone took it and pranced about then delivering it to Jah Levi, who opened the package. Out tumbled a huge pink tropical flower. He raised it up to his lips as it unfurled, and kissed it . The Tree of Life towering above the stage that held the various Angels began groaning, creaking, and they all flew away, leaving Jah Levi and his band alone on stage to receive ovation from the crowd. For that moment, everything at the Mystic Island Festival was perfect. Mama Crow and her brazilian funk samba rock band were thrown together onstage to surprise everyone and blast everyone into dance.
Much more happened at the festival, but it all felt like an afterthought. The ocean lay in peace, a light lapping of waves against soft sand. Acacia trees on the bank next to Camp Olowalu yard out in the gentle surf, and house small crabs who watch me in the morning as I wake up. The morning sunrise casts a silver blue sheen over the water like something risen out of dream mists. I gather my sleeping bag and tent I think about our previous few days.
In mid-morning, the closing ceremony began seding up spouts of pipe smoke that swirled through the remaining crowd members. Honoring the four directions we were all praying for each other, for mankind, and for our own immortal souls. The Aina was feeling honored no doubt as the entire crowd lept into the ocean, held hands, and chanted om three times. A drum circle commenced with howling excitement.

Maitreya Heart Shrine Relics Project, Land of Medicine Buddha, Soquel, CA

Published in Temple

For the past 10 years, The Maitreya project has been internationally touring with a group of crystalline relics from the Buddhist masters.The Maitreya Project began in the 1990's set up to build a 500ft bronze statue of Maitreya Buddha, a large Buddhist educational complex, and medical facilities for the local public. The project was initiated by the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Buddhism, a Tibetan Buddhist organization that was founded by Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has decided that the Heart Shrine Relics tour should continue to travel the world to bring the messages of loving kindness to everyone.

The tour is set to tour 2011 and 2012 through North America, Central and South America, Israel and Australia, and Europe. These relics, called ringsels in Tibetans, are said to be produced by the spiritual master's meditation practices of loving kindness, and are collected from the cremated remains. The collection has grown significantly to over 1000 relics, many of which are 2,500 years old. Since Chinese invasion of Tibet, and the destruction of many relics, the relics that exist today are tightly guarded in India and other Asian countries, and require an application for viewing. The blessings of the Heart Shrine Relics tour have allowed the 1000 relics to bless millions of people internationally. Included in the tour are relics from Shakyamuni Buddhist relics contributed by the Dalai Lama, the personal collection brought forward by Lama Zopa Rinpoche (who is the founder of the Maitreya Project), some were collected in the rubble of temples destroyed by the Chinese communist invasion, and several relics given by the Meiktila Relic Museum in Myanmar, as well as masters from temples in Thailand, Indonesia, and Taiwan.

Their tour is part of the larger fundraising campaign intending to build a 500ft tall bronze statue (the equivalent of 50 stories) of the Maitreya Buddha in Kushinagar, India, which is the place where the Shakyamuni buddha passed away.

The 1000 relics will be placed in a temple at the heart chakra of the statue at the end of the tour. In addition to the statue, below the and inside of the statue will be a large 17 story throne. Inside will be the Maitreya temple building with a 40ft statue of Maitreya, along with 100,000 smaller statues in the walls surrounding it, and can be occupied by 4000 people and serve as a conference center for spiritual events. Other shrines throughout the 17 stories include Chenrezig, The Eight Great Indian Pandits, The Purification Buddhas, The Twenty-one Taras, Prajnaparamita, The Eight Medicine Buddhas, The Eighteen Arhats, The Thirty-five Confession Buddhas, Lama Thubten Yeshe. The parkland surrounding this complex will include a large Laughing Buddha statue, 100,000 stupas, artwork, prayer wheels, and sculptures narrating the life of Shakyamuni Buddha. The projected budget in US dollars is: $195 million for the statue and throne building, $35 million for health and education and $20 million for development of the "750 acre" site.[This is one of many large scale Buddha statues constructed in Asia, and others include statues in Nepal, Korea, and India.

The Maitreya Project statue is going to rival the tallest statue in the world, a statue of Vairocana Buddha, called Spring Temple Buddha in Henan, China. This statue, finished in 2002, was made out of 1,100 pieces of copper, and was constructed after the systematic destruction of Bamiyan Buddhas by the Taliban in Afghanistan, which were also Vairocana Buddhas.

Maitreya is said to be the Buddha of loving kindess, and next coming Buddha after the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, who appeared as Siddhartha Gautama Buddha to teach the dharma. Currently residing in the Tusita heaven realm where spiritual and enlightened beings sit in meditation before becoming Buddhas in this planet.

Here is a photo collection I took May 31st, 2009. That day there was a huge festival at the Land of Medicine Buddha in Soquel, CA. The afternoon had beautiful traditional Tibetan singers, 24ft. tall thankgas, and water bowl and food offerings. For more information about the International Heart Shrine Relics tour, please see the Maitreya Project's website.

Chinese New Year, Temple of Heaven, Beijing, China

Published in Temple

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