City of 10,000 Buddhas
By Louisa Aronow
The exit for Talmage, in the wine country 110 miles north of San Francisco, summons visions of bucolic landscapes and wine tasting. Instead, the 1.5-mile road to Talmage leads straight through an imposing gateway of pink, black and gold, with bold lettering in Chinese and words in English: “The City of 10,000 Buddhas.”
Passing under these huge arches is a transformative experience into another world.
On a hot summer day, most notable upon entering the grounds is the absence of irrigated lawns. Also the blessed shade of huge ancient oaks and a multitude of peacocks. There are few cars and the wind’s music in the trees is blissfully audible here. If you see a golden-robed nun under a large Asian-style bamboo sombrero sweeping the street with a homemade broom, you’ll wonder if you’re still in California.
On Bodhi Way, a 12-foot golden Buddha sits atop the entrance to The Jeweled Hall of 10,000 Buddhas, gazing down upon an enormous incense burner. The elegance within the cavernous hall is startling: it really does contain 10,000 gilded images of the Buddha, each cast from a mold by the Venerable Master Hua. There are also numerous statues from China, including a 10-foot image of Guanshiyin Bodhisattva compassionately guiding worshippers with 1,000 hands and 1,000 eyes.
If you happen to visit during a Buddhist holiday, you will be welcome to join in chanting, meditation or bowing. Usually a kindly nun is available to explain and guide you through the procedures. Visitors from all over the globe join residents for events such as the annual 10,000 Buddhas Repentance when, for 22 days, penitents bow for hours while chanting various forms of the Buddha’s name, for a total of 10,000 bows.
The property’s transformation from Mendocino State Mental Hospital to a “way place for Buddhists in all 10 directions” was the visionary effort of the late Venerable Master Hsuan Hua. He started the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association in 1959 in San Francisco, but the popular events outgrew their space. When he found out that the hospital property was for sale, he decided the solid buildings and peaceful land would be perfect for the largest Buddhist center in the US. He wrote: “When I came to America, I made a vow—I wanted to be a sculptor who would mold living Buddhas, living Bodhisattvas, living patriarchs. Those who lived in the past are of no help now. Now we have to create live ones in order to save the world and its people.”
Today the 488 acres encompass a Buddhist university, kindergarten to grade 12 schools, a large Buddhist library, a monastic community, a center for the translation of Buddhist texts, extensive vegetable gardens, tranquil flower gardens and a restaurant.
If you’re visiting for the day, you will certainly want to stroll past the Buddha Hall for lunch at Jyan Kang Vegetarian Restaurant. The superb vegan delicacies are offered at extremely low prices because the purpose of the restaurant is not profit. Heng Jwyen, the kitchen manager explained, “Our Master emphasized being a vegetarian. If all people would become vegetarian we would have world peace faster…and good flavor makes people want to try vegetarian food.”
The most popular dishes include exquisite versions of steamed dumplings, spring rolls and chow mein. But more discerning visitors prefer a Jyun Kang creation, the Jade Roll: crispy vegetables rolled in tofu skin, quickly fried and served with fresh steamed bok choi. The flavors are amazingly vibrant even though garlic and onions are not used in any dishes, in accordance to orthodox Buddhist beliefs.
When day visitors leave around 6pm, a sleepy hush settles on the City. It’s a long day for monastics who rise before 4am for recitation, then work long hours at often-physically demanding jobs, fueled only by one simple meal before noon.
In spite of the well-defined austerity, some visitors end up staying for weeks, months or years. The City doesn’t advertise that visitors are welcome to stay for a very reasonable room and board fee, or that volunteers are invited to stay for free in exchange for helping with numerous projects. Most just find the City at the end of a curious path.
Jin Xi Shr, a novice nun who teaches at the girls’ school, explained why advertising isn’t necessary. “Master Hua said that everyone has affinities from past lives, and has made agreements to be here. He would say, ‘Your causes and conditions have ripened.’ To use a non-Buddhist expression, there’s magic in this place. It’s full of Dharma protectors that we cannot see. The amazing thing about this place is that everyone has a Buddha nature—you feel at one with everyone.”
With her golden skin, musical Jamaican accent, and gentle tone, Jin Xi Shr is the embodiment of racial harmony. She was Shelly Black before she “left home” (accepted the precepts to begin ordination as a nun), got her head shaved and donned the simple robes. “My parents were Christian,” she said. “I was searching for a spiritual path, but Christianity never met that need.”
She had never heard of Master Hua, nor studied Buddhism, and was staying on the island of Santa Lucia, in the process of trying to figure out a direction for her life. “I had a dream. A Buddhist monk came and talked to me. He was very kind. Then I had another dream. I found myself in a place like the City of 10,000 Buddhas. There were hills—it was chilly. I was afraid! Suddenly this tall angel dressed in white stood by me—like a mother. She put one arm around me, and with the other arm outstretched she said, ‘Isn’t it beautiful?’ And the fear went away.”
The office that Jin Xi shares with another teacher is prominently decorated with images of the Chinese Guanshiyin Bodhisattva gazing down benevolently in her long white robes. Bodhisattvas are compassionate, enlightened beings who have chosen to give up nirvana in order to save the misdirected humans on earth.
She continued, looking down shyly with joy emanating from her face. “Then a few months later I was at a friend’s house in New Mexico. She had Master Hua’s books and I started reading. I said, ‘These are wonderful principles.’ I came here as a volunteer to stay for a year. That was three and a half years ago.”
Minty Ryan has been a volunteer at the City for two years, so she knows the challenges and benefits of the life of a nun. “It’s in my heart to become a nun. I have daydreams about it,” she admitted. It doesn’t bother Ryan that the nuns’ day begins before 4am, and they must often work long hours after only a few hours of sleep. “Their energy is focused, so they don’t need as much sleep. They don’t have outflow. We call it outflow, when you lose energy. Like when I’m eating lunch I’m looking at everyone who is eating and coming in, instead of focusing on eating.”
Ryan’s high school yearbook picture (class of 2001) shows a typical smiling gal with long, styled hair and generous make up. She grew up in the suburbs of Long Island: “There was nothing to do but smoke pot with my friends, listen to music, watch TV and buy things. My family was Jewish, but there was no looking inside.”
She went to college in Boston and met a Buddhist on Craigslist. That began a year of investigating Buddhism, and a trip to the City. “When I first came I had no definite plans. I just wanted to move in.”
As a volunteer resident, Ryan had to accept the Six Principles: No fighting, No greed, No seeking (aka “Be here now”), No selfishness, No pursuit of personal advantage (i.e., irresponsible sex), and no lying. “All of them were common sense for me,” she said. It’s not a burden, it’s a freedom to take the principles.”
It was a circuitous trail to the City of 10,000 Buddhas from a small Southern Baptist town in Alabama for Gary Stone. He first heard about Buddhism while reading Dharma Bums. Like many people, he found about the City on the Internet. “It was weird for me to come across it, they don’t really invite people. I had to investigate it.”
“It blew me away that we were getting up at 3:30am and doing recitations. I only knew about the Chan (meditation). I feel that the guys in the dorm think I need to spend some time in the Buddha Hall. Otherwise I’d just be a guy working here,” explained the soft-spoken young man, as he carefully placed a small piece of ginger root into a peat pot and covered it with soil.
Stone can accept the prohibition of “intermingling” of men and women for now, but he doubts that he could become a monk. “I want a place where I can just observe.”
Stone is definitely in the “just visiting” category, but his participation is extremely welcomed by Mr. Fan, the gardener. The limber, 40-something man has great plans to expand the vegetable gardens from two acres to over five, and grow enough organic produce to share with the outside community.
Fan was working endless hours at his construction company in Taiwan, “making and losing money,” when he found a book in a bookstore by Venerable Master Hua, in 1998. “It changed my life. So in April 2001, I came to stay for a Bowing Session for ten days.” Since then, he has only been back for one brief visit to Taiwan. He was smitten by the beauty of the property; Taiwan’s history of colonization has left it with few trees and animals.
Although this chemical, electric and civil engineer did maintenance at the City for several years, he is now enjoying the challenges of working with nature to grow food. This, he feels, is his ordained path: “In 2005 we brought the first load of compost with a truck to put in the garden. There were ten lines of clouds in the sky. Just straight lines. I never saw clouds like that before. When the truck left, the clouds were gone. It was Buddha’s way of knowing. It gave me a good feeling.”
Fan has been at the City of 10,000 Buddhas for five years, and has rarely left the property. “To touch the earth, feel Mother Nature, is important for (spiritual) cultivation. I feel the change in the weather, and harmony with all things.”
While interviewing residents at CTTB, Louisa Aronow was invited to teach there. She is now delighted to teach English to high school students and nuns, as well as continue her investigation of Buddhism. Louisa is a previous contributor to Common Ground.
