The Zen of Spirit retreat in southern rural Japan is presently underway, presently being the key. The purpose of the journey is to practice being present — for in the present is where Spirit is to be found. 45 blessed travelers make up our group, including our beloved Traveler, John Morton.
Paul Kaye is facilitating this journey into Spirit, while Steve Beimel is our tour guide through beautiful Japanese countryside.
I invite you to participate. Notice what comes present as you view the beauty of the photos. As a part of practicing being present, I am writing this travelogue in the moment, and I’m aware of an upwelling of joy inside of me as I view the many faces of Spirit in these photos. Take a look and enjoy your own journey. Staying in the present, I must stop for a moment to gaze at the moonlight on the water, as my roommates “ooh” and “ahhh.”
Part of the adventure is to write our own haiku. Haiku is a Japanese form of poetry which has 17 syllables. 5 syllables are in the first line, 7 in the second line and 5 in the third line. Here’s the “Haiku of the Day” by Liz Bixby Garver:
Persimmons ripen
Shikoku pilgrims walking
spiders spinning webs
You’ll notice in the photos that there are beautiful temples. This is the 1200 year old pilgrimage route. On Shikoku Island we visit 3 temples out of the 88 total temples in the pilgrimage route. Making the pilgrimage, which takes 50 days to walk or 10 days to drive to all of the temples in the route, is a great way to break attachments to the past and surrender to the present.
Visiting a puppet maker is a playful experience. And, then the viewing of the puppet show.
Enjoy the Awadoori dancers. Their joyful eyes and bright smiles bring tears to my eyes — tears of gratitude for their expression of Spirit.
I notice that I am quite sleepy. Here is my haiku of the moment:
Taking photos now
my eyes are blurry again
must be middle age
And the journey continues…..
On that note, sayonara (goodbye) and as the Japanese say when they depart from each other “Ganbatte” — which means, “give it all you’ve got.”
