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I had written ahead to inform Tanouye Roshi² , the abbot of Chozen-Ji, of the time of my arrival. Usually when students from the mainland come to Hawaii, he makes arrangements to have them met at the airport and brought back to the temple. However, I had explained in my letter that I would be happy to take a cab if it would be more convenient.

After collecting my suitcase in the baggage claim area, I looked around to see if anyone had been sent for me. Unfortunately, I did not know who I should be looking for. Perhaps the person from Chozen-Ji would not be able to recognize me. I started to feel ill at ease. How long should I wait before taking a cab? What if I took one and missed the person who had come to meet me? My anxiety about entering a Zen temple grew. What did this mean? Was this a message of some sort? Zen masters are known to treat their students harshly. Was this part of my training; or was it a sign I was not welcome?

Finally, after about two hours, I hailed a taxi. I gave the driver the address and was relieved when he told me that he had heard of the street the temple is on. He took the highway towards downtown Honolulu, then quickly exited on to Kalihi Street, the street that Chozen-Ji is on. The road began to climb; the higher we went, the narrower it became. The setting now looked more like a tropical rain forest than a major metropolitan area. The driver told me he had never traveled this far into the valley before. We continued to climb. He slowed down, turned right into a driveway, and told me we were there.