A Visit to Lions Gate – The Gateless Gate – The Emily Dahl Foundation

A Visit to Lions Gate – The Gateless Gate

Lions Gate Buddhist Priory is a lovely place for introspection and mediation. One always feels welcome while sitting with the experienced monks of this temple. Every visit offers not only delicious vegetarian dishes at lunch, but more importantly, the gentle teachings of the monks. It is a warm place to ask questions and hear parables and stories by Master Koten.  

Even the cat and the dog of the priory add to the experience. They have different personalities, just like humans! All household pets have unique personalities. Some display confidence, boldness, and sociability, others may be more timid, reserved, or fearful. 

The monks of the priory live by what the Buddha teaches: To “relieve the suffering of all living beings.” This includes the lives of all animals. Simply put, all sentient beings have the ability to have feelings. It's the capacity for a creature to experience sensations and emotions. It's pretty easy to see that we humans are sentient beings. 

Lions Gate Buddhist Priory is a temple of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives (OBC). The temple is located on 160 acres of forested land on the slopes of Botanie Mountain near Lytton, BC, Canada. The practice is Serene Reflection Meditation (Sōtō Zen) and emphasises Buddhist meditation, cultivating compassion, and keeping the Buddha’s Precepts within the training of everyday life.

Lions Gate Priory is off the grid, powered by solar electricity, heated by wood-burning stoves, with running water and an outhouse toilet. They have a small, shared living area, and some smaller huts and cabins.

They recently constructed a meditation building modeled on the traditional pit-houses of the local First Nations (Indigenous peoples) and built by the nearby Skeetchestn Indian Band.

A few years ago, a Vietnamese monastery near Vancouver gave them a 10-ton granite statue of Kwan Yin, the bodhisattva of great compassion. 

Their practice consists of a daily schedule of meditation, daily ceremonies, study and work. They live a simple monastic life, “chopping wood and hauling water,” as they endeavor to plant a mandala of the Buddha dharma in the mountains. 

The Emily Dahl Foundation
January 2025