Faith+Values: The path to Zen

You don't get to the Minnesota Zen Center's retreat area by accident, especially in the middle of winter.

The Hokyoji center is about as far south in Minnesota as it can be. To get there, you have to go to New Albin, Iowa (pop. 502), and loop back north on a dirt road that seems a tad precarious until you reach the turnoff to the retreat center, a mile-long trail that consists of two tire tracks in the snow that narrowly miss trees while twisting up and down a series of hills.

Halfway down the road, about the time you realize that there's no place to turn around, it dawns on you that those cars parked back by the first thicket of trees don't belong to folks who are hiking in the woods. They're the cars of the people staying at the retreat center, people who have concluded that even in single-digit temperatures, it's smarter to hike the mile to the center than to try driving in.

But once you get to the clearing that houses the small cluster of buildings, you encounter a quiet solitude. Even inside the main building -- the only one that's heated, and that's a relative term -- silence is prevalent.

Not that the center's Zen master and instructor, Dokai Georgesen, is rude. On the contrary, he politely and patiently answers every question. But Dokai (he goes by his ordained name) admits that the retreat center isn't big on chatting. Two people can stand side by side working in the kitchen for an hour without saying a word.

"There's no strict rule of silence, but silence is a big part of what we do," he said.

These are retreat center veterans. You have to be, to come in the winter. Between the schedule (rising at 4 a.m.), the chilliness inside (if it's much below zero outdoors, the wood stove struggles to keep the room temperature above 55) and the bitter conditions outside (being snowed in has become a regular event, especially this winter), Dokai makes sure that visitors know what they are getting themselves into.

It's a regimented day, and a long one, going from 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. on a busy schedule that includes meditations, services and work periods. It's not a resort. Visitors do everything from cooking all the meals to maintaining the buildings and grounds.

"We have some individual time in the afternoon, and if someone feels that they need a nap, we encourage them to do that," Dokai said. After all, it's not like the noise will keep them awake.

The center, which is named after the Hokyoji Temple, a 700-year-old Zen Buddhist facility in Japan, asks for a donation of just $25 a day, but even that's negotiable. "I don't want money to keep anyone away," Dokai said. Most visitors come from the Twin Cities, but the center also draws heavily from Madison, Wis., and Milwaukee. Regular visitors range in age from the early 20s to the 70s, Dokai said.

There are some three-day retreats in the summer, but in the winter, the minimum stay is a week. Many people stay longer. Ian Fretheim, 27, of St. Paul was in the midst of a six-week stay at the center.

"I love the quiet bliss," he said, noting that this is the third winter he's had an extended stay. "It's quiet in the summer, too, but this is the only time there aren't many other people around."

The retreat center is described as "rustic," but it does have running water and electricity. "We had a big debate about the electricity," Dokai said. "We used to use kerosene lamps, but this is safer."

It also made it possible for Dokai, who lives there year-round, to have an Internet connection so he can keep abreast on what's happening in the rest of the world. Until that arrived, he was limited to the information he gleaned from his weekly half-hour drive into town to pick up groceries.

By the way, one of the parked cars we passed on the way in was his, he said. The news came just as the two guys from the newspaper had plugged into the serenity enough that they finally had quit worrying about having to drive back out.

Jeff Strickler • 612-673-7392