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TASSAJARA

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Tassajara from Flag Rock Tassajara is Soto Zen Buddhist monastery in the Santa Lucia mountains in Monterey County, California. It is part of San Francisco Zen Center. I lived at Tassajara for a total of four and a half years, and at Zen Center for a total of about eleven years. In the summer months, Tassajara operates as a retreat center and hot springs "resort", with the Zen students staffing the facility while maintaining their practice. "Flag Rock" is the name given to the mountain from which this photo was taken.	Japanese Maple & Kaisando The building in this photo is the kaisando, or "Founder's Hall".	Lantern at Kaisando These blue Dietz kerosene lanterns were used to light the pathways at Tassajara. In the summer, there were over 100 of them in use, and it was someone's job to go around and light them every evening. Students took turns waking up early to light them in the morning. They were iconic at Tassajara, but there has been a shift in recent years to using solar-powered LED lanterns, which are more ecologically sound. But it is hard to substitute for the light of a flame.
Abbot's garden from Kaisando The kaisando (the entrance from which this photo was taken) was originally built as a cabin for Suzuki Roshi and his wife. They never took up residence, because Suzuki Roshi died before it was completed. The current Abbot's cabin is barely visible to the left. The area in front of the Kaisando is the Abbot's garden. Cabin 5, in the center of the photo, was the cabin I lived in during my first ango (Practice Period) at Tassajara, in the fall of 2004.	Yurt and Smoke The yurt cabin (or "the yurts") is not really a yurt, but is shaped like one. The three rooms in the yurt are among the nicer ones at Tassajara. There used to be an actual yurt (a semi-permanent round tent) at Tassajara, which was used for meetings and as a retreat space, but it was removed in the winter of 2009, and replaced with a two-room retreat hall.	The Morning of Personal Day Looking towards the yurts, with the lower garden on the left, and Cabin 15 on the right. "Personal Day" occurs every 5th day during ango (Practice Period). It is the day when the schedule is relaxed, and the monks have several hours of time to themselves--to rest, read, socialize, go for a hike, do laundry, etc.
Cabin 16 Cabin 16 holds no special significance, but it is fairly representative of the older-style redwood cabins at Tassajara, most of which date from the 1920s. I took this photo more for the flowering bushes, bathed in morning sunlight.	Garden Jizo Jizo (Ksitigarbha in Sanskrit) is a popular bodhisattva in Japan. His image is often found in gardens, and he is typically portrayed as a monk carrying a staff with five rings at the top. In Japan, he is thought of as a guardian of children, particularly of children who died young.	Bridge Buddha This Buddha image sits to the right of the bridge in the center of Tassajara, which crosses the seasonal Cabarga Creek.
Wisteria on Trellis The stone building on the left is the student dining area. From 1967 to 1978, it served as the meditation hall. To the right is the lawn, a pleasant place to sit (at least in the summer, and when the weather is not unbearably hot).	Densho Bell, Morning Light This is the bell that calls the assembly to service in the Buddha Hall, which at Tassajara is also the meditation hall. The entrance is to the left, along this walkway.	Tassajara Tori and Trail This tori was erected in 2012, and marks the starting point of the short trail that leads up to the Suzuki Roshi Memorial Site. In Japan, these "gates" are more associated with Shinto shrines, but in actuality, Buddhist temples in that country often incorporate elements of Shintoism. This tori was built by a wood craftsman who often helps out during Tassajara work periods.

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