Mt. Baldy

No, that's not my new nickname.  It's actually the name of a mountain just north of Rancho Cucamonga where my mother grew up.  In fact, if the skies were clear, you could see Mt. Baldy from my grandparents' front lawn.  I may have blogged about it briefly last fall after I moved to L.A., but the Mt. Baldy Zen Center is where I received my first face-to-face instruction in meditation.  It's one of the first Zen centers to open in the U.S.  and is the main training center for priests in Joshu Sasaki Roshis' line.  I didn't get a lot of pictures, but there are some below.

I had the opportunity to go receive teachings from a Tibetan lama Saturday, but I decided I needed to spend some time alone (or mostly alone) up in the mountains, so I grabbed my camera and headed out late Saturday morning.  Heading up the mountain road, I was reminded of trips up there with my mom and grandfather when I was a boy visiting from Illinois.  The village doesn't seem to have changed much.  I stopped at the Mt. Baldy Village Lodge for lunch.  Like most of the other buildings on that stretch of road, it's a stone and timber building, with a large stone fireplace.  As I walked in, I could smell the smoke from the fire and saw some townies playing pool by the bar.  I sat down right next to the fire place to soak up some heat as it was a bit cool that day so high up (around 5,000 feet up I think).  The waitress came right over, took my order, and headed off to give it to the cooks while singing along to the classic rock music playing on the radio. 

After a good lunch, as I was paying for my check, the waitress asked me when the Zen Center was going to have another work day.  Apparently she likes to go up there sometimes.  I explained that while I was visiting the center that day, I wasn't affiliated with them, so I couldn't say.  I was surprised how integrated the center seems to be with the local community.  No one bats an eye when someone comes in looking for directions (as I did last time I went) or is dressed like me in robes.

So after stuffing myself, I rolled outside, grabbed my camera and took a few shots (see below) before heading further up the mountain to the center itself.  MBZC is situated in what was an old Girl Scouts camp.  Just above the smog line, I remember looking out at the clear skies when I visited at the age of 15 and seeing how dirty the air was below.  After a week in L.A. back then, my lungs hurt and my eyes burned.  I was glad to head back home.  This time, I didn't notice any difference, so perhaps things have improved.

Unfortunately, the Zen Center was running a retreat, so I couldn't really explore too much.  I just took a short walk and then headed back to my car.  But in the parking lot, one of the priests was just returning from somewhere and we chatted by my car for a bit.  Shoken-san was his name and he seemed quite nice.  I'd like to go back some time to participate in their practice, but getting three days off (which is I think the minimum amount of time you can stay) is a bit difficult right now.  Perhaps after the semester ends.

In other news, I finally introduced Shakya to Star Wars.  He and his roommate Danny and I watched a spoof of Star Wars and Cops on YouTube Friday night, but it was lost on Shakya who had never seen the movie.  He stayed up until 1:30 am watching it, but I had to go to bed.  He wants to watch more American movies to understand our cultural references, so I plan on renting more movies for him.

Today I did a bit more work on a short paper for my methodology class on Jewish Historiography.  I also have to do a short presentation on it in a couple of weeks.  Wish me luck!

The sign outside the Mt. Baldy Lode.  Good eats!

A bit of the lodge with the mountains in the background.  Not sure if this is such a good shot, but you get the idea.

The Zen Center sign.  It's just outside the dining hall which is the first building you come to off the parking lot.  The rest of the buildings are situated on either side of the road running through the center.

This is a statue of Jizo (Ksitigharba Bodhisattva) who is the patron saint of children and travellers (and for some odd reason, thieves as well) in Japan.  I would have taken more photos, but as mentioned above, they were in retreat, so I didn't want to disturb anyone.

Check back soon.  Danny did a video interview with me (real short--one question on what I think is special about U.West) that will be posted on his blog shortly. I'll link to it.  Also check out this interview Danny did with Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown, Ph.D. on monasticism in America.  Great food for thought.

Comments

[Konchog Yeshe]

How old is Sasaki Roshi now, 99? 100?!

He has such an intense energy when he enters a room. I always appreciated his insightful Teishos, especially the talks on the Rinzai Roku.

[Rinchen Gyatso]

I'm not sure how old he is now. I've never seen him myself. How many Dharma teachers and traditions have you explored? You seem to have gotten around quite a bit.

[Konchog Yeshe]

Yup Sasaki Roshi is is going to be 100 in April according to the Rinzai-ji website! It would probably be hard to see him considering his age. His circle of students are very protective of him considering his age.

My first full-fledged exposure to Buddhism was the Hsi Lai Temple. I am from that area outside of L.A. so my roots are in Ch'an Buddhism I would like to think. I studied a bit with Bhante Choa Chu(?) at his Rosemead Monestary too. He was originally ordained in his native Sri Lanka and moved over to the Ch'an tradition. He's a great scholar. Unfortunately I never had the chance to explore Theravada much. There is a small Thai temple in Hacienda Heights not far from Hsi Lai. They mostly dealt with the Thai community so there was a bit of language gap when I went there. There is also some small Korean Buddhist Temples in Korea Town, L.A. I can't remember where they are.

I did a couple Zazenkais too at Rinzai-ji and a half-day sit at Mt. Baldy during their Dai-Sesshin week. It was a real treat to sit in the Mt. Baldy zendo and join them during the hi-point of their practice. I never did formally meet Sasaki Roshi however. No sanzen koans for me.

As for the Vajrayana vein of the Buddhadharma, I originally took refuge with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Pasadena in 96'. I had no idea what was going on it took place in a huge amphitheater. Nonetheless I and few thousand received the 1000 armed Chenrezig wong that weekend. Not long after that I met Khenchen Rinpoche in Santa Monica, back then though he was a Khenpo. I really consider that my first time taking Refuge however, no offense to HHDL of course. Hence the Dharma-name "Konchog Yeshe." It was much more intimate and a smaller group of people. So that was the first time I met Khenchen Rinpoche, or should I say Khenpo? I also met Geshe Gyaltsen and Geshe Tsephel and hung out at their cetners every now and then. I also met the Zong and Trijiang Rinpoche at Geshe Gyaltsen's center in Long Beach. The two young tulkus were touring the U.S. and making stops at several centers across the country. The tulku's were just little boys then. There was a lot of controversy in the air at the time because Trijiang Rinpoche and his student Zong Rinpoche were both practicing Dorje Shugden like their predecessors before them. Zong stopped at the request of HHDL, however Trijiang did not and disrobed recently after several pleas. But those are other stories and I am digressing. Plus that's all I can think of for now, I gotta go to work.