Kodoji - Ancient Ground zendo - is SZC's wilderness zendo at Gorricks
Run adjacent to Yengo National Park. The land was initially seen
by Geoff Dawson and bought in l984, when a handful of sangha (community)
members gave personal loans to buy 16 hectares in a valley past
St. Albans, two hours north-west of Sydney.
Hawkesbury Council granted planning permission for a religious
retreat centre, based on plans prepared by Tony Coote, for the
cottage, also in 1984, and after this, samu, or work weekends
began, with members camping on site, building tank stands, installing
galvanised iron water tanks, digging pit toilets and excavating
an old access road. These samu weekends continued once a month
over many years, with the sangha volunteering their labour to
build the two-storey cottage and the wash-house.
During these years, sesshin (traditional Zen retreats) led by
John Tarrant, one of Robert Aitken Roshi's dharma heirs, took
place in the cottage, students sitting upstairs and down. Teisho
(dharma talks) were given under an ancient chestnut tree or downstairs
in the cottage. Dokusan (interviews with the teacher) took place
in a tent. Kerosene lamps provided lighting, and a chip-heater
gave hot water for showers. During sesshin, most people camped
out in the paddock.
In 1988 the Hojo building was completed. In 1995, after protracted
meetings with Council and opposition by a number of local residents,
scared of people in black, plans for the new Dojo were finally
approved. By this time, most of the loans had been repaid and,
using funds generated from sesshin fees, pledges and donations,
our samu weekends resumed and construction of the Dojo began.
Now after many weekends, all co-ordinated by architect and builder
Tony Coote, Kodoji is a beautiful meditation hall, which won a
Silver Medal in the 2002 Francis Greenway Society’s Green
Building Awards. Sangha artists have also contributed their work
- Glenys Jackson made the altar cloth, Janet Selby sculpted the
statue of Manjusri, and Patrick Forman made the han and offering
dishes. The stone Buddha meditating in the paddock was designed
by Brendon Stewart. Kodoji was opened on October 28, 2001 by Robert
Aitken Roshi, SZC’s founding teacher.
Since we began our building project, the old chestnut tree has
fallen down, but three new chestnut trees are now growing strong.
Solar-powered lighting has replaced kerosene lamps. Rainwater
is now collected in three tanks. Our sangha building continues.
