Last Sesshin

So, tomorrow is my birthday. My first birthday at a Japanese Zen monastery. It should be interesting. We have a visitor coming that usually brings sweets (little cakes, juices, etc), and the other guys here are making a cake for me! :)

After that, there is a sesshin from August 1-5. We still haven't decided how we will handle that. Usually, there is no sesshin in August, because of the heat. However, since Docho-san is not here, we are going to do one, but we might not do a full 15 hours. Some have suggested to do two 5-hour blocks, omitting the middle block (when it is the hottest). However, they suggest to go outside and work for 2 hours during that block, which would be horrible, since we still only eat 2 meals a day. 2 meals a day, 2 hours of work outside in the heat, 10 hours of sitting with no air conditioning, is probably unmanageable. But, in zazen everything becomes manageable.

The day after sesshin, August 6th, will be a free day. So, I will have time to gather all of my stuff together to leave the next morning. I will leave early (6am) on August 7th to walk to the bus stop and catch the train in Hamasaka. I bought my train ticket today from Hamasaka station to Kansai International Airport. It cost ￥５１５０ (~$48 US).

After Public Storage makes their automatic withdrawal from my bank account tomorrow, I will have less than $10. Aside from the bank, I have a 20 dollar bill, so I will have less than $30 to my name. It seems like I am always living strapped for cash.

When I get back to the states, I will have a few weeks to enjoy air conditioning, and figure out how I am going to pay for UW, where I will live, fix my laptop, learn Perl, and countless other things I haven't even thought about yet.

But for now, I will just sit silently. Just another bug crawling around the forest. The enchanted forest of Hyogo Prefecture, Japan.