The Dragon Hall

by Anne Walker

Featured in Mountain Record 24.2, Winter 2006

To row a boat or to construct a bridge over a river
is equally the bodhisattva's practice of giving.
If you study giving carefully you realize that
living as well as dying are both giving.
To be sure, to make a living and regulate a business
is none other than giving.
Flowers are innocently fondled by the wind, and birds trust freely to time—
these too are feats of giving….
Indeed, by reason of being originally gifted with the power of giving,
one’s present self came into being.
—Master Eihei Dogen

This monastery bubbles with ideas and projects. Is it the training, which pushes students and residents to be creative and depend on their inner resources? Is it a natural outcome of a group of people with a similar focus living and working together? Is it something about the land itself, which pulses with energy?

Considering how the Monastery has expanded in the last twenty-five years, it is remarkable that thus far we have not undertaken a major construction project and physically expanded to meet our changing needs. That is, until now.