Vol. II, No. 3

The Center is closing now for its annual two-week summer break, but before doing so we wanted to shoot out another Dispatch to flag the most recent developments.

The New Bridge

On the 18th of this month, with participants for the August 7-day sesshin beginning to arrive, we finally connected the new building site and the older Chapin Mill settlement with a bridge spanning the creek. The bridge is not finished yet – we’ll want to change the decorative tops of
the posts and extend the railings – but we threw it up so that it could be used during sesshin. Still, everyone seems to be delighted with it.


When you step out of the Retreat Center and look south, it’s the first thing you see. Spanning the creek at an oblique angle, it adds a prominent new feature to the site visible from all sides. And because the bridge is fairly high, standing on the middle of it and looking upstream offers a fresh view of the surrounding landscape as well as the rough-hewn creek itself, with its islets and tree stumps and its clear water gurgling over small natural dams.

The Zendo Project

The other picture shows the foundation of the Zendo Project as it stands today. The curved concrete wall on the left defines the Kannon Room, and will be faced with stone, both inside and outside. The large, nearly square area constituting the foundation of the zendo is actually a 48-inch-high crawl space with an insulated concrete floor. There is a full basement visible under what will be the west hall. This basement continues in front of the zendo, and will also run back under the east hall connecting to the “Phase One” building. These “sub-areas” will provide much-needed storage space, alleviating chronic problems for the Center in that department.