A view of the Mount Adams Zen Temple and grounds at Trout Lake, via the Mount Adams Zen Center website. KATU News in Washington State reported yesterday of an attack against a Buddhist monk who believes his attacker must have mistaken him for Muslim. “I pulled over, someone ran up and yelled,” Kozen Sampson recalled of the attack, which took place in Hood River. “I turned around, they kicked the door, hit me in the side of the face and knocked my head into the frame of the car. I do remember [him yelling] an F bomb [about] Muslims, and that was it.”
Sampson, also known as Thich Minh Tinh, is a co-founder of Trout Lake Abbey Retreat, home to a an organic farm, accommodations, and the Mount Adams Zen Temple, at which he is a teacher. The Temple community describes itself as ” a mixture of individuals with many different religions who choose to practice meditation and follow the Dharma. The Mount Adams Zen Buddhist Temple is small country temple in the Thien tradition of Vietnam and the Soto Zen tradition of Japan.”
On Friday night, a candlelight vigil to promote peace and tolerance will be in Hood River. As KATU reports, organizers ask supporters to meet at 202 State Street starting at 6 p.m. Read KATU’s report here.
