Tassajara Stories
A Sort of Memoir/Oral History of the First Zen Buddhist Monastery in the West The First Year—1967
Photos
From Wind Bell, January - February, 1967
Aerial view of cabins on Hot Springs land -- Photo: Robert S. Boni
Fireplace in the main room
New Zendo will be in this building, with sleeping upstairs. Photo by Robert S. Boni.
From Wind Bell, Fall 1967
Abbot Suzuki Roshi
Opening Ceremony. The Buddha has just been installed on the altar by Abbot Suzuki Roshi (in the center) and Bishop Sumi Roshi (in the light robe). Cheno Sensei on the right is beating the large heart shaped mokugyo (wooden fish) leading the chanting of the Shingyo (Prajna Paramita or Heart Sutra). The sound of the mokugyo is like a deep heart beat beneath the chanting. In front of the mokugyo is th large bell which begins the chanting and bowing.
Chino Sensei hitting the han (wooden sounding board). Almost hidden behind the drum is the large bell.
Left: Second cook Mike Daft and helper Louise Welch making dinner on the old platform outside the kitchen.
Lunch during the practice period was outside in front of what are called the Pine Rooms. Breakfast and evening meals were in the zendo. The three bowls of the oryoki were used outside as well as in the zendo.
After shouting "Kwatz!" Bill Kwong walks slowly up the aisle away from the Shuso on the altar with his Vajra Staff.
Left: A guest room. Through the door is the bathroom overlooking the stream. To the left in an adjoining room is a fireplace and beyond that a kitchen. Right: A guest swimming and a student's wife.
The big four-wheel drive station wagon was bought new to assure bringing in supplies and people over the muddy or snowed-in road. Behind it is the Volkswagen bus that had been cut away to make a truck. It came with the purchase of Tassajara. The Dodge Power Wagon dump truck, also fourpwheel drive, was purchased fro a bargain $250 and is indispensable for the heavy work we do every day. Not shown is the rebuilt pick-up truck with a camper we bought from a studnt, the only vehicle with a large enough enclosure to bring all our lanundry out and food in. Above right is student Clarke Mason, an excellent auto mechanic, who keep0s all the new and old vehicles in service. Below left is the shoop and two men who brought in a gift of ten hives of Italian honey bees.
The Guest Dining Room. A new floor was put in while this was the first zendo. Then walls were plastered, tables built, single panes of glass put in overlooking the stream. Today a handsome filreplace sits between the two windows. The room becomes the students' common room during the colder months. A broad deck overlooks the streams.
Smaller cabins on the left. Large student cabins on the right. These cabins were painted and in many cases reshingled. Karen Pomeroy is doing maintenance chores.
The main zendo and altar being built for the practice period. In the new zendo shown in the architectural plans elsewhere in this issue, this room will be enlarged a little and will become one wing of the 'L' shaped zendo. This room was originally the resort lounge and bar. The altar platform was built over the original stone hearth.
Chino Sensei standing in the rock garden and terrace being designed and planted by Suzuki Roshi. The Guest Dining Room is through the doors and above is the student dormitory for men.
This platform is used for washing dishes and other outside-the-kitchen jobs. It was the site of the main resort kitchen which had to be torn down. Our present kitchen is under the roof to the right. The mountain behind is called Flag Rock and stretches more than a thousand feet above the valley.
This is the architect's rendering to show the probable relationships between the volumes and a possible way it will look when finished. Between the arrows is the present main zendo. To the right of the far arrow is the present office. To the left of the left arrow is where the kitchen addition will be built on the existing foundation. Above the new kitchen will be a skylight and a loft-zendo, seating 26, for students who are working in the kitchen and for visitors who wish to do zazen. This loft zendo will be open tho the main zendo so that the bells and mokugyo can be heard.
Until we can afford the materials and have the manpower freed from the kitchen building and other jobs, we must continue to use the present zendo. The new 'L' shaped zendo as shown in these plans for the future seats about the same number of students as the present zendo. However, it will be possible to arrange the tatami mats parallel to each other. In such a more traditional arrangement, each student may be assigned a tatami on which he meditates and sleeps (during sesshin and perhaps during practice period). Against the wall by each tatami will be a cabinet for each student's limited possessions and a bedroll. When rebuilt, the front of the building will open onto a deck facing a garden and the stream. It is an ideal solution which also makes the best use of the existing building and foundations.
Trudy Dixon carrying her oryoki and zazen cushion.
Student Sandy Watkins working with Chino Sensei.
Student Dan Welch doing zazen in the zendo. He is referred to as "Farmer Dan" in the news story.
Deep in the valley you can see the buildings of Zenshinji
A quiet place in the Tassajara Stream
Students gathering and screening mortar gravel for the sone walls of the new kitchen.
From the Suzuki Photo Database
Shunryu Suzuki with Gloves
Katagiri Roshi
Suzuki eating outdoors at Tassajara probably before the first practice period. Bob Watkins on the left.
L to R: Phillip Wilson, Shunryu, Mitsu Suzuki, ?, David Chadwick, Richard Baker
L to R: Taizan Maezumi, Mitsu & Shunryu Suzuki, Phillip Wilson, Richard Baker
Shunryu Suzuki and Bob Watkins moving stones at Tassajara.
Shunryu Suzuki sitting zazen in old zendo, Tassajara Richard Baker to L, Kobun Chino to R. Fran Keller? in front.
Zazen at altar in old zendo at Tassajara. L to R: Richard Baker, Shunryu Suzuki, Kobun Chino
Bob Halpern, Shunryu Suzuki and Phillip Wilson having tea while creating stone garden at Tassajara.
Richard Baker and Shunryu Suzuki sitting zazen at Tassajara
Phillip Wilson and Shunryu Suzuki moving rock: working on the garden near Suzuki-roshi's cabin.
Shunryu Suzuki and Niels Holm. Photo by Robert S. Boni
Shunryu Suzuki with crooked stick cane at Tassajara Wind Caves
Shunryu Suzuki and Phillip Wilson
L to R: ?, Dainin Katagiri, Mike Daft, Ed Brown, Togen Sumi, Bill Kwong, Shunryu Suzuki, Phillip Wilson behind SR?, Richard Baker, Taizan Maezumi, Kobun Chino, ?
Photo by Robert Boni used for back cover of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
Shunryu Suzuki in ornate robe for Dan Welch and Louise Pryor's wedding day at Tassajara
Shunryu Suzuki and Richard Baker; Suzuki standing on tree stump with kyosaku
Kobun Chino and Shunryu Suzuki
Shunryu Suzuki and Paul Discoe in front, Bob Harris and Rick Levine behind. Maybe Niels Holm to the far right. Photo by Donn DeAngelo
L to R: Peter Schneider, David Chadwick, Bob Watkins. Jane Westberg's face just above end of partition. Far right E.L. Hazelwood, Bob Shuman, Jim ? with beard. Photo by Minoru Aoki.
7/3/1967 - Kobun Chino, Sumi Togen and Shunryu Suzuki preparing for opening ceremony, old zendo, Tassajara.
Winter, 1967-68 - Tassajara Kitchen Walls going up. Shunryu Suzuki squatting, Paul Discoe setting stone, Phillip Wilson at cement machine on right.
Shunryu Suzuki and Fred Tuttle at Chew's Ridge fire lookout on way to Tassajara.
L to R: Rick Morton, Lou Musto, Bob Shuman, ?, Shunryu Suzuki, Phillip Wilson, Chris Flynn, John Steiner, Bob Walter?