Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘There is more to the religious value of practicing in a place like Tassajara than the awe before natural beauty that some anthropologists say may be the basic religious impulse. The tens of thousands of acres surrounding Tassajara are one of the last areas in California with an undisturbed ecology, an environment much more complicated than a city environment which is limited to what man can think up and create.

An undisturbed ecology is characterized by a richness and variety in its plant and animal life. The deer are few and healthy with enough food because mountain lions keep their numbers in check. Foxes, coyotes, wild boar, raccoons, snakes, gophers, and other ground animals go unobtrusively about their lives. On the mountainsides the pattern of the trees and plants is varied and gives one a satisfying feeling. Over the centuries many ecological niches have been created and filled-plants and animals create possibilities for other plants and animals which create possibilities, new environments, for ochers, etc. Tassajara Creek and the other streams in the area are clear, for the grasses, trees, and other plants on the hillsides prevent the soil from washing away, The night sky is clear and black without smog to diffuse the atmosphere. The natural ecological balance of an environment like this has a feeling of wholeness which is integrating for the persons living in it. Here is a sympathetic response with Zen practice which discloses an undisturbed balance and clarity in our own inner nature. The valley itself with its waterfalls at each end, the hot waters bubbling up from inside the earth, the old trees and buildings give us an ancient and pure feeling close to our basic nature.

For the beginner, particularly, it is very helpful to practice for some time in a place conducive to finding onesolf. In Zen we should not be dependent on some particular environment for our wholeness. We should have this inherently as our own and be able to communicate it to the environment around us.’ (from Wind Bell)

Thankfully this is still true nearly sixty years on.