A request came up from Tassajara the other day for some pictures. There has been a tradition of making albums with photographs of each practice period, taken when the monks are all gathered at the end of the shuso ceremony (that’s the theory; in practice one or two of them somehow manage to disappear), and I was asked if I could dig out the ones I have taken over the past few years. This was fun and not hard, going through various folders on my hard drive. Whilst doing so I came across these rather forgotten pictures, from a shade over eight years ago, the day it snowed the most in my time at Tassajara. I have told the story here.
This is up at the first lookout, with Lime Point in the distance. I was coming back from the Wind Caves, and a group had walked up the road; these two are David Coady and Marianne.
A few hours later, there was much more snow on the ground. This is Steph at the work circle.
Whilst I was browsing for that post on the Ino’s Blog, I also came across this one, showing the trails of Tassajara in different conditions in the years after the 2008 fire, which I still enjoy looking at.
Just to give you an idea of what I was looking for, this is the photo from 2012 when I was the shuso.
I am the one holding the fan.
Shundo David Haye 
Thanks for the great pictures of Tassajara and other stories interesting, to me. Shundo hi – you have such a command with the camera, taking pictures capturing the stories; a Zen Griot with your camera.
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I think if you have only been to Tassajara during the summer, it can be hard to imagine how cold it is in the winter, or how it is in the rain…
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It is probably as cold and wet as it is hot during the summer. Heat, I can do and becoming darker in my skin tone, if you can imagine this. Deep and long Cold —not very sustainable for me and becoming lighter in my skin tone. Only imaging the dirt road muddy and snot-slick. All empty, right?
Deep bows!
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