City of Ten Thousand Buddhas

Nestled in the heart of Talmage, just outside of Ukiah, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas is one of the first Chinese Zen Buddhist temples in the United States. Visit the Jeweled Hall of 10,000 Buddhas to see a massive statue of a thousand-handed Avalokitesvara Boddhisatva, and the ten-thousand individual statues of the Buddha molded by the late Venerable Master Hsuan Hua. Enjoy a vegetarian meal at the Jyun Kang Vegetarian Restaurant, and listen to the strange barking of peacocks which freely roam the grounds and are entirely tame. Browse the hundreds of translated Dharma texts, and arrange ahead to attend a talk or formal service. The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas is an entirely unique destination, existing to spread the Dharma throughout the west, and is well worth a visit.

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Look up as you pass beneath the gold-bedecked entrance of Mountain Gate and you’ll notice catwalks where once guards roamed, ensuring that the inmates stayed within the massive stone walls that encircle the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. Peacocks roam the green grass of what was once the Mendocino State Asylum for the Insane, their occasional raucous barks jarringly fitting to the history of the place. Dozens of squat institutional buildings, which once housed cafeterias, hospital rooms, and cells, are now home to Zen monks and nuns. A massive central structure, where for nearly a hundred years the screams of the insane could be heard, has been transformed into the Bell and Drum Hall, and as you slip off your shoes to enter, you will be greeted by the scent of incense, and the sound of silence, reverberating.

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