Sydney Johnson
Introduction
Located down a long, winding road in the middle of the Kapapala Forest Preserve in Hawaii stands the Wood Valley Temple and Retreat, which centers on the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism and meditation. The Wood Valley Temple and Retreat was officially founded in 1973 by Nechung Rinpoche, an incarnate lama from the Nechung Monastery in Dharamsala, India. Known for its frequent public events featuring teachings given by various visiting lamas, including two notable visits by the Dalai Lama in the 1990s, this temple stands as a prominent example of a successful satellite center of the Nechung Monastery. This temple and retreat center serves as a place to learn the ways of the Tibetan Buddhist religion from the masters of the teachings.
History
Nechung Rinpoche was born as Thupten Konchok in 1917 and was recognized as the reincarnate lama by the Dalai Lama at a young age. He soon began his training at the Nechung monastery where he quickly became a realized master. He also studied Tibetan literature and astro-science during his time in training and used his education at China’s Minority School to teach Tibetan language at the request of the Tibetan government for many years. During the Chinese occupation of Tibet, he was imprisoned twice, but eventually escaped to India. During this escape, he rescued the Precious Mask out of Tibet, one of the most sacred belongings of Nechung, the great Dharma protector, and brought it to the Nechung Monastery in India to present it to the Dalai Lama.
Once he became settled in India, he took up this interest in teaching again and taught in Delhi from 1964 to 1975. At the same time, he also regularly visited Nechung Monastery in Dharamsala to give teachings on the practice of the Nechung tradition. In 1973, he travelled to the United States to give teachings, and began hearing whispers of the desires of Hawaiians to have a center for Tibetan Buddhism on the island. He soon came upon an abandoned Nichiren Buddhist temple during his search, seeing it as the perfect opportunity to bring this vision to life. Although it took many months to restore the temple, it was eventually completed, and Rinpoche went on to live in Hawaii for the next ten years. In 1983, he “manifested the act of passing away into Pari nirvana revealing the transitory nature of life”, staying in a meditative state for three days following his death, as is customary (nechung.org).
Rinpoche’s ties to Nechung Monastery in Dharamsala tie Wood Valley closely to the monastery as well. The temple is a sector of this larger monastery, and therefore allows it to connect to the larger Asian Buddhist community outside of the western world.
As mentioned above, before the temple itself became a center for Tibetan Buddhism, it was built in 1902 to support Japanese immigrants working in the sugar industry who were active practitioners of Nichiren Buddhism. The temple was originally located between Wood Valley and Pahala, but in 1917 a large flood forced the relocation of the temple to its current location in Wood Valley so it could be on higher ground. Once it was moved, reconstruction started and finished in 1925. By the mid-1960s, the sugar industry in Hawaii had closed its two main worker camps, with one of these unfortunately being in Wood Valley. Since the temple had originally been built for these Japanese immigrants working in the industry, they had to move to find new job opportunities in Pahala. This left the temple abandoned, and the Nichiren Buddhist remnants forgotten. About ten years later when Nechung Rinpoche arrived in 1973, he came upon the abandoned temple during his search for the perfect place to build a center for Tibetan Buddhism with the help of a professor from the University of Hawaii. With much hard work, the temple was restored to the beautiful condition it deserved to be in.
Tradition
The Wood Valley temple affiliates with the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and describes this tradition as a marriage of the sutra and tantra. They place emphasis on the Hinayana and Mahayana doctrines, saying that “the Mahayana principles of compassion and wisdom as key elements on the path of enlightenment are complete in Tibetan Buddhism” (nechung.org). This also shows their emphasis on the path of the bodhisattva, again showing the importance of putting others before oneself. Tantra, or “secret mantra” is the ability to look at ordinary experiences and see them as of higher significance. The sutras, or the perfections, help one to realize their desire to help others through being a bodhisattva. Each of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism have the same purpose for their followers: to accumulate merit and overcome obstacles that would obscure one’s path to liberation. Further, the Nechung lineage originally derived from the Nyingma lineage, the oldest school of Tibetan Buddhism.
The Temple Today
Today, Wood Valley is directed by Michael and Marya Schwabe, who both visited the temple for the first time in early 1974 for a weekend retreat. To both of their surprise, they ended up staying to prepare for the return of Nechung Rinpoche in 1975, but once he arrived the couple never left and neither did Rinpoche. They remained in Wood Valley to study the Buddhist religion and the Tibetan language alongside Rinpoche until his death in 1983, when they officially became the directors of the temple. They actively work with Nechung Monastery among other Buddhist monasteries and centers to get lamas to visit Wood Valley and give teachings. About a decade after Rinpoche’s death, Marya and Michael, alongside a monk from Nechung Monastery, made several journeys to Tibet to discover the reincarnate Nechung Rinpoche. In 1993, they discovered him in an eight-year-old boy on the third journey. This amazing opportunity would not have been possible if it were not for the deep connection they had made with Nechung Rinpoche in the years preceding his death, as he gave them several clues as to who the next lama would be. These events became the topic of Marya’s book, Road to Freedom: A Journey from Occupied Tibet.
The Dalai Lama has visited Wood Valley on several occasions, which helped to put this temple on the map. In 1980, Nechung Rinpoche took much care to prepare for the arrival of the Dalai Lama, with a full six months of preparation work involved. He completed numerous renovation projects since the Dalai Lama would be staying at the temple for a few days, therefore requiring the temple to be in pristine condition. During this visit in 1980, he gave several teachings to a crowd of several hundred people, and also dedicated the temple. He visited for a second time in 1994, and this time there was much more attention from the public; his teachings attracted more than 3,500 people that day. Wood Valley quickly became a popular destination for visiting lamas as Hawaii and the forest where the temple is located resemble a pure land as defined in Buddhist teaching.
Today, Wood Valley focuses on meditative practice, including events such as a White Tara meditation for long life and wisdom. Every Sunday, a Green Tara practice is held where recitations of the 21 Taras occur, bringing liberation and fulfillment to those in attendance. This event exemplifies the westernization of these Asian religions due to its repetition on Sundays. The temple also hosts week- to month-long retreats and weekend seminars including teachings on the Buddhist path, from the foundational topics up to the Highest Yoga Tantras in order to show the visitors the depth of the Buddhist teachings in the Tibetan tradition. Along with the retreats throughout the year, the temple hosts as many visiting lamas as they can each year with the number of lamas per year and the length of their stay varying. Lamas from each of the Tibetan Buddhist lineages have visited, and the temple has previously received up to three lamas in one year. During these visits, the lamas host up to four sessions per day devoted to meditation and giving teachings.
The community’s constituency seems to be fairly divided between Euro-Americans and Asian-Americans, also including people of all ages and knowledge levels in terms of Buddhist practice, as demonstrated by the temple director; this temple is welcoming to all who have an interest in the religion. Although it is unclear to tell how large their constituency is due to their nature of their events being long retreats and thus attracting visitors from far away, it likely stands at around a couple hundred.
Further, Wood Valley is a 501 c3 non-profit religious organization, which operates solely for religious purposes. They also actively encourage donations from all visitors in person and on their website in order to continue “[disseminating] the Buddhist teachings” and to “[provide] a place of peaceful contemplation open to all who seek it” (nechung.org).
Works Cited
“About the Nechung Monastery.” About the Nechung Monastery, http://nechungfoundation.org/about-monastery.html.
Connover, Kristina. “Zen Centers in the Hawaiian Islands.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 8 Feb. 2017, https://traveltips.usatoday.com/zen-centers-hawaiian-islands-34711.html.
Events, https://www.nechung.org/about.
Nechung Choktrul Rinpoche, https://www.nechung.org/about.
Nechung Monastery, https://www.nechung.org/about.
Tibetan Buddhism, https://www.nechung.org/about.
Valentine, Karen. “Wood Valley Temple and Its Fascinating Historical Journey.” Ke Ola Magazine, 15 Aug. 2020, https://keolamagazine.com/home-building/wood-valley-temple/.
Wood Valley Temple & Guest House, https://www.nechung.org/about.
“Wood Valley Temple.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Aug. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_Valley_Temple.