The Land
Mountain Gate-Sanmonji was established in 1996 by Ven. Mitra Bishop, a Zen Buddhist priest, on her return from Japan where she had been training at Sogen-ji Monastery. She had felt a strong affinity with the land outside of Santa Fe ever since living there in the 1980's. The temple is located in a beautiful valley in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of Northern New Mexico, immediately adjacent to the Carson National Forest.
After purchasing the land in Ojo Sarco she felt so drawn to, two members came to do Zen meditation training, live on the property, and help develop it during work practice. They worked alongside Mitra-roshi in starting to construct the buildings on the property. Morning and evening, these two members did Zen meditation.
At the time, Roshi was living in an ancient travel trailer. She and Mountain Gate members laid out the lines for a new zendo (meditation room), which was the first structure built on the land. It was constructed entirely with volunteer labor using the traditional adobe building methods of the area.
First Extended Sitting
The first sesshin (meditation retreat) was soon held, even before the zendo was finished. It was January, and the temperature often dipped below freezing. The hardy participants sat meditating by kerosene lantern light with only a mud floor in the meditation room. The old travel trailer was used for women’s housing and the men slept in the zendo. There was one outhouse. It was clear that more building space was needed.
Construction
The next phase of construction began later that year and added an indoor bathroom, an entryway foyer, two bedrooms, a storage closet, and a multi-purpose room, which served as the dining room, library, instruction room, and teacher’s quarters. At that point the trailer—which had also been the kitchen—failed, and a small outbuilding with electricity, but no running water, was quickly built. That became the kitchen, and the need to haul water quickly taught everyone the importance of being careful of every drop. Throughout the construction and even in the midst of it, extended Zen Buddhist meditation sittings were held.
Running Water
Finally, in 2005, adjacent land, which had a small trailer plus addition—with running water!—became available and was purchased. This provided a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, Kannon room (Kannon is the expression of compassion, kindness, and generosity naturally cultivated in Zen Buddhist practice), and dining area.
New Addition
Once the land was paid off, attention was turned to expanding the 1500-square-foot main building so that there would be more bedrooms for retreats, an adjacent kitchen, an office, and an ADA bathroom. An architectural designer friend donated design work and full drawings for a beautiful, functional addition that doubled Mountain Gate’s space when completed. This addition was built by neighbors who are skilled in quality construction and were willing to work piecemeal as donations came in to provide money for additional construction. That construction has been fully completed after thirty years of progress and so we are able to offer a full schedule of monthly 7-day Zen Buddhist retreats during which participants stay in the bedrooms in the Kannon-do and in the main building.
