WOOD VALLEY TEMPLE: A SERENE SANCTUARY IN THE FOREST OF KA'U

-by Norah Charles

Hawaii Island Journal, June 1-15, 2003

Four miles up the road behind Pahala town, Wood Valley Temple pulses with

color.  The building, surrounded by cackling peacocks splaying electric

green feathers, is painted in the Tibetan style.  Prayer flags tremble in

the slight wind.  The grounds, impeccably maintained, ramble beneath a

canopy of trees.

Although Michael Schwabe, caretaker of Wood Valley, claims the traffic has

thickened, the temple seems to hang in a wonderful silence, marked only by

the occasional coo of a peacock or the trill of a mynah bird.

Wood Valley, now in its 30th year as a Tibetan temple, is one of Hawai¹i

Island¹s most distinguished temples.  Its history, marked by natural

disasters, economic flux in Pahala and the dogged determination of its

Buddhist caretakers, is surprisingly complex.  Initially dedicated in 1902

as a Nichiren Shu Sect Buddhist temple, Wood Valley was created as a

spiritual center for Japanese immigrants.

In the early 1920s, a flood destroyed much of the temple.  The temple was

then rebuilt and thrived once again as a Japanese center.

World War II brought incredible changes to the Japanese population in the

United States.  The teacher of the Japanese school and the minister of Wood

Valley were taken to holding camps.  Several ministers were stationed at

Wood Valley during the 1950s, but in 1963 the last minister closed the

temple doors.  The Wood Valley community had slowly dwindled, and by the

mid-1960s, most of the population had already moved back to Pahala town.

In the early 1970s, as small group of Tibetan Buddhist students from O¹ahu

recovered Wood Valley temple from the overgrown jungle.  Marya and Michael

Schwabe have worked almost continuously the last 30 years on reviving the

temple.  Their first task was to invite a Buddhist lama to Wood Valley.

Unsure of who would take up the challenge of moving to Ka¹u, they were

astounded when Nechung Rinpoche, a high lama and ritual master for the Dalai

Lama, moved to Wood Valley.  He lived at the temple for eight years, taught

the Schwabes Tibetan and helped revive the building, assigning it its

energetic color scheme and dedicating it as a non-sectarian Tibetan Buddhist

temple.

In 1980, the Dalai Lama made his first visit to Wood Valley.  There he spoke

to a relatively small audience from the front porch of the temple, and for

the first time, gave his entire talk in English.  In 1994, The Dalai Lama

revisited Wood Valley, speaking to an audience of more than 3,500 people.

Police accounts say traffic slithered bumper to bumper from Kona to Hilo.

Wood Valley has hosted 25 Tibetan masters as well as Thai Buddhist masters,

including the religious minister of Thailand.  The temple is currently home

to Tibetan monk Lobzang Toldan, nickname Tiapala, who¹s lived at Wood Valley

on and off for almost 20 years.

Although not a large, temple, the complex has living quarters for resident

and visiting monks as well as a bedroom used only by the Dalai Lama.  Wood

Valley also has a large retreat center, created from a building relocated

from Pahala and hundreds of scrap building materials just before the Dalai

Lama¹s first visit.  The center can hold up to 20 people, has a kitchen and

dining area as well as a meditation and prayer hall.  Prices range per

person from $35 a night for dormitory living to $75 a night for double

occupancy private rooms and is available to spiritual, political and

workshop groups.

Wood valley is an oasis of man-made beauty in the cradle of the Ka¹u forest.

Since its inception it has maintained its nature as a Buddhist temple,

revived by a new generation of students and teachers dedicated to making the

sacred space available to all who crave spiritual renewal.  Wood Valley

lives on, inspiring many more generations with its quiet call to contemplate

the world from a spiritual perspective.

For more information, call 928-8539 or visit the Wood Valley web site at

www.nechung.org.