Sesshin

One might wonder why I would want to sit for 15 hours per day, for five days. Perhaps it is better to ask why you would want to do something else for those 15 hours. What is it that you think you can achieve aside from sitting? You can acquire wealth, beauty, possibly fame. However, when you die, you can take none of that with you.

When I die, I cannot take my Zazen with me. That is why I sit zazen. It is in this posture that I have learned how to deal with my mind. To see how habitual thought patterns cause me to harmfully interact with other persons. Although I am nowhere near perfect, sitting zazen has better enabled me to restrain from harming others through body, speech, and mind.

Even so... being able to properly interact with other sentient beings (like a bodhisattva) is not the purpose of zazen. The only purpose of zazen is to sit. Practice for the sake of practicing. You just sit, and let your life unfold before you.

I would like to write more about this, but I have to wake up in 6 hours to start this sesshin, so I will leave you with a great quote about zazen and continue with my story in 6 days.

From Dogen's Zanmai O Zanmai:

Abruptly transcending all realms, to be greatly honored within the quarters of the buddhas and ancestors—this is sitting with legs crossed...the buddhas and ancestors engage in it, without any further task...It is rare to have clarified that sitting is the buddha dharma, that the buddha dharma is sitting. Even if [some] realize sitting as the buddha dharma, they have not understood sitting as sitting — let alone maintained the buddha dharma as the buddha dharma... The Buddha Śākyamuni addressed the great assembly, saying,

When sitting with legs crossed,
Body and mind realizing samādhi,
One’s majesty, the multitudes respect,
Like the sun illumining the world.
Removed, the lethargy clouding the mind,
The body light, without pain or fatigue;
The awareness similarly light and easy,
One sits calmly, like the dragon coiled.
King Māra is startled and fearful
On seeing depicted [one] sitting with legs crossed,
How much more [on seeing] one who realizes the way,
Sitting calmly without stirring...

Therefore, [the Buddha] sits with legs crossed...The World Honored One always maintains sitting with legs crossed; and to the disciples he correctly transmits sitting with legs crossed; and to the humans and gods he teaches sitting with legs crossed. The mind seal correctly transmitted by the seven buddhas is this...This is precisely the time when beings attain buddhahood

Assistant Tenzo... or is it Assistant to the Tenzo?

So, I've been assistant Tenzo four time now since the past Hosan. In case you've forgotten, Tenzo is the name for the cook in a Japanese monastery. The assistant Tenzo's job is to set up the table, and help prepare the meal. Most of the time this means just setting up the table, and not too much preparing the meal.

In order to set up the table, you have to make sure the tables are placed in exactly the right spot. There is a specific corner of a tatami mat in the dining room that is used to place the first table. Once you place the first table, there is a mark on it where the next table should align. The rest follow in this way. After the tables are in their position, the oryoki bowls must be put down. There is a specific order in which the bowls should be place, which is indicated on a chalk board which hangs on the wall to the side of the table. After setting up the oryoki bowls, you need to put out the condiments, and then the side dish plates. These plates must be set out so that the top of the plate still faces forward to the person eating from it. I've found this kind of precision common in Zen, and it is not quite as relaxing as people usually perceive Zen to be. Instead of relaxation, precision and order allow the mind to be at ease. Cluttered house, cluttered mind. Ordered house, peaceful mind - peaceful does NOT mean relaxed.

Since the assistant Tenzo is essentially the Tenzo's bitch, of course he must wash all of the bowls, plates, spoons, etcetera that the Tenzo uses to make the meal. Here at Antai-ji, we don't use soap to wash a vast majority of these preparation utensils... which is kind of disgusting. The only pans and bowls washed with soap are those which contained stuff cooked with oil. Of course all of our plates, chopsticks, and spoons that we use to eat are washed thorougly with soap (and cold water). But the oryoki bowls are of course only washed with water, if you payed any attention to my blot post about how to do oryoki.

As for the oryoki chanting - I've found an English translation of the chants. I'm not going to separate it as I did in the previous post, it will all just run together.

Breakfast Chants

Buddha was born in Kapilavastu,
Enlightened in Magadha,
Taught in Varanasi,
Entered nirvana in Kushinagara.
Now we set out Buddha's own bowls
May we, with all living beings
realize the emptiness of the three wheels,
giver, receiver, and gift.

Vairochana Buddha, pure Dharmakaya;
Locana Buddha, complete Sambhogakaya;
Shakyamuni Buddha, myriad Nirmanakaya;
Maitreya Buddha, next to be born;
All buddhas throughout space and time;
Lotus of the Wondrous Dharma, Mahayana Sutra;
Manjushri Bodhisattva, great wisdom;
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, great activity;
Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, great compassion;
All honored ones, bodhisattvas, mahasattvas,
Wisdom beyond wisdom, Maha-prajnaparamita.

We reflect on the effort that brought us this food and consider how it comes to us.

We reflect on our virtue and practice, and whether we are worthy of this offering;

We regard it as essential to keep the mind free from excesses, such as greed;

We regard this food as good medicine to sustain our life.
For the sake of enlightenment, we now receive this food.

First, this is for the Three Treasures
Next, for the four benefactors;
Finally, for the beings in the six realms
may all be equally nourished.
The first bite is to end all evil.
The second is to cultivate all good.
The third is to free all beings,
May we all realize the Buddha Way

[Abiding in this ephemeral world
like a lotus in muddy water,
the mind is pure and goes beyond
Thus we bow to Buddha]

First Hosan (free day) and Oryoki

So, three days ago was the first Hosan since the day I arrived. At 8am, we had a pancake breakfast using the pancake mix that I bought and the Trader Joe's Maple Syrup donated by Mary-Grace from Dogen Sangha Los Angeles. Of course, we didn't only eat pancakes - we had rice, miso, and soybeans to go with it, since every meal at a Japanese Buddhist monestary isn't complete without rice and miso! But the pancakes were a real treat - everyone was excited to get some western food.

I finally had the chance to take a nap during the day and read for a little while. By the time dinner came around, I was busy for the rest of the night. I sifted some of the genmai (brown rice) to remove the stones and husks. After that, I learned how to do oryoki (which I will explain later), and had to set up the equipment for that.

During samu (work) for the past two days, I was with Max again doing more construction type work, and I was also assistant to the tenzo (I'll talk about that in my next blog post). We cut, sanded, insect-proofed, water-proofed, and painted wooden covers for the ofuro (hot tub). It is a rule that the ofuro be set up on every second work day night. We also replaced a few more pieces of wall. This time we actually used wood, instead of just bamboo and cement.

Today was Oo-Soji (big temple cleaning), which happens once a month at the end of the month, before sesshin. Oo-Soji was actually planned to happen tomorrow, but it happened to rain today, so Docho-san decided it would be good to get it done today, since it is all done inside. Although it is the temple cleaning, I was with the only group (of 3 people) who were not doing any cleaning. I was still with Max and we were doing more construction work.

So, now I will attempt to describe our morning schedule, up until samu starts...

At 3:45 the jikido runs up and down the hall ringing a bell very loudly. I go downstairs, wash my face, rinse my mouth with some water, put on a pair of pants (no shorts in the Hondo), and precede to walk into the Hondo. At 4 am, the jikido rings a very large bell, and we sit zazen until 5 am. From 5:00 to 5:15, we do kinhin (walking meditation). The tatami mats in the Hondo are very sticky, and you have to be SUPER careful with your feet to not make any noise on the mat. From 5:15 to 6:00 we sit zazen again.

At 6:00 am, the jikido strikes the large bell again, and the monks do the robe chant: 'DAI SAI GE DAP-PUKU / MU SO FUKU DEN E / HI BU NYO RAI KYO / KO DO SHO SHU JO'
This takes about 5 minutes, because each syllable is held out for about 5 seconds. After the chant is over, the tenzo (cook) hits the kaishaku (clappers) and we quickly walk straight from the Hondo to the dining/tea-meeting room. Everyone says 'ohayoo gozaimasu' (good morning, or literally - it's early), does a gassho, and sits down into seiza (on your knees) position in front of the table.

In front of you on the table are your oryoki bowls. There are three black bowls, with a setsu (scraper - piece of wood with cloth sewed at the bottom), heishin?(chop-sticks), a wiping cloth - all of this is wrapped up neatly in a big cloth. To the right of your oryoki set are two small plates filled with whatever are the sides for the day. You first unwrap your oryoki bowls, put the big cloth under the table, then set up the two larger bowls side by side, next to the lower small plate, and the smallest oryoki bowl above the second, next to the upper small plate. You put your setsu in between the oryoki bowls and the plates, and rest the chop-sticks (tip-first) on the setsu above its piece of cloth. After you have done this set up, a chant* is performed.

After the chant, everyone does gassho, then gets up to fill their oryoki bowls. The biggest oryoki bowl to the left is used for rice, the medium bowl in the middle is used for miso soup. You take either your rice bowl or miso bowl, and the person across the table from you takes the other bowl of yours (you do the same for him). You walk over and kneel in seiza behind the people near the rice or miso bowls. You sit in seiza with hands in gassho - if you have one bowl in hand, one hand is in gassho, the other holds the bowl. You indicate when to stop filling the bowl by raising your hand in front of them. After served, you walk back and sit in seiza by your seat, and put your chopsticks diagonally on your miso bowl. Another gassho is done, and another chant** starts.

This is a really long chant. At the beginning of the chant, everyone takes a little bit of their rice and puts it on the far tip of their setsu. At the end of the chant, a little plate is passed around, and you put this rice onto the plate (it is an offering to the 'hungry ghosts' - one of the 6 realms of sentient existence in Buddhist cosmology, usually just interpeted as a state of mind during human or animal existence, and not a literal realm). After the chant is done, everyone does a gassho, and beings eating. You put your chopsticks down on the table, closer to you than the oryoki bowls, facing to the right. You eat in whatever order you like.

Once the abbot is finished eating for the first round (which takes about 6 minutes!!!), he puts his chop-sticks back on his miso bowl, and everyone must stop at this time. You then get up and go for seconds (same protocol as before with kneeling and gasshos). You go back to your seat, do a gassho, and eat your seconds (again, you only have a few minutes and have to eat as fast as possible). After you are finished, you put your chopsticks down on the table, closer to you than the oryoki bowls, facing to the left.

After you've completey finished your food, you begin cleaning the plates with your setsu. This means that you scrape everything out and eat it all - no crumbs or drops of anything left behind. After everyone has done this, we gassho, then run and put the plates in the sink. We come back and begin to clean our oryoki bowls. To do this, we have kettles of hot water that were sitting under the table (one kettle for 4 people). One person picks up the kettle, bows to the person across him who does a complementary gassho, and fills up the other guy's rice bowl with water. You gesture holding your setsu when to stop filling the rice bowl. Then they both do another gassho, and the guy with the kettle fills up his own bowl. Then all 4 people do a gassho, and the kettle is passed to the next two people to use.

Once you have water in your rice bowl, you clean the bowl with the water and your setsu. When you have cleaned this bowl, you quitely dump the water into the miso bowl, dry the rice bowl, and do the same cleaning to the miso bowl. After cleaning the miso bowl, you then clean your chopsticks in the miso bowl. You do this by holding them, points down, in the miso bowl, and you rub water up and down them using the setsu - you twirl the chopsticks so that you wash all sides. After you have washed the chopsticks, you dry them off with your cloth and place them to the right of your oryoki set, with the points hanging off the table. Now you clean the setsu - you do this by dipping it into the miso bowl (which still has water in it), and squeezing out the water with your hands. You do this a few times, dry it off, and put it next to the chopsticks - with the cloth part hanging off of the table.

Now, you dump the water from the miso bowl (which has crumbs in it) into the small third bowl to its right. There may be some water left over, since the third bowl is much smaller than the miso bowl - you have to drink this. You then dry the miso bowl, and dump the water from your third bowl into a green bucket that has been on the table since we finished eating breakfast. You don't dump all of it out, you leave a little bit and drink that. I believe this signifies the fact that we waste nothing - we don't even waste the very last crumbs and dishwater used to clean our bowls. After drinking the water, you dry off your third bowl and stack it inside of the miso and rice bowls.

Now that the bowls are stacked, you take the big cloth from under the table, set it down with the points facing forward/backward/left/right, and put the oryoki bowls on top of them. You fold the point facing you over top of the bowl, then the point facing away from you over top of the bowl. After doing this, you put your setsu and chopsticks on top of the folded cloth. Then you take your wiping cloth, fold it in half facing away from you, and put it on the upper half of your oryoki set. You then pull the other half down so that it completely covers the setsu and chopsticks. Now, you do a gassho, place your left hand palm-up on top of the wiping cloth. Then you take the left corner of the big cloth, tuck it in between your pinky and ring finger. Take the right corner of the big cloth and tuck it in between your index and middle finger. Hold onto the point to the left, and pull the point to the right underneath your hand. Then you twist the two points around and fold them to the left. Now the oryoki set is completely wrapped up and in the same state as it was when it was sitting on the table when we approached to eat breakfast.

After your set is all wrapped up, you wipe your portion of the table with a wet rag that has been sitting out on the table since breakfast was finished. Each rag is for four people, and when you finish wiping, you flip the rag over, dirty side up. If one side was already dirty when you got it, you open the rag and fold it the other way, so that there are two new clean sides for the other two people. Now, a final chant is performed***.

You quickly stand up, holding your oryoki bowl, and do a gassho to the person across the table from you. If you are closer to the kitchen, you hold out your left hand, and your partner will hand you their oryoki set with chopsticks facing you (they must turn the set around). You then put the set up on the rack on the wall and now it's time for Soji!
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The following are the breakfast chants. These are really the only long chanting done here. The text in brackets is performed by the chief tenzo. The chants are actually not quite Japanese. It is Chinese texts transliterated into Japanese. So, it is Chinese pronounced in a Japanese way. Essentially, it is not understandable by either Chinese or Japanese...

* Opening breakfast chant

Bussho Kabira Jodo Makada
Seppo Harana Nyumetsu Kuchira
Nyorai oryoki Ga Kon toku futen
Gan gu issai shu To sanrin Kujaku
[Nyan ni sanpo, Ansu inshi, Nyan pin son shu nyan]
Shin jin pa shin Birusha no fu
Enmon hoshin Rusha no fu
Sen pa I kashin Shukyamuni fu
Torai a san Miruson bu
Jiho san shi ishi shi fu
Dai jin Myoha ringakin
Dai shin Bunjusuri busa
Dai jin Fuen busa
Dai hi kanshiin busa
Shin son busa mokosa
Moko hoja horomi
[Sante rumi, Shi fu gi sun

Hokai yujin, fu zun kyunnyo.]

** Long chant

Hitotsu ni wa ko no tasho o hakari
Ka no raisho o hakaru.
Futatsu ni wa onorega toku gyo no
Zen ketto hakatte kuni o zu.
Mitsu ni wa shin o fusegi toga o hana ru ru ko to wa
Tonto o shu to su.
Yotsu ni wa masa ni ryoyaku o koto to suru wa
Gyoko o ryo zen ga temenari.
Itotsu ni wa jodo no tame no yue ni
Ima kono jiki o uku.

(rice for hugry ghosts while chanting)

Jiten ki jin shu, Go kin suji kyu

Suji hen ji ho, Ishi ki jin kyu.

Jobon sanbo, Chubun shi on

Gekyu roku do, Kai do kuyo
Ikku I dan issai a ku
Niku I shu issai zen
San ku I do sho shu jo
Kai gu jo butsu do,

*** Final chant

Ga shi sen passui, Nyo ten kanro mi
Se yo kiijin shu, Shitsuryo toku bo man
O makurasai so wa ka
[Shi shi kai jiki kun, Jiren ka fu ja shi Shin shin jin cho I hi, Ki shu rin bu jo son]

My First One-Day Sesshin at Antai-ji

Last night we had Rinku - one of the monks gives a talk. The topic was a selection from Master Dogen's Shobogenzo on the 8 qualities of a Great Human Being (a Buddha) - which is essentially Dogen's version of the Noble Eightfold Path. They had already covered the first 6 before I came at previous Rinkus, so last night we only covered numbers 7 and 8. 7 was something like 'developing wisdom by eliminating greed and attachment' and 8 was 'not to engage in idle discussion (to eliminate discrimating thought)' It was pretty cool to actually do some theorizing here. Before this talk, nothing I experienced here seemed like it was actually Buddhism. There were a few questions that people raised that provoked a lot of responses and things got interesting.

The most profound thing that I heard came from (of course) Docho-san. He said something like 'The thing is that we always live in the thoughts of reality, but not in the things themselves. Not engaging in idle discussion doesn't mean don't talk. Just because we have a rule that you cannot talk during sesshin, this doesn't mean that we shouldnt say 'onegaishimashita' to the mailman when he comes to deliver packages. There is a way that you can talk without talking. This type of talking is the buddha-dharma.'

After rinku, we had a little more free-time and then went to bed. This morning, like usual, the jikido rang the bell through the hallways at 3:45. However, this time we were headed to go sit for 5 hours. The protocoal for entering the hondo for sesshin is different than on normal days - we walk through the front door, and there is no jikido bowing next to you.

Zazen was pretty horrible. We first sat a full hour, then it was 15 minutes walking meditation, and 45 minutes sitting meditation. We did that from 4am to 9am. Then we hurriedly walked to to get some breakfast. We finally had something besides steamed rice for breakfast. We had some rice gruel! It was actually pretty good and similar to oatmeal. There was some sort of cinammon potatoes as a side. We then quickly washed the dishes and had a short break. I went up and took a nap for about 20 minutes.

Then it was time to go back to the hondo at 10:15. We sat 5 more periods of zazen until 3 o'clock. The last few of these were pretty horrible. Even though I had been using alternating sitting positions every period (half-lotus with left leg on top, with right leg on top, and seiza), my knees were hurting really bad. During the last 10 minutes or so of the final period, I was essentially in agony. It is so painful because you are not supposed to move at all during any of the 45 minute periods. If you've never done it, you cannot even imagine how uncomfortable that can be. Some of the others fell asleep during many of the periods. This is easy to tell, because their heads bob up and down. I was quite surprised (and relieved) that Docho-san didn't yell at them or hit them with the stick :) This means that if I screw up, I won't be in too deep. But I still don't know how I will survive the sesshin. We would do what we did today, then after lunch, we would have gone to sit for another 5 hours. This would be done 4 days straight, with the final day being the 10 hour schedule that we had today (I think).

Finally we get some free time. Sesshin was over at 3pm today, and tomorrow is hosan (free day). The only actual obligations we have tomorrow are to come to breakfast and dinner. I started reading one of the books I brought with me - 'No Time To Lose - A Timely Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva.' I originally bought this book only because I couldn't find another copy of the original text (because I recently gave it to my roommate after I moved out). The Way of the Bodhisattva is a book about the motivation for the life of a Mahayana Buddhist practitioner - to relieve the suffering of all sentient beings.

It is sometimes hard to remember that this is what we are doing at Antai-ji. It is easy to get caught up in all of the rules and protocol and just take this place as being some kind of sick mind-training boot camp. But really, we are training ourselves (and thus, the permanent residents are providing a way to let others train themselves) to spread peace and lovingkindness in the world. In fact, the only reason why any of us should live is to promote this cause - to eliminate suffering from the minds of all sentient beings. This is a really hard job to do, but someone needs to step forward and rise to the challenge - if not me, then who?

This motivation might be the only thing that gets me through life here at Antai-ji. During sesshin today, I thought I would definitely have to leave before the real sesshin started, because I wouldn't be able to handle it. Now, I realize that if I give up, I am giving up on all suffering sentient beings.

Look out for the viper!

Friday, I went with Docho-san (the abbot), Osei-san (a Japanese monk staying at Antai-ji for 3 years), Doko-san (a polish monk), and the small Japanese kid to plant rice at a Soto priest:s farm in Tottori. On the drive there, we took Docho-san's children to school and dropped off his wife at a bus station. It took almost 2 hours to arrive at the farm. On the way, we saw several sections of Japanese beaches. They don't get big waves here... :( I was sitting cross-legged in the trunk of the van on top of a piece of cardboard until we dropped off the abbot's wife.

The Soto priest in Tottori is a very typical looking Zen master - short, skinny, bald-headed Japanese man whose facial expressions portray a man who has seen it all. He supposedly lived at Antai-ji for 30 years. Now he is old, has a wife, and his own temple where he does funerals.

The rice fields are big rectangular shaped plots of land with mud that are flooded with water. There are lines cut into the mud in a grid pattern. You strap a basket to your waist, fill it with rice plants, and walk through the field barefoot. The idea is that you put a plant at each corner in the grid (which are a foot apart in both directions). It isn't the most difficult work, but it does start to take a toll on your back and legs after a while. The more worrisome part of the job was when Doko-san shouted to me - 'Look out for the viper!'

The Soto priest gave us a lot of breaks, offering us drinks - juices and canned coffee. After a few hours, we went to his temple to have lunch. His temple is so awesome! It has the typical Japanese roof style. There is a Zen garden in front with raked stones and a cement Shakyamuni statue covered with moss. Facing the temple, to the left, is a huge Zen styled bell covered by its own roof - the kind where there is a log hanging in the air used to strike the bell. There is a big wooden porch with a few steps in front of the temple. The front of the temple was completely open. The altar has five golden buddha statues, in front of the altar is a prostration cushion flanked by golden lotuses. There were some special rooms next to the altar with soe more statues and relics that I didn't get close enough to check out.

For lunch, we sat on the porch in front of the temple and had delicious noodles, tempura, and rice bals stuffed with some kind of vegetable. You fill your bowl with a soup that tastes like soy sauce and dip the noodles into the soup before you eat them. Since we only had one bowl, I was dipping the tempura as well.

Driving to and from Tottori, I started to discover just how pervasive Buddhism is in japan. Almost every corner you reach, there is a Buddha, Kannon, or Jizo statue. It's crazy! Thee is a fair amount of Shinto shrines as well.

While driving back to Antai-ji, everyone was so exhausted. I intermittently shut my eyes for a few minutes. Osei-san fell asleep and keep hitting his head against me. Docho-san was driving and told us that the van has a problem - the steering wheel is always shaking - he was worried that a wheel might fall off while we were driving. After five years of driving the van up and down the mountain, that thing is about to kick the bucket.

When we got back, I immediately hopped into the shower. To my dismay, the dinner clappers started sounding and I had to dry off without washing anything, put my dirty clothes back on, and hurry to the dinner table. Everyone was already there - somehow I wasn't clued in. I apologized about this at the tea meeting... but apparently being late to a meal (or zazen session) is about the worst thing you can do here.

Today, Saturday, we have a half-day of work. I was working with Max trying to fix one of the walls. We had to mix cement with sand and water, mash it up, and stir it. Then we strapped as much bamboo, cardboard, and sticks to the wall to hold the cement in the back. In the front, we temporarily screwed some boards to the wall and poured the concrete in between the two sections of wood. We got so much mud and cement everywhere, it was a pain to clean up.

Tomorrow will be a one-day sesshin(meditation retreat - in Japanese, sesshin literally 'unify the mind'), hence the half-day of work today. Tonight there will be a talk at 6. One of the guys here is going to talk about one of the chapters in Master Dogen's Shogobenzo - about his interpretation of the Noble Eightfold Path. The sesshin tomorrow will be 10 hours of zazen. This is not as much as the schedule on the 5-day sesshin, which involves 15 hours. You aren' supposed to move during those entire 10 hours (aside from kinhin - walking meditation). Supposedly, Docho-san shouts at people if they move, and if they move too much, he will even come over and whack you with the kyosaku (wooden stick used to correct postures... or I guess whip lazy monks into line).

First Day

At 3:45 this morning, the Jikido came running down the hall ringing a bell as a wake up call. Everyone hurried to the bathroom to freshen up and then quickly went into the hondo (meditation hall). The Jikido bows down at a 90 degree angle as we enter the hondo. We shashu to the Jikido, step in, then gassho. We sat two one-hour periods of zazen. Immediately after zazen, those with robes put them on their head and did the robe chant.

After zazen, everyone hurries to breakfast. The protocol for meal is quite complicated, and I don't have enough time at the moment to explain that. We had rice, soup (I don't know what kind, but there were potatoes in it), eggs, and a few other unknown vegetables. After breakfast, everything gets crazy. Everyone rushes around to wash the dishes. Everyone seems to know how it works, and people break up into groups to do certain things. Washing all dishes took about 3 minutes.

After dish-washing was cleaning of the monestary. I swept up the floor of about 1/4 of the building. After this, we had a short break to get into work clothes, wash up, and then it was off to work. I was in the rice field pushing a machine to break up the weeds. We did this for 2 hours, then took another break. Breaks are really nice. I was just sipping some tea, reclining on a log, and staring at the forest. The weather was really beautiful today. All day long we are serenaded by a variety of birds and frogs.

We returned to work for another two hours after the break. I continued to de-weed the rice field. My legs started to hurt a lot. After the second work session, we came back to have lunch. This lunch was informal, but there is still opening and closing chant. Following lunch, we went back to work, I was in the field for another two hours. By the time this was done, I am completely exhausted and glad to be able to take a shower and have a couple hours off.

My couple hours off turned into basically no time off. Things kept cropping up, and I also volunteered to strain the rice. This just means putting rice into a strainer, moving it around to get rid of the bad rice (the bad rice goes to the chickens), and dumping the good rice into a machine that dispenses the rice in specific amounts.

We had dinner, again a formal meal. Immediately following dish-washing after dinner, we had a tea meeting. Again, this is somewhat involved, and I will explain it later. We just discuss what was done that day and what we will do tomorrow.

We had 10 minutes break after tea meeting, which I used to go to the bathroom and wash up - and then it was back to the hondo. We did two more one-hour sessions of zazen, and that brings me here... which is time for bed!

This seems like it should be a usual day, so I probably won't be posting a item-by-item list of what I do in a day from now on, unless it is completely unusual.

Arrival

I woke up this morning at 3:30 AM in RIGHA Royal Hotel in Osaka, Japan. I took a taxi to Osaka train station at 4:50 AM. From Osaka station, I took a train to Fukuchiyama at 5:55 AM. From Fukuchiyama, I took a train to Toyooka, then to Hamasaka. Then I took a bus from Hamasaka to Ika-ga-naru-guchi bus stop at the foot of Antai-ji`s road. I had to walk 4 kilometers up a mountain to the temple, carrying a 50+ pound bag over my shoulder. By the time I arrived, I was about to die from exhaustion.

Upon arrival, I was immediately impressed with the scenery here. We are way out in the mountains of Japan, there are no other people within about 3 miles, and even out there, it is only a small village. The only sounds you hear are birds and frogs. There are trees everywhere.

The monastery itself is not that beautiful, aside from the hondo. In the hondo, there is a really cool statue of a black Shakyamuni. For now, I have a futon up in the room used for drying clothes and playing ping pong.

It is hard to get used to all of the protocol here. You must do different kinds of bows everywhere you go. Before and after using the shower, you must do 3 full prostrations (sanpai) to a vase full of flowers. Before and after using the toilet, you must bow (gassho) to a tiny buddha statue. The hondo is much more complicated, with gasshos and shashus everywhere.

I have no idea what work I am going to be doing here. It seems like it won`t be hard to get along with the people here, since everyone understands English (although the two Japanese people don`t understand much), most people are German.

We had a tea meeting earlier where I introduced myself, and the green tea was fantastic. I think I am going to have a good time here.