The People of Hokyoji
The Hokyoji community is invited to honor and celebrate Kyoku Tracey Walen at a home-leaving ceremony on Friday, December 19 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The ceremony will be held at Hokyoji and will also be streamed on Zoom. All are welcome. You can register here.
Kyoku has been a steady and invaluable presence at Hokyoji since moving there in 2018. Known for her unfailing good humor, endless energy and deep practice, she has served as an Associate Teacher, sewing teacher, administrative problem-solver, and chief cook and bottle washer. In short: she has done whatever needed to be done—with one exception: “They decided I was only an emergency resource for mowing the lawn. I was better than nothing, but barely.”
Hokyoji is a lifetime away from Kyoku’s first career choice in executive finance for what was then Norwest Bank in Minneapolis, when she shared a home that she built with her husband in Forest Lake, Minnesota. The death of her best friend was, she said, “A wake-up call: what do I want to do with my life?” When she was introduced to Buddhism on a kayak trip to Alaska, she knew she had found the calling of her true heart. In 1998 she and her husband joined Clouds in Water Zen Center in St. Paul, which became their practice home.
At Clouds Kyoku trained with teachers Dosho Port and Byakuren Judith Ragir who ordained her in 2008 after which she trained for 3 years at Great Vow Zen Monastery with Abbots Jan Chozen and Hogen Bays. She returned to Clouds in 2011 and served as a priest and then teacher, receiving dharma transmission from Byakuren Judith in 2015. She has continued to serve as a teacher there.
Her longing to return to a monastic lifestyle was at the heart of her decision to move to Hokyoji. To say that she was choosing to live in humble conditions is an understatement: the only option at Hokyoji was to move into what was known as The Workshop: a sturdy two-level building about 100 feet from the main residence whose main purpose was to store tools and equipment in the lower level.
The upper level provided an overflow dormitory of cots, small sleeping rooms and one regular size bedroom that became Kyoku’s with space heaters and fans. Her bathroom was a porta potty. She hauled water from the residence in a 5-gallon jug, though eventually an outside faucet was provided to the Workshop. Her kitchen was a mini-refrigerator, microwave and fish-cleaning table with shelving for dishes and supplies. A couple of years ago the board of directors decided it was time to provide more comfortable living quarters and remodeled the workshop into a simple but fully functional residence, complete with running water, a bathroom, kitchen, three bedrooms and a sitting room.
But at age 75, Kyoku has decided it is time to move closer to friends in St. Paul. “I no longer feel like I can contribute at the level I’m accustomed to,” she says. It’s a level of contribution by someone whose presence Hokyoji will sorely miss. Please join us in thanking Kyoku and wishing her well on December 19.