A Gathering Across Ocean and Mountain — 120 Educators Visit Kongshan Monastery and Encounter a Place Built on Aspiration

On July 5, 2026, 120 teachers from the Bliss and Wisdom Education Park in Yunlin, Taiwan, visited Kongshan Monastery in New York.

For many of them, this was more than an overseas trip — it was a reunion long anticipated. The teachers had flown across the Pacific during their summer break, completed a mindfulness retreat at a meditation estate, and then made their way to this monastery in the mountain forests of the Hudson Valley to learn firsthand about Kongshan's founding story and to feel, for themselves, the aspiration that drives the monastic community's work of propagating the Dharma abroad.

The visit, however, had not come easily.

The night before, Kongshan Monastery was struck by heavy rain. The entire property lost water and electricity, and parts of the road were blocked by fallen trees. Early the next morning, the resident monastics immediately set to work clearing and restoring the grounds, determined that the teachers' visit would go ahead as planned.

And so, when the group arrived, what they encountered was not only a clean and welcoming environment — but the quiet, steadfast care of people who had worked through the night to protect the conditions for learning.

The visit began with Venerable Xìng Niàn introducing Master Zhenru's vision for propagating the Dharma in North America over many years, and the story of how Kongshan Monastery came to be.

Many teachers shared that it was only when they actually stood inside Kongshan that they understood, for the first time, what this place truly is — not simply a serene mountain retreat far from the city, but the embodiment of an aspiration more than twenty years in the making.

One teacher wrote:

"I had no idea Kongshan Monastery carried such an immense mission. The monastics, sustained by their commitment to their teacher, have built a Gelug monastery in the West step by step — it is truly no small thing."

Beyond the introduction to the monastery, what moved people most deeply was something else entirely: a reunion between teachers and students, separated by eighteen years.

Four of Kongshan Monastery's current resident monastics had once been students at the Bliss and Wisdom Education Park — and among the visiting teachers were the very people who had taught them. Meeting again after so many years, the monastics shared memories from their school days and offered their deepest gratitude to the teachers who had accompanied them along the way. Seeds planted long ago in a school had grown, on a different shore, into a living force that guards the Dharma — and more than a few teachers wiped away tears.

One teacher wrote:

"Hearing the monastics share the story of their journey, and seeing them affirm what teachers have given over all these years — it is the most precious gift any educator could receive."

For the occasion, the monastics had specially prepared a traditional New York cheesecake to share with the teachers, celebrating the joy of a reunion long overdue. That simple slice of cake became a moment of laughter, conversation, and gratitude — and left many people with a warmth that felt, in the truest sense, like coming home.

Afterward, the group strolled along the lakeshore, wrote wishes on prayer boards, and entered the Redwood Hall to view up close the precious original Tibetan volumes of the Five Great Treatises.

Many lingered, reluctant to leave.

Some wrapped their arms around the century-old white pine and stood quietly, taking in the stillness of the mountain forest. Some fed the wild geese at the lake's edge. Others paused before each volume of the treatises to offer incense and make aspirations — hoping that one day they might sit down and study each of these texts in earnest.

One teacher wrote:

"I wanted so much to stay longer. I loved the second floor of the Redwood Hall — offering incense before each of the treatises and making the aspiration that someday I will truly study each one."

Another said:

"Kongshan Monastery is beautiful — but more than that, it is a place where body and mind can rest, and where the Dharma fills you with joy. I have fallen completely in love with Kongshan."

Then, as the visit drew to its close, the sky opened up again with heavy rain.

For safety, the group made their way early to the parking area to prepare for departure. But just as the coaches were about to leave, the rain quietly eased. One by one, the teachers stepped back off the buses — and gathered together with the monastics for a final group photograph, bringing this journey to its warmest possible close.

In just a few hours, many teachers carried away something far greater than a travel memory. They came away with a renewed understanding of why Kongshan Monastery exists.

Some felt, perhaps for the first time, the depth of their teacher's long care for educators. Some witnessed the quiet, steady commitment with which the monastic community protects and carries the Dharma. And some left more resolved than before — to continue, in their own place of work, accompanying more lives as they grow.

As one teacher wrote:

"A place of spiritual presence and positive energy. I leave filled with gratitude and deep emotion — and with the aspiration to follow in my teacher's footsteps, doing my part to continue supporting the monastic community and the vision they carry forward."

Education is the cultivation of life. Practice is the settling of life.

When educators and practitioners meet on the same ground — sharing, offering gratitude, drawing strength from one another — that goodness continues to flow between school and monastery, accompanying more and more people toward lives that are steadier, and brighter.