Bodhi Manda Zen Center — Jemez Springs, United States

A Rinzai Zen practice and retreat center in the village of Jemez Springs, NM

At the Bodhi Manda Zen Center, the day begins with wood on wood. The han, a wooden board, is struck in a steady rhythm to announce the start of zazen in the Zendo, and again at dusk to close the day. It is one of the ways a monastery's sitting schedule is marked, and here it carries across the grounds in Jemez Springs, New Mexico. The center began with a condition set half in jest. In the early 1970s, Michelle E. Martin, a student of Zen Master Kyozan Joshu Sasaki at Mount Baldy near Los Angeles, asked the Roshi to come teach in New Mexico. His reply, as the center's history page tells it: "You find hot springs, I come." Her friend Maria Chabot, then receptionist for the Servants of the Paraclete, a Catholic order in Jemez Springs, overheard talk of selling a monastery on the Jemez river and called her at once. The Roshi inspected the site, found the hot springs and approved. Martin donated the down payment, and the Bodhi Manda Zen Center of Rinzai-ji was incorporated on November 29, 1973. Jiun Hosen, Osho, began training with Sasaki Roshi in 1979 and has lived at the Bodhi since 1980. She was ordained a Zen nun in 1983 and first appointed abbess in 1989. The Zendo is the oldest building on the campus and one of the oldest in the village. In 2019, after a water leak forced the removal of floor joists, dendrochronologist Tom Swetnam examined the timbers. They held cut steel nails typical of the 1880s and earlier, and the narrow growth rings matched known drought years such as 1801, 1822 and 1880. Today the Bodhi offers three-day zazenkai, five- and seven-day sesshin, full moon sits and dharma talks, with vegetarian meals served in the dining hall. Private groups also rent the grounds, and in autumn a Heart-Centered Leadership weekend pairs meditation, chanting and yoga with hot springs. The campus is rural and the ground uneven, and the office asks visitors with access concerns to call ahead.

Traditions: Rinzai Zen, Zazen, Sesshin, Zazenkai, Teisho (Dharma Talk), Chanting

Programs: Zazenkai (3-day), Sesshin (5- and 7-day), Full Moon Sit, Teisho/Dharma Talk, Bodhi Rohatsu Sesshin, Kannon Bodhisattva Women's Retreat, Heart-Centered Leadership seminar, Three Great Days of Cleaning – A New Year's Program