I will be leaving Jikoji on December 28. The past year has been a wonderful learning experience: learning to live in community, learning practice, learning this job. I have met so many lovely people. I am grateful for the time.

That said, I have a few observations to offer.

PURPOSE

The greatest help to allow the Shika to do an efficient and productive job is to clearly and concisely (with consensus) come up with an accurate and up-to-date mission statement. It has never been very clear to me in which direction the Board wishes Jikoji to go.

Although Jikoji is not a business, what is it exactly? A retreat center, a boarding house, a prospective pre-school, a zen hotel, a prospective monastery and training facility?

If a retreat center, what role the residents?

A business model for a retreat center would emphasize profit by focusing on filling the calendar with workshops and retreats and thus increasing revenues. Is that what you want? And have you considered the cost of doing so? The cost to residents, the very real cost of upkeep and staffing, the cost to our local sangha who come here on Sundays?

Sometimes I feel Jikoji is a little schizophrenic. We do want more business but we really don't want more business. If you really want to develop the business model, you will have to consider staffing and increasing compensation so you can draw qualified people. This will change Jikoji. More staff means new housing, and better housing, larger salaries, outlay of capital and on and on.

Again, ask yourselves, what do we want? And spell it out clearly, otherwise the Shika is prone to work at cross purposes and waste time and effort, not to mention risking burnout.

If you want just enough revenue to keep Jikoji running as it is, then fine. Spell that out, specify a number, and allow the shika to work toward that.

And please get everyone around here on the same page. Right now we have four or five people expending a lot of effort on different projects that may or may not be copacetic. Some kind of central managing authority, in addition to the resident teacher, should be considered.

SO FAR THIS YEAR

Many successful retreats in the past six months, from FWBO here for a month in the summer to Urban Zen and the Bay Area Sufis. The response has been uniformly positive. We are beginning to get inquiries from non meditation oriented groups and the potential for increased bookings is good. The one lack in this area is the lack of a classroom and seminar space. A large room that would accommodate chairs and a conference table, as well as audio-visual equipment. It would also be nice to increase our housing to at least 30 beds. Right now we have 26 beds, but 30 is a nice round number and sounds good to prospective clients.

We have completely revamped the look and feel of our rooms by buying all new linens and comforters. I would suggest further expenditures in the areas of pillow covers, back-up linens, bathroom and room rugs, some new lamps and room furniture (including sitting chairs) where needed.

I would suggest an economical upgrade of the community building. Tear out and replace the old ratty carpet (preferably with wood or laminate flooring), replace the grotty easy chairs with contemporary, but comfortable, sitting chairs and couch, organize the library, buying new shelving, if needed --maybe even constructing an area, somehow exclusive for the library. You could do all this very easily for under $5000 and the positive impact would be far greater than the cost.

You should consider allocating funds for improving the landscaping. Jikoji is all about the setting. Sangha members and prospective and existing clients are affected deeply by their surroundings. There is a woman, Rane, who has landscaped the two zen centers in Santa Cruz, who would assist us in this.

However, there is no point in spending money to better the landscaping if there is no one around here to keep it up.

I see a big problem in the lack of hands, or the lack of willing hands. This is just too big a place to be taken care of by just two or three people. Which brings me to my final point:

BEING THE SHIKA can be a lonely job. While each person here is assigned small chores --besides Greg who seems to do everything--, it is up to the Shika to make sure what needs to get done for a group or an individual visitor does actually get done. There is also the responsibility for upkeep of resident matters such as purchasing and housekeeping, as well as keeping an eye on watering, the chickens, landscaping, grounds safety issues (such as holes in the walkways, fallen items, electrical problems, plumbing problems, etc.). Not that the shika has to be able to fix everything, but he is the eyes and ears of the place.

The way the shika job is at Jikoji would be better defined as property manager, because his duties extend far beyond guest services.

The Shika is a kind of "the buck stops here" job. There is no one else.

Which brings me to the resident situation. It is really hard to get stable residents here, I know. But if you want to go in the direction of increasing revenues, as per the business model, then you have to. And not just residents, but residents who are willing to abide by their responsibility and have a sense of belonging to this place that extends beyond: this is where I sleep until I can get it together to get a real place in town.

I have had the luxury of being here without really having to work an outside job. But how many others are so lucky? Which brings me to salary. A position equivalent to shika at Tassajara comes with a stipend of $4-500, as well as room and board and health insurance--enough to live on. Here the shika gets room and $200, not enough to live on.

All in all, being the shika at Jikoji is an amazing opportunity. If I was at a different place in my life, and if you were responsive to my suggestions, I would happily stay on here.

Thank you for this opportunity and I definitely will see many of you again in future visits.

Christopher Kolon



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