Tehachapi News

New Buddhist abbot at Sand Canyon temple creates beautiful art

By: Tina Forde, Reporter, Tehachapi News

The new abbot in residence at the Mountain Spirit Center Buddhist temple in Sand Canyon is humble but his artwork is far from it.

Hae-An Snim (snim is the respectful term for monk), who has lived at the center since December, carves wood that becomes Buddhist calligraphy, intricate interlocking patterns and simple Zen drawings.

The Zen drawings come with brief explanations:

• “Around and around through the darkness;”

• “Temple in ocean;”

• “Today I left;”

• “It's OK for you to go;”

• “Fish never close their eyes (Do not close the eyes of your mind).”

Some of his block prints feature the antics of laughing, tumbling children and ferocious mythological animals dressed as warriors.

His enchanting 2000 work, “Children Carrying the Sun,” is a joyful splash of red and yellow and happy youngsters.

When engraving characters, he feels like a feather floating over clouds, thinking nothing, he said in a Feb. 8, 2006 article in the Korea Times. “And suddenly I (find) sitting in front of me a completed engraving work.”

Hae-An took up Zen wood carving when he entered the priesthood 24 years ago. According to the Korea Times, senior monks told the young Hae-An that a Buddhist monk should do at least one productive activity in addition to the basic three duties - meditation, prayer and study.

With the days filled with priestly activities, he finds time to carve after dinner - although he is still getting settled at the Tehachapi temple and said he does not have all his tools at hand.

One hundred seventy of his works were displayed at a 2006 one-man show, “One Stroke, One Carving,” at the Gallery Bul-Ihl in Pombyonsa Temple in Seoul.

Friend of founder

Hae-An is no stranger to the Mountain Spirit Center. Since 1998, he has been there two or three times a year to help the temple founder, Mu Ryang Sunim, build the facility.

He carved the wood signs for the temple buildings and helped in other ways involving the beautiful wood structures.

It was hard to discover the extent of his labors, as he turned the conversation away from his own accomplishments.

Two more monks are scheduled to join him within a month or so, he said.

A woman from Korea, Sun Jeong Hwa, cooks for the abbot and for visitors who arrive from Korean communities around the state. The visitors bring fresh fruit and vegetables to help out with the meals and as temple offerings.

Sun Jeong Hwa does magical things with five kinds of rice, vegetable soup, rice noodles, seaweed, pickled radishes, spicy tofu, spicy cucumber salad, lettuce and soybean sprouts and the ubiquitous hot kim chi.

For dessert, it's slices of perfectly ripened Asian pears.

The temple is supported by 2,100 members from Bakersfield, Palmdale, Lancaster, Las Vegas, Arvin, Los Angeles and elsewhere. 

Studied law

Sitting cross-legged on a mat on the floor of the assembly hall, Hae-An's demeanor is animated, modest and patient, and he's filled with stories.

He serves tea from a collection of various-sized teapots and about 20 varieties of tea in containers.

Hae-An, 50, said he has been training to be a monk since he was 13 years old. 

He studied at the prestigious Dong Guk University in Seoul, majoring in law and law enforcement and earning a masters degree in criminology. His focus was on the pain felt by victims of crime, as well as remedies for people who harmed others.

Mountain Spirit Center, or Tae Go Sah, means “water, trees, mountains.”

Founder My Ryang, who discovered the location after a long search and study of topographical maps, arrived in 1993 with a backpack and tent, and set about creating what is now a remarkable spiritual center. He meant it to be a refuge for all, and Hae-An Snim is carrying on that gentle mission.

Hae-An Snim asks one thing of visitors: Please be considerate of the neighbors and drive 15 mph on the approach road.

And don't forget to take your shoes off before entering any of the buildings.

(Reporter's note: Many thanks to City of Tehachapi Finance Director Hannah Chung for accompanying me to the interview and translating Hae-An Snim's words. - Tina Forde)