Rejoicing with the Buddha: Living Buddha Lian-Sheng and Shimu Enjoy a Forest Bath at Tiger Mountain
【Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple News / By Master Lian Yi】

On the afternoon of September 23, 2026, “Rejoicing with the Buddha” arrived at its sixth destination. More than 110 Masters, reverends, Dharma propagation personnel, and fellow disciples from Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple and Rainbow Temple accompanied the revered Living Buddha Lian-Sheng and Shimu Master Lian-Hsiang to Tiger Mountain in Issaquah. There, they entered the forest trails around Tradition Plateau for a relaxing and carefree early-autumn “forest bath.”

It was Tiger Mountain, but there would be no summit to conquer that day.
Together with nearby Squak Mountain and Cougar Mountain, Tiger Mountain forms what is known as the “Issaquah Alps.” The plateau visited on this outing lies at the northwestern foothills of Tiger Mountain. With its gentle terrain and interwoven forests, lakes, and wetlands, it was an ideal place to slow down, stroll, and take in the surroundings.

By late September, hints of autumn had quietly begun to color Tiger Mountain. Unlike the sweeping displays of brilliant red foliage often seen on the East Coast, the scenery here remained dominated by the deep greens characteristic of the Pacific Northwest. Beneath towering Douglas firs, western red cedars, and western hemlocks, ferns carpeted the forest floor, while moss spread across tree trunks and fallen logs. Here and there, bigleaf maples had begun to change color.

As more than a hundred people entered the forest, the narrow trail quickly stretched the group into a long procession.
Along the way, Master Lian Chi carefully guided everyone, reminding them not merely to focus on moving forward, but also to notice the ferns at their feet and the moss growing on the trees, to look for holes left by woodpeckers, and to listen for birdsong in the forest.
“If everyone can be a little quieter, you’ll be able to hear many birds calling.”
Of course, with more than a hundred people walking together, becoming truly quiet was easier said than done. How many bird calls everyone actually heard was difficult to say. The sounds of conversation and laughter, however, had already traveled deep into the woods along with the long procession.

Lively as the group was, everyone remained courteous and orderly throughout the walk. Whenever hikers or runners approached from the opposite direction, someone at the front would call out a reminder. Everyone would quickly move to one side of the trail and stop, allowing the other visitors to pass first. Time and again, the long line opened a path through the narrow forest trail for others.

Grandmaster walked along while keeping an attentive eye on the disciples around him.
When he noticed someone beginning to fall behind, Grandmaster joked, “If you walk too slowly, be careful—the bears might eat you!”
Black bears and other large wildlife do indeed inhabit the forests of Tiger Mountain. Although encountering one on these well-traveled trails is uncommon, Grandmaster’s reminder seemed to put a little more spring into the steps of those at the back.

Some fellow disciples, hoping to stay closer to Grandmaster, began walking along the sloping ground beside the trail. Grandmaster immediately reminded everyone to be careful, then joked that if someone fell down the slope, there would have to be a “hero rescuing the beauty.”
A word of concern was often accompanied by a joke.

Along the way, Grandmaster also playfully teased young Xiao Sheng, saying that Xiao Sheng only paid attention to beautiful ladies and ignored Grandmaster altogether.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Sheng simply raised his little fingers and plugged his ears.
Another burst of laughter rippled through the group.

When Grandmaster came upon two trees growing closely together, he took one look and declared, “A couple tree.”
With those two words from Grandmaster, what had moments earlier been merely two ordinary trees in the forest instantly became an attraction that everyone wanted to see and photograph.

Farther along, Grandmaster noticed stones that someone had stacked one atop another. He paused and spoke about the stone towers commonly seen in Japan, explaining that stacking stones into a tower can also generate merit. Even an inconspicuous pile of stones in the forest became an occasion for spontaneous teaching and conversation along the way.

The forest through which everyone walked that day appeared deep and natural, yet it also concealed an important chapter in Tiger Mountain’s history.
From the late nineteenth into the early twentieth century, Tiger Mountain and the Issaquah area experienced extensive logging. Much of the lush forest seen today actually regrew after those earlier forests were cut. Logging railroads once ran through the mountains to transport timber to sawmills, and some of today’s broad, level trails follow the grades of those former rail lines.

One of the most fascinating historical remnants in the forest is the weathered old bus beside the trail.
According to historical research in Issaquah, the bus dates from around 1930 and was once used by a logging company to transport workers into the mountains. It later reportedly served as quarters at a logging camp before being abandoned in the 1950s. After decades of exposure to wind and rain, its body is now heavily rusted and weathered. Yet it has become a favorite photo spot, and the trail itself is known as the “Bus Trail.”
Grandmaster walked up to the old bus and peered inside. Then he joked, “This would be just the right place to hide and go number one.”
Everyone burst into laughter once again.

The forest trail winds around Tradition Lake. This small lake is entirely different from Lake Sammamish, which was visited during the previous “Rejoicing with the Buddha” outing. Lake Sammamish is broad and expansive, while Tradition Lake is a small body of water tucked away amid forest and wetlands. Surrounded by trees, its surface appears and disappears through openings in the woods.

From a slightly higher vantage point, everyone looked through the trees toward the lake. The still water stretched quietly below, with patches of water lilies floating upon its surface. It lacked the grandeur of towering mountains and vast waters, yet possessed a serenity all its own, embraced layer upon layer by the surrounding forest.

These seemingly ordinary ferns, mosses, and small woodland lakes are, in fact, among the most characteristic sights of the forests of western Washington.

There was no summit to reach on this “Rejoicing with the Buddha” outing, nor was there any need to complete a particular loop trail.
Everyone simply followed Grandmaster and Shimu, walking leisurely through the woods.

From time to time, they stopped to look at a tree. Some took photographs, some chatted and laughed, while others simply enjoyed the fresh forest air in silence. The procession of more than a hundred people stretched far along the woodland trail, itself becoming a distinctive sight that afternoon.

As the outing drew to a close, Grandmaster remarked, “Walking the forest trail today was wonderful. The weather was neither too hot nor too cold—it was just right.”   “Just right”—those words perfectly captured the feeling of this forest bath.

There was no summit to conquer and no need to hurry.

A little moss to admire, a fern to recognize, a glimpse of a small lake through the trees. Grandmaster and Shimu walked alongside everyone, accompanied by the disciples’ laughter and the just-right coolness of the early-autumn forest.
The forest itself was quiet.

But the laughter of more than a hundred people traveled even farther than the birdsong.