A Last Day and then Home

August 19, 2012

Back in St. Louis.

This will likely be my last blog posting, at least for awhile.

I arrived in Kyoto on a Saturday afternoon. It was hot and humid and a delight. The Ryokan Sakura had tatami floors, provided kimono to wear around the place, served a delicious Japanese breakfast, had free internet, and the folks spoke English and were most helpful.

They inquired about where I had been in Japan and then suggested I join 6 a.m. Sunday morning chanting at Nishii hongan-ji, the very large Pure Land temple just a couple of blocks away. There were several hundred people there, no Romanized chant books, and I had no idea what was going on but then, I’m getting used to that.

When I returned to the ryokan for breakfast, the staff taught me how to use to bus system.

I went to Gion, a beautiful and old part of the city and the Geisha center. I walked “the Geisha street” and then what the guidebook calls the most beautiful street in Asia. I found a restaurant, picked some plastic food in the front window, and went to the door and entreated the hostess to come see what it was I wanted. She nodded, took me inside which didn’t appear to be a restaurant at all, and put me on an elevator. When I stepped off, the 2nd floor hostess was hanging up the phone, took me to a table, gave me cold tea and did not bring a menu but very shortly thereafter, a delicious meal arrived.

From Gion, I walked up along the eastern mountains of Kyoto, stopping in at temples and gardens. I quickly figured out that I had seen enough temples. They started to look the same and I don’t know enough to appreciate the subtleties of the differences.

I began just walking through temple gates and then wandering through the grounds and into the back where there always seemed to be paths going up the mountain. The paths often took me to cemeteries, the temple shrine, along a canal, or just to great views. It was cooler walking along the mountains.

I walked the Philosopher’s Walk, stopped at a few galleries and antique shops, drank a sweetened bitter melon drink, watched the sunset, and continued to walk until dark.

The city is ringed by mountains. It was so quiet and beautiful. No air conditioners and very little road or air traffic. Even the buses are quiet.

As I headed down the mountain in darkness, I asked someone about finding a bus back to Kyoto Station, where I arrived about 8 pm, ate dinner, and caught a bus back to the area of my ryokan. Either I caught an express bus or just didn’t know how to signal the driver to stop. I had to threaten to open the door and jump out to get his attention and walked the mile or two back to my bus stop and through a couple of long, alley like streets home. It is nice that Japan is so safe. I slipped onto my futon about 10:30, a perfect last day in Japan.

The next morning, I took the train to the airport and arrived in Chicago a day earlier than expected because I am too stupid to figure out the International Dateline thing. That made for more time with Laura and Chris and time to catch up with David via phone.

Next I took a train to La Crosse and just finished 10 days of work and sitting at Hokyoji Zen Practice Community. Flew back to St. Louis with Rosan last night and entered a clean and welcoming house, empty of its summer residents.

Thanks again to Alexis for helping me with this blog. Thanks to David who provided the picture of grasses from the ranch that makes the backdrop of the blog. Thanks to Laura who, when I discovered I didn’t have email in Japan, typed my hand-written postings and put them up on the site. Thanks to the folks who were wonderful caretakers of the house for almost three months.

It was an awesome trip. I hope to return soon.

(I couldn’t mail out pictures to Laura so am putting a few on some of the older postings. Those of you who have subscribed and want to see the additional pictures could go to aquietsojourn.blogspot.com to see them. I don’t have many because my camera broke.)

Saturday, August 4th, 2012

I've been doing a little traveling.

Six of us went in a van across the longest bridge in the world (according to the Japanese, the tour book hedges a bit on this) to Zuioji cemetery to chant and them to visit two other temples for tea and I never did figure out why else. One of the temples had the loveliest garden I have ever seen and a museum with the contents of a 3rd-6th century burial mound excavated from the hill behind the temple, along with amazing paintings, calligraphy and other treasures. The third temple was brand new and the architecture a nice blend of old and new and there were also two very cute little girls running about.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

First, thanks for letters, Mother, David, Laura, and Lewis, and for the care package, Laura. Mail takes 8-10 days and I plan to leave here at the end of the month so probably no more. Should be back on email by August 2.

We work much of the day. I've been cleaning the bathing area and sweeping the courtyard. Folks don't tend to litter in a monastery courtyard, so I sweep a few leaves but mostly decorate the dirt making straight lines with a rice straw broom, which the kitten continually attacks. I still ring the bonsho noon and night, and hit the mopan at meals. My new job is changing water in all the little metal bowls sitting around on altars. Ladies do the dishes at noon and in my free time I sometimes walk down to the entry and weed the old steps and moss gardens.

We had a 2 1/2 day silent sesshin - ten sits a day but never more than two in a row. It was wonderful for me and the whole group has been quieter ever since - a blessing.

We've also had a four day sewing sesshin. I was told to make another rakusu. I suppressed my groan. However, they use a simple pick stitch so it goes much faster than the first. I'm almost done.

We've had a second cooking class and another painting class. I really like the artist teacher monk's work but his teaching style is to hold up a picture and tell you to duplicate it. This time I sat in the front and requested a demo. I asked questions. I hope I didn't offend and others thanked me and I learned a lot. We painted irises.

After a recent evening zazen I walked up the road to the cemetery and waited, along with 10,000 mosquitoes, for the full moon to come over the mountain. I thought about my moon-viewing friends. Very beautiful.

Two new lay practitioners arrived recently. The first has a long time practice here so did not bump my end-of-the-table spot. He is a regular at Zen Mountain Monastery (ZMM), is fluent in Japanese, and his father graduated from Bridgeport High School in 1936. Now, a German woman (who also sits at ZMM) has come and I am second to last. I guess I can manage.

My Toshoji stay is 2/3 over. I'm not ready to leave but presumably I will be when the time comes.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Summer solstice, I'm guessing. Maybe five years ago I was in a canoe watching the sun rise with Sandy. A long time ago I was in bed listening to china clink as the kids checked out how much tea and cookies the fairies had consumed. For those not in the know, fairies dance on midsummer night and sometimes leave a tiny treat for those who lay out a treat for them.

I have been surprised at how well prepared I was for this experience. How to do Oryoki and formal tea; how to make green tea and save a takuan for bowl cleaning; and how to sit straight, walk straight, gassho when meeting others, and fix things. I hear ordained folks being instructed on some of these. Thank you, Rosan.

We have read "Soku Shin Ze Butsu" (Mind Here and Now is Buddha) and are now reading "Gyobutsu-yuigi" (The Dignified Behavior of Acting Buddha). I find both Shobogenzo readings helpful. We read a paragraph or two most mornings as part of formal tea. There is no discussion.

I have been back to Unsenji twice, once to put paper back on the Shoji doors and overnight for a series of 23rd year memorial services for the teacher's father. Old monk friends in cool garb plus a half dozen Japanese women to cook a lovely box lunch arrived.

I had been warned that Japanese women prefer Americans stay away. Our folks were busy with ceremonies and food serving and as a lay person, I was not part of that. The dirty dishes were stacking up so I slipped into the fray and began washing. I sensed some initial resentment but soon was handed things needing immediate cleaning and shown where to put clean dry things. In the midst of the chaos, I happened to look up and see the teacher watching me from across the room. He flashed me a big smile.

There seem to be 14-16 folks here most of the time. One teaching monk floats in just as the teacher leaves. Another from a nearby temple stays here most of the time. There are 4-6 younger Japanese males training to take over family temples. There is a recently retired Japanese gym teacher, a former Congolese government agriculture person, as well as someone from Argentina and three Australian women, although one is ethnically Japanese. The other lay practitioner is a man from Brazil.

One day many folks had tasks elsewhere and I was told to be tenzo (cook monk) for the eight of us left behind. I started chopping vegetables but as soon as the last car left the old gym teacher/new monk walked into the kitchen and said "Shurisan, Out! I cook tempura." (Shuri is my dharma name). Dashi (a tasty broth), fat udon noodles, and tempura floating on top. Yum. Since I didn't know how to make the Japanese curry they wanted for dinner, I got a cooking lesson.

My jobs include ringing the bonsho, the large bell in the tower. Yes, I think of you Morris! A palm log suspended horizontally by two ropes is rammed into the bell. I love sitting in the bell tower. I go early to be alone and enjoy the view. One day I saw what the dictionary translates as mink or otter on a bathroom roof. It lives in the Buddha Hall attic. When I ring the bonsho at night, sometimes there are bats. We leave a door open for the swallows nesting in the corridor outside the sitting area. Soto Zen Training Monastery and Luxury Wildlife Hotel!

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Two weeks ago tonight Laura and Costa and I were eating Texas style bar-b-que. Tonight I cooked curried vegetable soup. I have helped in the kitchen but this was my first time as tenzo at Toshoji. The real tenzo (cook monk) is 72 years old and had the day off.

I am settling in well, I think. Hoko says the honeymoon has just not ended yet. I did wonder if it was ending on a recent evening after a long and tiring day. I was struggling with sleepiness and had the horrid thought, "I wonder how big of an earthquake it would take to get this last round of zazen canceled."

The schedule is:
4:00am - up
4:20am - two rounds of zazen
6:00am - chanting
7:00am - breakfast
7:45am - caretaking (routine cleaning)
8:20am - formal tea
9:00am - 10:30am - work
10:55am - chanting
11:20am - lunch and break
1:30pm - work
3:00pm - informal tea and break
4:25pm - chanting
4:55pm - dinner and bath and free time
7:30pm - two rounds of zazen
9:30pm - lights out

I have been here nine days and have yet to see this schedule followed but it does provide the basic structure of the day.

This temple gets special visitors as well as locals dropping in - bringing something, asking for something, or showing off a new baby. because of its history, this place also gets a lot of tour groups and is a special meeting site. Everyone who comes in the door is offered tea and a sweet if not a complete meal.

We had 22 folks for formal tea one day and 42 for a lovely box lunch the next. For the later, tenzos from several temples arrived. They had trained here and some were professional cooks in their pre-monk life. Who knew you could make tempura from nori sheets, shisho leaves, umeboshi plums, and dried persimmons? It was amazingly delicious.

This constant stream of folks requires lots of cleaning and set up and dishwashing. We are rarely told of the event until right before we need to know and the plan changes frequently. As a practicer, attachment to how things are going to be would not be helpful.

We've had a class in cooking temple food for guests, a calligraphy class, a Baika class (poetry, some of it Dogen's, sung to old Japanese folk tunes), and two movies. This is not entertainment but teaching skills needed for running temples.

One day after morning tea, I was told I was going to Unsenji in 10 minutes, take an extra set of clothes and a towel, the work can be dirty. Unsenji is a high mountain temple, about an hour drive, the place where the teacher grew up, and the home of his 90+ year old mother.

I helped remove and clean wood sliding doors, remove the paper (shoji) panes, stack the doors in the sun to dry, and then carry them all back inside. I hope to be asked to go back when the paper is replaced as I would like to learn how to do it.

The temple and the location are beautiful. During break, I lay on the floor of the Buddha Hall and took pictures of the amazing ceiling. The teacher cooked udon and poached egg for the six of us. We cleaned and weeded in the afternoon. He treated us to Chinese on the way home. It was a very special day.

As a lay person, there are some things I cannot do. Mostly, though, I am treated as one of the community. I try to work hard, pay attention, and stay out of the way. Sometimes I think not understanding the language works to my advantage. I am oblivious to the chit-chat and some of the drama...not that I wasn't a bit oblivious on the other side of the planet as well!

Hoko leaves for the U.S tomorrow. I am already feeling a bit abandoned.

Toshoji

Apologize to all who have emailed and not received a reply. My email didn't work and Toshoji does not allow internet access.

First impressions - complex and beautiful and old; a cat and constantly nursing kitten where one would otherwise step at the back door which is in near-constant use; lots of helpful people and a bit more drama than expected; a quiet, kind, and very busy teacher.

Today, six of us went to a nearby family temple to pick small sour plums. They will be salt-pickled with red shiso leaves to become umeboshi pickled plums.

Before meals and chanting and ceremonies, there is discussion about who will be where. Being a lay-person and the latest to arrive, for me it is easy. I am last. It is one of the few things about which I have no confusion so I am hoping no other lay folks show up.

During break yesterday I hiked up the mountain and found an abbots' cemetery, some statuary, and what I think is an old Shinto shrine with small brown lizards. This place has been a religious spot for at least 1,000 years, although a Soto Zen temple only since 1412. It was abandoned and experienced some looting for 20 years until five years ago when the current abbot arrived and began a restoration. One can see old and crumbling alongside brand new most everywhere.

I am so grateful to be here.

The food is fabulous.

The flavors are so wonderful and the servings are huge. I only eat two meals a day and am walking everywhere and have to be gaining a pound a day! I anticipate that will be one of many changes when I reach Toshoji tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I spent the morning at Korakuen, billed as one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan. It was built in the late 1600s by the local feudal lord whose castle, built in the early 1500s across the river, I visited this afternoon. The shady parts of the garden smelled so good, like the taxi and the hot damp towels given before a meal but I still can't figure out what the scent is. There were separate groves of cherry, plum, bamboo, cypress, and maple along with a small rice field and tea plantation, multiple shrines and tea houses, and Ryuten Pavilion with a rock studded stream running through its center. A large group of energetic 6th grade boys decided to practice their English on me. When the teacher appeared we chatted briefly. I told her I was a teacher, she told the kids that, and they gave shrieks of horror which prompted her to give them the teacher look. They continued to call out to me as our paths crossed throughout the day.

On the wider streets, the sidewalks are very wide and bicyclists and pedestrians share the space. On narrow streets, there is no sidewalk but a painted walking/bike space. This system makes biking so much safer and really, the injuries to pedestrians getting run over by a bike can't be as significant as the number of bicyclists injured by cars in the U.S. It is interesting to note that folks do not seem to jaywalk or walk through red lights at intersections even if there are no cars to be seen. I have a feeling I am the only person even thinking about it. Many Japanese people seem to be in a big hurry but they also seem to be good rule followers. They make a line to get on the bus with about two feet of space between each person. This is not how Hixson Middle school children line up for water at the track meet!

I have walked into another world and I love it.

The plane was late from Seoul to Osaka but customs waved me through with a brief glance at my passport and the cab driver was fast and I was in bed by 11:30 Monday evening. The cab was the first of many surprises. I walked from hot humidity into a meticulously clean vehicle with white matelaise seat cover and white crisply starched lace across the seat back. The air was cool with a refreshing but not identifiable scent.

Cities look like they are laid out on a grid on the map but they are not. We drove through curved narrow streets and what seemed like back alleys, on the left side, with bicycles everywhere even though it was 11 pm. Today I saw someone riding a bike, talking on a cell phone, and smoking a cigarette!

My room came with a wonderful free breakfast and given that the Tokyo Inn chain is sort of like a Motel 6, I was impressed by the flowers in the hotel lobby that doubled as the breakfast space. I took a picture but cannot figure out how to send it since all the computer instructions are in Japanese. Waling to the train station this morning (actually getting lost looking for the train station this morning), I saw large rocks and small pine trees squeezed in between houses and vegetable/flower gardens in pots infront of apartments and once I got to Okayama, a lady trimming her large potted rose bush stopped to chat and escort me to my new hotel with tatami floors and a maze of a floor plan and a delightful owners.

My Japanese seems to have left me and I forgot to bring my Japanese book but so far the charm and helpfulness of these people has overcome my ineptitude. In one store, the clerk typed what she wanted to say into her computer and had it translate and then had me respond in kind.

Thanks to all who have helped to make this happen. It is hard to believe one week ago I was helping amuse 7th graders wating for their last-day swim! I plan to be here exploring Okayama, staying at the Saiwaso Inn, until Thursday afternoon.

Preparations and Unease

There are 10 days left before I board the train to Chicago. I have a messy house to prepare for an honored weekend house guest whom I will not see. I will be in western Nebraska for my brother's wedding for the weekend and will come home to two more days of school, two classrooms to finish packing, and grades to finish.

I will then have two days to pack for the next two and a half months. I still haven't figured out how to get from the airport to a hotel when I arrive late at night in Osaka.

I started asking for help today. I am lucky to have so many competent folks to help me out.

The next post should have a subscribe feature. If you use it, you will get an email each time I post. Thanks again, Alexis, for the help on this blog.

Beginning

A beginning sentence would be to thank Alexis for helping me set this up. Thank you, Alexis!

The purpose of this blog is to create a place for me to communicate with friends and family during my travels next summer.