Click here for the photo slideshow from Japan.
Today has been a magical day with lots of new sights and tastes. Our morning started at 4:30am with bathing in our room Japanese style. It took me awhile to get coordinated with sitting on this little tiny stool, and wash and rinse myself with a hand-held shower piece. This balancing act takes place on a tiled floor next to a square deep tub. Once rinsed I can choose to fill the tub and have a soak. Time did not permit for soaking so that adventure remains for another day.
We had a 5:30am meeting time in front of our inn. Paul Kaye took roll and then Steve Beimel put us into taxis. Where were we going? Well, the taxi driver knew but ’twas a mystery to us. How fun! Within minutes our taxi pulls up to a temple complex. We wait by the gate until the rest of the group assembles. Steve leads us in Calling us into the Light and quiet Ani-Hu chanting. Then Steve and a temple monk lead us to the temple. We take off our shoes, and enter the temple of Chi Shakuin. Another Japanese group who is making a special pilgrimage to this temple is also there. We settle ourselves on the floor either cross-legged or sitting with our legs folded under us. Directly in front of us is a huge Buddha and altar. The ceremony begins with monks entering the temple walking towards the altar and then separating to form a line of monks kneeling down both sides of the altar. I notice that they are dressed differently, some with ochre and purple, ochre and green, black and white, and the head monk has a beautiful robe of oranges and gold. The monks’ heads are either shaven or almost shaven. There is chanting, bowing, offering of incense. We are invited to participate in the incense offering. I watch Steve and then veteran Japan trip-goer Richard Powell do the offering, and then I kneel, take a smidgeon of incense powder, say a prayer, touch it to my forehead, lift the powder up to God and then deposit it onto the burning side of the brazier box. The monks continue their chanting for a good half hour during which all of us in the temple who want to partake in the offering ceremony go up to the braziers that are placed around the altar area. I was struck at one point at how the chanting and bowing seemed very similar to what I remembered from ceremonies in the Catholic Church as I was growing up. I reflected on how universal this ceremony was.
We then moved onto another chapel in the area for the Fire ritual. In some ways this ceremony appeared to be quite like the one we’d just seen, except now there was a drum added with the chanting. After the ceremony was done we gathered outside of this chapel area to talk to one of the monks. It turns out that this wonderful monk knew the Dalai Lama and was so pleased to share about that with us. He had such an aura of innocence and child-like appreciation of life. Then it was breakfast time and we walked to the hotel where guests stay when they’re visiting this temple. Breakfast was full of laughter as we were greeted by our first pickled fruit and tofu creation. And yes, there was coffee, not like Urth Caffe in Los Angeles, but it did the trick.
By now the rain had started and we were getting familiar with our wet gear. And the walking in the trip began as we followed Steve over to the new temple San Jusangendo (or Rengeoin). This temple is huge and dates back to around the 1100’s. Over 100 Bodhisattva statues we placed in this temple. School children were walking all over this property as it is a very popular place for field trips. The kids would giggle as they would pass by one us trying out their “Good Afternoon”. We joyfully answered in Japanese. Paul reminded us that this trip was about staying with the present–this is tricky to do in conversation. And old habits die hard sometimes so we would find ourselves trying to figure out how to reference the past in the present – playfully looking for the loophole without losing the essence. Paul kept on us though throughout the day reminding us of the value that lay in the discipline of staying present. One of the interesting sidelights of this temple is that they have archery contests along the side of this temple, and on the New Year celebrations they hold a special archery contest for girls coming of age. Also this was the site of one of Musashi’s (an infamous dueler) victories.
We walked along the streets of Kyoto to visit the house and memorial of the famous pottery sculptor, Kawai Kanjiro, who was born in the late 1800’s. The furniture in his house was beautifully designed and placed. I would be stopped in my tracks as I’d look into a room and find a table placed right before a window that displayed a garden of greens artfully and spiritually cultivated to give the moment of peace no matter how I looked at it. The rain continued and so did we–this time to visit a more modern temple that was designed to show the footprints of the Buddha. We went upstairs and viewed below us these gigantic prints, and making a wish we tossed a symbolic flower leaf down and let it continue down to the prints below us. Then we were invited to view the medieval garden of Jojuin at Kiyomizudera. This garden is not usually shown to the public so we were honored to be invited to view it. Most of the bushes were cut in shapes allowing the other trees to standout, for example the bonsai looking trees. There was a large stone in the middle of the pool named for a feudal lord bowing to the king. We sat facing the garden just reflecting on all the beauty appreciating how it took the man in charge of placing stones in the garden about 15 years of apprenticeship before he was ever allowed to place the first stone.
After some restorative Spiritual Exercises (and for some of us this was naptime) we all headed through the shopping mart area. Richard and Karen Powell were terrific in showing me places to buy mochi as we moved along. At the end of the walk half our group headed for our hotel, and the rest of us returned to the foray. Our first stop a coffee shop. Green tea is great, but after awhile we wanted good ol’ coffee too. The Onida coffee shop provided a fun haven for our self-selected group: the Allens, Powells, Olga, Leslie, Adam and Marilyn. We had Colombian and Arabic coffees, tried out some sweet rice crackers and some wasabi ice cream. Yikes! The wasabi ice cream tasted just like the real wasabi or horseradish – cold creamy horseradish. I guess this is an acquired taste, but for me I’ll stay with the green tea ice cream–of which there is plenty. A little more shopping – cards, mochi of course, scarves – and back to the hotel and a nice public bath.
There is a whole ritual for a public bath which I’ll go into in another note – the best part was relaxing and letting the stuff of the day be melted away and cleansed in the fellowshipping with the ladies (or men if you’re a guy). Nothing like coming present with each other when you’re stark naked. A lot of sweetness there too.
Then we dress for dinner and the dress tonight is in tokata robes. There were four parts to the dressing and I finally surrendered to the capable hands of one of the house assistants to be dressed correctly. There is a robe, a sash which gets into a bow in the back, a vest and an overcoat. I must say that I thought we all looked quite oriental, some more so than others, as we converged into our dining area. Our intrepid Traveler, John Morton, joined us at dinner looking a little tired but more alert than many of us had when we arrived the night before. This was a banquet dinner that had course after course with different kinds of pickles, fish, soup, rice, and yes some beef too. We were full and weary as we had our first group meeting to go over logistics and do a little group sharing. John Morton shared and blessed us, and then we retired to prepare for another early morning get up. More adventures in Kyoto await us. Thank you for continuing to send your love and Light
