To spot the Dai Bai Zan Cho Bo Zen Ji, look ahead for a peaceful entry with wooden railings, a large metal bell hanging beside the door, and a circular stone feature in front of a modest brick building.
Welcome to Dai Bai Zan Cho Bo Zen Ji, the “Listening to the Dharma Zen Temple on Great Plum Mountain”-and what a mouthful that is! As you stand here, imagine the soft chime of the temple bell greeting you at sunrise. This temple’s story starts with a boy who became a monk at just age eleven-pretty early to give up Saturday morning cartoons-Genki Takabayashi. He trained for nearly twenty years at Daitoku-ji, a famous Rinzai Zen temple in Japan, before Seattle’s Zen crowd invited him over in the late 1970s. By 1983, after perfecting his Zen skills (and probably his tea ceremony finesse), he founded this very temple. Genki led Chobo-ji until 1997, sharing koans and quiet wisdom, before retiring to Montana, where he passed away in 2013.
But the story doesn’t freeze in time like an unmoving stone. Genjo Marinello took up the abbot’s role in 1999. Genjo’s Zen journey started back in 1975, and he’s been everywhere-training in Japan, learning from Zen masters, and eventually earning full dharma transmission, which is kind of like Zen’s version of winning “best in show.” Beyond temple walls, Genjo has served as a psychotherapist, Buddhist pastor in state prisons, and even as an emergency spiritual team member-tough job, but someone’s got to keep Seattle’s karma on track!
Today, Chobo-ji hums with activity: daily meditation, weekly lessons in Zen, Dharma talks, and intense week-long retreats called sesshin where silence reigns so deeply you can hear your thoughts echo. Take in the tranquil courtyard-the stone and bell, symbols of attention and clarity. This place is a gentle invitation: listen closely, breathe deeply, and maybe, just maybe, discover something new about yourself-and if not, at least you’ll leave really, really calm.
