Not a Soto Zen Temple!

Instead, it’s  just a couple cups of real good coffee with real cream. Now, I’ve promised that this site would not be a food or drink thing. Seems I’m not even faithful to my own promises! Two posts, and two vastly different drinks.

Now to the point. One way I have to help provide some focus for my wanderings is to locate Soto Zen temples in the town/cities that I visit. It is because this is the Buddhist tradition that has gathered the energies of the spiritual life I’ve cultivated through all my adult life. For me, it is not a break from my Catholic Christian life, but simply a continuation of the spiritual path that I’ve long been pursuing.

I started out early this morning to find Hoonji temple. I found it but it was not open. It was not open because I was there too early! Why don’t I pay attention to the details? Will this plague me the whole trip? Isn’t this one of the reasons I practice in the Zen tradition, to become more aware, more conscious?

I started back down the drizzly morning streets of Morioka trying to find coffee and a place to sit. Well, this isn’t Seattle with spacious coffee joints on every corner. Finally I wandered down a narrow alley and found this place. Hesitantly, I opened the door. Worried faces turned towards me, obviously a lost American. Menus only in Japanese and my translation app not working. I managed to get the gracious woman at the counter to fathom what I wanted following inexplicable hand gesturing and English words that I hoped would magically be translated into Japanese. So finally this delicious cup appeared at my table.

My translation app began to work and I typed in, “The coffee was very good. May I have another?” I took it to her at the bar where another older woman was sitting. I turned on the audio mode of the translation and held it up so she could hear. Immediate comprehension followed by laughter all around.

So, not a Soto Zen Temple, but a very good beginning to my day!