In 1983 a 1.5 acre parcel was purchased in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains above the village of Arroyo Seco. Upon viewing it Kobun immediately said, "This will work." His head student, Bob Watkins, asked, "What shall we call it?" Without hesitation Kobun answered, "Hokoji (Phoenix Light Temple)".
The property included a pond, a house and a workshop that was built in the 1970's by Rick and Sally Edelman on a then unnamed gravel road off of El Salto Road. El Salto Road heads directly east into the mountains from Arroyo Seco along side El Salto Creek. Taos Pueblo borders along its south side with old Spanish homesteads to the north. It quickly climbs into steeper slopes where Ponderosa Pine and White Fir begin to dominate the lower elevation forests of Juniper and Piñon Pine. Turning north across El Salto Creek onto what is now named Paw-a-Suki Road, one comes to the zendo and house.
At the time of purchase the Edelman house was called the "Dragon House" due to a clay bas-relief dragon dominating one wall of the living room. Massive carved posts supporting heavy log vigas, colored stones and tiles inset into the rock and cement floors, the multi-leveled floors stepping the house down the mountain, and the two story round tower addition complete the imagery of the house built by the energetic young folk who found refuge around Taos in the 60's and 70's.
As part of the sale, Rick Edelman remodeled his rectangular workshop into a simple but beautiful zendo, with tans around the perimeter of the room for sitting zazen and a place for an altar and offering table. The dirt floor was fit with joists and finished with pine and cedar. The original squeaky pine floor boards have since been replaced with oak.
To furnish the zendo, a local woodworker was commissioned to build a facsimile of an altar that Watkins had seen at Eiheiji, the main Soto Zen training monastery in Japan. Kobun ordered a hammered brass temple bowl gong and mokugyo drum from Japan. A student of Kobun's living near San Francisco picked the items up at the docks and drove them to New Mexico in time for the opening ceremonies. Somewhere en route between Japan and Hokoji, the striker for the gong was lost, so a local wood-turner was found to produce one on his lathe. The $25 check that was written for the striker depleted the bank account.
In 1984 all was ready and Kobun invited his brother Keibun Otogawa Roshi to travel from the family temple in Japan to the wilds of Northern New Mexico for the opening dedication. Yumiko McCormick's father, Hakuyu Murakami Roshi, was visiting in Arroyo Seco at the time. (Yumiko and husband Michael were co-founders of Hokoji). Thus, the dedication of Hokoji was conducted by three Japanese Soto Zen priests. Kobun's students came from all around the country to attend the elaborate ceremony which enshrined Hokoji as a Buddha Field.
Murakami Roshi later contributed three articles about the dedication that were published in consecutive issues of Sansho, Eihei-ji's magazine in Japan, in 1984. He also contributed bowls and utensils for the traditional oriyoki meal service, used during extended practice periods.
Since the time of its founding, Hokoji has continuously offered a place for zazen practice and practice of the traditional Soto Zen liturgy. Kobun stated that Hokoji "is not a training center or Zen Center- it is a place for people to practice zazen, and it will belong to the people who use it." Such it has remained until today.
