Opening the Mountain: Circumabulating Mount Tamalpais, A Ritual Walk

by Matthew Davis, Michael Farrell Scott, Gary Snyder (Foreword by)

In 1965, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder and Philip Whalen gathered at the base of Mt. Tamalpais, a lovely small mountain in Marin County that anchors the San Francisco Bay on its northwest side. Inspired by Tibetan and Indian practices of walking clockwise — “the way of the sun” — around a venerated object, they “opened the mountain” by completing the first circumambulation. They did it again two years later, a month after the “Human Be-in” in Golden Gate Park, and with greater company as they invited the public to join them. The practice has continued almost uninterrupted for forty years, with Matthew Davis finding an organizing role on April 8, 1971, the Buddha's birthday, when he first led the walk. He has led the celebrations more than 140 times since.

The ritual walk — slightly less than 15 miles in length — marks the four quarters of the year. Ten way stations have been established for ceremonial chanting and prayer. With 80 remarkable photographs by Michael Farrell Scott, lovely drawings and maps, chants and poems, this book documents not only this particular spiritual practice but offers guidance for others wishing to establish similar practices in their own areas.

176 pages, Paperback

First published October 26, 2006

About the author

Note: There are multiple authors in the GR system with this name. This profile is for Matthew^^Davis.

Reviews

[Robert Reinhard · Rating 5 out of 5]

An inspired collation of essays, poems, photos, narratives describing the mid 20th century origins and continued Zen derived practice of ritual group walking clockwise around the spiritual mountain center of the Bay Area. The circumambulating walks repeated over time during seasons of the year by Matthew Davis, Gary Snyder, Allen Ginsburg, Phillip Whalen and others from the San Francisco renaissance displays like a Beat era coffee table book but records an event that went on to establish a new religious activity that's still lasting, humble and appreciative. It was very difficult for me to read this book personally because now I am physically incapable of going on the 15 mile walk myself and honoring its meditative stations on the mountain here and I would long to go and be part of the connection with the mountain that they understood. Mt Tam is only a few miles away but my body cannot do it. Today also America has so lost its ability to revive the universal and soul infused themes that these practitioners understood.

[Karli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for more on the ritual aspect of the hike. Sounds pretty freeform. But I mapped the route they showed and I’m ready!

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I see this book on the shelf it reminds me of the value of browsing the shelves of your local independent bookstore, should you be so lucky to have one or more nearby. Despite my interest in walking and in San Francisco Bay Area books, I had never heard of this book before I ran across it a couple of years ago. It describes a ritual walk that circles the base of Mt. Tam, first taken by Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, and others in the mid-60's. You don't have to live in the area, though, to enjoy this book; the practice of circumambulation can be done in many other locations. I found out that people still do this walk on the solstice; an interesting article was written about this ritual in the Marin I-J. If you do want to do the Mt. Tam walk, you will have to put together the route yourself from the descriptions in the book; it's not written like a standard hiking guidebook. However, it's very easy to figure out the route, which is about 15 miles. Definitely recommended (both the book and the walk itself).

[Mills College Library]

203.50979 D2632 2006

[Nigel Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mathew gave me a copy of this book. I never got around to walk the mountain with him but I hope one day to do it for myself.