Complete dedication
We move on to the Sangha Building’s rise across the meadow from where we sit.
Ryushin points out how he once found a map produced by Daido and others in 1981, back in the early days of the monastery. It addressed everything from childcare to elder homes on the property’s full 160 acres. But then the founding abbot held back on its realization over the years, even on fundraising for such capital improvements.
Finally, Ryushin adds, he was given a blessing to proceed three years ago, when earlier designs were abandoned and project architects Kliment-Halsband were brought in. Eventually, financial commitments started to come in, and adjustments made to designs to make the new structure more affordable.
Instead of cutting corners, the abbot found that adding them where curves had been planned could save a quarter million dollar in costs.
What’s now being built, scheduled for completion next summer, will serve to not only add a new public face to the monastery, but relieve pressure on the historic main building we are sitting in front of as we talk…a place where every room serves several functions, adding work to everyone’s regimen that takes away from the Zen training the monastery is aimed towards implementing.
So how does all this construction fit into a larger picture?
Ryushin accentuates the order’s wish to maintain its rigorous approach to Zen training, their “complete dedication to the renunciate way.” The new building will serve many specific monastic needs, from opening up space for ceramic studios elsewhere to the creation of library and retreat spaces, as well as that public interface, allowing for new lectures and symposiums, among other ideas yet to be formalized.
Sanctuary for the area
Ryushin recalls past days when the poets Allan Ginsberg and Ann Waldman, longtime visitors, would give readings and recitals. He also brings up the ways in which the monastery, fueled and kept running with generators during the recent Irene floods, was able to serve as a sanctuary for many in the area, to the point where it was visited by the Red Cross, and discussions have started as to formalizing its future role during such needy times.
So how does Konrad Ryushin Marchaj, abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery, see the organization and facility he’s now headed for two years?
“I’m a worry wart. I grew up between Germany and the old Soviet Union,” he answers. “Daido was a powerful visionary, and I was skeptical how these first years after his passing would be. But I’m feeling that things are going well. Our finances are in order. We’re doing okay. I feel good.”
I ask, further, how he’s doing, with his current responsibilities.
The abbot grins.
“I like Ed Koch’s approach…‘I’ll ask you how I’m doing,’” he answers. “I’m waking up with vim and vigor. No matter what rolls our way, we seem to always be able to create something decent.”++
