On Wednesday there was a typhoon. So much rain!
Wednesday also happened to be when I took a day off to go Kamakura-way and do zazen at Kencho-ji. During Tokyo Cousin Extravaganza, we had visited that temple, and I'd noticed a sign about zazen in English being offered in September. "That sounds cultural and interesting," I thought, and I somehow managed to actually make it work and get there, in spite of it being on a workday.
Zazen is a very important Zen Buddhist practice. The aim of zazen, or seated meditation, is, er, sitting. Like, wholehearted sitting. It is difficult. Sitting without moving is difficult. Sitting without moving and with your eyes half shut is difficult. Sitting without moving, with your eyes half shut, and attempting to clear your mind and not think about how you are definitely thinking too much...yeah, super difficult. But! We did three sessions of about 15 minutes each, and I felt like I sucked way less by the third session than I had at the start.
Anyway, I'm glad I went, even though I got soaked by the downpour. It was something really different for me! It was cultural! It was interesting to actually do something at a temple instead of just visiting them (we were in an area I normally could not have entered)! And it's probably good to do something challenging every once in a while. I'm not good at just sitting, so zazen was definitely a challenge. But I didn't hate it by the end! It was nice even, to sit on a cushion on a tatami floor, with the smell of incense and the sound of rain and a priest wandering around with a giant stick to hit you with (if you asked him to, which I did not) if you felt your concentration was not as focused as it should have been. And afterwards we had a little tea ceremony. Culture!
Enjoy 30 seconds of rain, right before I had to leave the temple to hurry to the station, fearing all the while that the train service would be stopped because of the typhoon (I was lucky and my train just ended up being very very delayed).
Oh, I'm so glad you were able to go to that! I've always wanted to take a class or two in meditation, so I am muy jealous you got to do that, and in such an amazing setting! I loved the 30-second video. So zen-tastic. I loved that garden! And it was raining there when we were there, so that seemed very familiar. You were in that taller building, huh?
ReplyDeleteSo why would the priest hit you with a stick? To try to interrupt your concentration? Or to remind you to keep concentrating? I probably would have opted the non-stick-hitting option, too. :)
I don't think I would have liked that zazen - I don't sit still very well either. And, I don't know how YOU actually did it!! :-) Glad you didn't ask the priest to hit you - that doesn't seem like a very zen-like thing for them to do. The tea ceremony part would have been lovely!!
ReplyDeleteWow, that rain was sure coming down - and the garden was so pretty!! I love your little 30 second videos!! Strangely enough, I couldn't get to it when I was on IE (where I have to be to comment it seems), but I could see it on Firefox. Figure that one out!!
We were in the taller building for the tea ceremony, but for zazen we were in the building you can see in the video - the one we sat outside of to look at the garden. We were in the middle bit that we weren't allowed to go in.
ReplyDeleteAnd the priest hitting you wasn't for punishment or anything unzenlike; it was to remind you to concentrate. Or if you were falling asleep! And he didn't do it unexpectedly or anything - you had to make a motion that told him you wanted it done, and then he would come over.
Lovely video!
ReplyDeleteWhen I went to Kamakura and took the Ninja temple tour, I was so happy for the same reason- it was nice to do something at the temple instead of just visiting and admiring it.. :)