Searching for the City of Saint Francis
Val Zander
January 1, 2000
Here in San Francisco, on a street corner that seems to catch all the windblown trash, one row house sports a bright yellow sign saying "Paradise Monastery." A few dozen blocks away, on a street lined with broken cars and at least one abandoned house, a Victorian home in muted colors has a small brass plaque by the front door bearing the name "Casa Gloria."
I know these neighborhoods. The first one, where I live, has daily (and nightly) fire engine runs, along with a regular population of homeless people on the street and in nearby Golden Gate Park. The second, where many of my friends live, is the Latino part of town, where the streets are lively and noisy around the clock. But both Paradise Monastery and Casa Gloria are home to people trying to live a contemplative life in the city.
I am a frustrated contemplative myself, an overly conscientious, goal-oriented mother of three boys who's read plenty of books on reflection and meditation but has never quite found herself in the right sort of secluded setting to put it all into practice. I've often wondered how anybody manages to sustain a life of contemplation at all, let alone amid the noise and frenzy of a city. How does one meditate or pray here? Can it be done in a way that feeds a vibrant life with others, or is contemplation best done in isolation? I visited Casa Gloria and the Paradise Monastery to find out.
Fu Chong and Wu Ji are Buddhist monks from Burma and Thailand. They live at Paradise Monastery, which also serves as the Buddhist temple for the Bay Area's thousand-strong Burmese community. On the day of a major celebration, such as the Buddha's birthday, the whole community will cycle through the house, chanting in the living-room-cum-temple, eating festival foods ...
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