7 Days in April - The Ventana Zen Wilderness

A hike to the Tassajara Zen Center reveals the heart of dharma; and a side trip to the ancient Esselen “Hands” caves made famous by Robinson Jeffers’ poem

I have just hiked 14 miles of dirt road. They’ve led me up and over a 5,000-foot ridge in the Ventana Wilderness. Now I rest beside a green post that marks Mile 0.0 — the end of the road. Zenzen, nada, nothing, zero. I am “here.”

This sounds like the beginning of a profound Zen koan. It’s not. I know almost nothing about Zen. I was advised, “Don’t know anything, and go from there.” This is the “almost” in the “almost nothing” I know about Zen.

© Ryan Masters 2015

A large Japanese gate with a trimmed thatch roof stands at the main entrance to the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. Adobe walls buttress each side of the elegant gate like ungainly earthen wings. The structure appears to be under construction.

If the goal is to not know anything, it occurs to me I should turn around and leave right now— before entering Tassajara. Perhaps this is some kind of test. I look around. No one is in sight.

Hiking back out is not an option. Chew’s Ridge was a brutal climb and I’m exhausted. As the evening Z…