Welcoming Pilgrims with Open Hearts

[After our post-retreat immersion at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (CTTB), one of the monastery's volunteers wrote up a recap of the day at the invitation of the nuns who edit a publication for the city. Here it is below -- brings back the sacred spirit of our moments together!]

As morning light blessed September 8, 2025, ancient rhythms awakened the air at 8:30 am. Welcoming drums from the Developing Virtue Boys' School called forth celebration, while lions and dragons danced at the Mountain Gate. Forty-five souls — most of whom were part of an Awakin or “Bodhisattva” retreat at Redwood Vihara Monastery – gathered like pilgrims at a threshold, their spontaneous applause mingling with the performance.

Rev. Heng Sure wove the tale of transformation—how a former state mental hospital transformed into the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (CTTB). He recalled his arrival at the Mountain Gate after two and half years of Three-Steps-One-Bow pilgrimage alongside former Bhikshu Heng Ch'au (Martin Verhoeven). Bhikshu Jin Wei shared CTTB’s founding teacher Master Hua’s prediction that everyone who walks through the gate will ultimately become free.

Hearing this prediction, Gary Zukav, now 83 years old, felt an inner calling to bow as he approached the gate. As he bowed through the gate, he heard Master Hua's voice: "Come Guo Dzu [Contentment]." He was returning back to CTTB after fifty years, back when the city had no Mountain Gate—still an open campus of infinite possibilities.

The group then went to the Buddha Hall where the Bhikshunis, led by DM Heng Liang and DM Heng Jiao, welcomed everyone. Where a gymnasium once hosted basketball games now stood a sacred space devoted to Guanyin Bodhisattva—She Who Hears the Cries of the World. Together the group chanted: "Namo Guanshiyin Pusa" filling the hall with a sacred resonance that finished in stillness.

For Hollywood actress Stephanie Nash, the moment became an unexpected inner attunement. Though not "a chant person," there was a deep recognition—ancient and immediate. The sacred sounds moved through her like memory returning to muscle, while tears streamed unbidden. She would later describe it as her soul being massaged, a great bell ringing within. By day's end, Stephanie, who kept her mother's Guanyin statues in her garden found herself reconsidering everything: two successful careers suddenly less essential, priorities needing reordering. The bell that rang in Buddha Hall continued calling her back to what her soul had always known.

The journey continued to Earth Store Hall, where Stacy Chen, the new Dean of Academics at Dharma Realm Buddhist University (DRBU), drew forth stories from Professor Martin Verhoeven. His voice trembled recalling 1976—a poster at Gold Mountain Monastery speaking of the Great Compassion Mantra: "a thousand eyes observe, a thousand ears hear all, a thousand hands help and support living beings everywhere." Three times he read these words, each reading bringing deeper tears, until he knew he must attend. His teaching echoed through time: follow the teachings, not the teacher—Master Hua's enduring gift.

Noon brought connection in the DRBU courtyard, where numbered table assignments became invitations to deep conversations. DRBU faculty and alumni guided Shared Inquiry discussions where classical texts became bridges between hearts and our innate wisdom. The dialogue of ideas flowed into an education panel where Bhikshuni Jin Jr and DRBU President Doug Powers shared insights alongside AwaKin guests Srinija Srinivasan, Stanford board-member emerita and founder of Jubilee College, and Abby Falik, who pioneered Global Citizen Year and now Flight School. Following their compelling stories, Bhikshuni Jin Rou told "First You, Then Me," the virtuous elephant tale, with young students who embodied its generosity by offering tangerines like small suns to each guest.

After tea's pause, three circles formed. CTTB Bhikshunis opened their hearts, sharing personal journeys of their monastic calling. At the end, each participant received a five-colored string blessed by an elder Bhikshuni's Great Compassion Mantra recitation. As one guest expressed: "Getting to sit in a circle with them and hear them share was one of the highlights of the CTTB immersion."

The Wordless Hall opened its rare doors. In hushed reverence, guests beheld Master Hua's relics. Rev. Heng Sure then invited all to sit in circles, weaving stories of Master Hua with wisdom and compassion.

As evening arrived, the community gathered at Sudhana Center where stories unfolded alongside youth performances and guitar melodies. Victor Koo, a successful technology entrepreneur from China, offered a bridge between worlds—inviting everyone to consider how ancient virtues might illuminate modern challenges. The day's closing brought a candle ceremony around the courtyard, light flickering as gentle drizzle graced the gathering. A DRBU student captured what many felt: "The collective spirit of compassion, service, and community was palpable in the air!"

The precious day completed its sacred circle—from morning drums to evening songs to dancing flames in darkness, each moment a bead on the mala of shared experience, each heart moved by the grace of connection.

Yet this day transcended its temporal bounds of 8:30 AM to 9:30 PM. Throughout the gathering, Rev. Heng Sure and Martin Verhoeven spoke of sensing Master Hua's living presence—rejoicing in this reunion of hearts, all drawn together in unconditional service along the infinite Bodhisattva path.

[More photos from the day.]