Backstory

E uhi ana ka wa i hala i na mea i hala

(“Passing time obscures the past”)

When it comes to the history of a particular piece of land, particularly hallowed ground, there is no better “visitor log” than the names and stories that are inscribed in the earth herself. Its legacy lies not only in the footprints left behind but also in the stories written in blood and tears. And it pools as well in the hopes and dreams planted along with the kalo (taro) and the niu (coconut) and later the Japanese Cedar and Black Pine. And still later yet various illicit crops and seeds of dissension.

As progeny descended from the primordial union of Li and Po, humanity’s growth and proliferation has not surprisingly encompassed acts of both consecration and desecration as it followed the learning curve of tension between these two oppositional forces.

One can assume a historical extended period of relative peace (the islands were often fighting each other) and abundance on this land as related in some of the old stories of ka po’e kahiko (the people of old) in the days of the Monarchy. The first actual record that I have seen of human visitors are petroglyphs carved in some of the larger pōhaku adjacent to the ancient loʻi along Kolealea Stream, which serves as one of Bamboo Mountain’s property lines.

The first well-documented written account of a notable “visitor” was in 1790 when Kamehameha began his second invasion of Maui on his mission to unify the Hawaiian Islands. His was not a social visit but he certainly left his mark. In fact, Bamboo Mountain sits just downwind of a prominent pu’u (cinder-cone) named “kapuai O Kamehameha” (footprint of Kamehameha). The combined defenses of “the brave sons of Hāmākualoa” were insufficient to repel his attack and many lives were lost on this and surrounding lands in the fierce battle.

About 130 years later, the Okamura brothers and their “picture brides”, all of whom had emigrated from Japan around 1900, came into ownership of this land and surrounding acreage. They were very successful farmers who also built and operated a canning factory here in which they put up guava jelly, bamboo shoots and even canned tuna. In 1940 they built a beautiful plantation home for the family compound up on top of a prominent ridge.

They had just barely moved in when Pearl Harbor was attacked. The US Marines stationed on Maui soon discovered the Okamura compound and forced the family to evacuate under threat of internment or worse. Their beautiful plantation home was subsequently converted into a brothel to serve the military during the war years. That period of time scarred the property with a deep and tragic sadness in its aftermath.

The Okamuras did not return to Bamboo Mountain after the war. The sense of desecration was too devastating. Out of respect for families of the victims, stories about the forced conscriptions are closely guarded. Not all casualties of war occur on the battlefields.

The property subsequently passed through a succession of owners while the rats, rust, termites and rampant jungle growth fed by the nightly rains and exacerbated by human neglect, made it a sad study in impermanence.

In the late 1960’s, Robert Aitken and his wife purchased the beleaguered property to house his Diamond Sangha and it became widely known as the Maui Zendo. There was no hot water or electricity at first and the building was in rough shape. The little sangha that grew from such humble beginnings did a remarkable job of clearing, healing, reclaiming and converting the main building into an impressive Zen training center.

In addition to all the work on the building, this little community of earnest monks also planted gardens and orchards, built a traditional entrance of “1000 Steps” up the mountain through the jungle and started a school for local indigent children. All the while studying and practicing Zen Buddhism with Aitken Roshi and the numerous Japanese roshis and sensei who would periodically visit from Japan.

One of the former monks related to me a story from those early days. Aitken Roshi, returning from one of his frequent trips to Asia, brought back a cutting from the iconic Bodhi Tree beneath which Guatama Buddha attained enlightenment some 2500 years ago. He and the sangha planted it on the grounds of the Maui Zendo where it thrives to this day. I call it the Tree of Life. In fact, I am sitting under it as I write these very words. It has the makings of a haiku writing itself in Ha’ikū.

In the mid 1980’s, Aitken Roshi relocated to Oahu, where the Diamond Sangha is still serving the Zen community, and Bamboo Mountain returned to private ownership once again.

In 1988, a well-known Taoist scholar chose to write his translation of the Chinese I Ching “Book of Changes” while living at Bamboo Mountain and gives it due credit in the book’s Acknowledgements.

However, another decade of decline, desecration and deferred maintenance unfortunately ensued through the waning years of the Twentieth Century.

Bamboo Mountain Sanctuary came into its present stewardship in 1999. In the first 22 years of this Third Millenium, it has welcomed several American Zen roshis and sensei from the White Plum Sangha, has hosted numerous Tibetan Buddhist Lamas, various Native American medicine men and women, a host of Hawaiian Kahuna and even a US Poet Laureate.

At various times, a Māori chief, a Yoga Master, a Benedictine Monk, a Peruvian shaman, a Chinese Tai Chi Master, a Council of Sufi Elders and an ohana of kupuna from Hana have graced the massive monk’s table left by the Diamond Sangha.

These verdant hills and valleys have even on occasion been visited by the Night Marchers and possibly one or two interdimensional beings on their earthly walkabout. There is no dearth of stories.

As current kama’āina and kiai, I can attest to the powerful mana of the ʻāina at Bamboo Mountain. One of Maui’s great kahunas and spiritual leaders, the late Papa Ka’alakea, who used to gather lāʻau lapa’au (healing medicine plants) on this land, shared with me the wisdom of kuleana. He said that when you heal the earth with your hands, the earth heals you in turn. And thus the wheel turns.

And it turns whether a person is kanaka ma’oli (Hawaiian by descent) or kama’āina (“child of the land” or, literally, “child of what feeds me”). The kanaka ma’oli are native by birth. While being kama’āina isn’t about bloodlines or birthplaces, it is about a fully intentional way to live by being pono with the ʻāina, by honoring the relationship of kuleana.

In the way that mysteries often reveal themselves in the fullness of time, life on the rainy side of the rainbow can reveal the soul of the earth. It is our hope that in some small measure Bamboo Mountain serves as a cautery for an ancient and rich culture that was severely hemorrhaged by the rapacious practices and exploitative policies of the missionaries and their descendants and so many who followed.