Three days in, and I’m beginning to comprehend what I will need to more than just survive the assorted humiliations and misadventures that have come and will come. #1 is a good cup o’ jo in the morning. This little spot along the Kitikami river is a nice find. And, I’ve never seen so many dragonflies!
It is not raining today, so far. If it holds, I’ll try once more for that Zen Temple.
More and more I’m thinking of this trip as a pilgrimage – a spiritual journey that, while it might have happened years ago, feels like it is happening at the right time. I’ve lived all my life and done pilgrimages in lands associated predominantly with Christianity. Japan is, of course, a land suffused with Buddhist beliefs. Mine is now a journey into this heart of Japanese Buddhism, physically, mentally, and spiritually.
After Carol passed, the question that was always in front of me was, “Who am I now?” It has been two years. The question is still an open one but I am beginning to come to terms with maybe the outline of, if not an answer to, this question. Maybe this is one of the reasons I feel that it is a good time for me to be here. This pilgrimage, while linked to ones of the past (Assisi, Rome, Norwich, Bingen, Iona, Israel) is much more of an unknown to me. I have not spent a lifetime learning the ways of Buddhism as I did with Catholic Christianity. While I may have first read about Zen back in the late ’70’s (Alan Watts, The Way of Zen) I did not begin my sitting practice (zazen) until three years ago. I have learned a great deal since then but it is clear that I’m only a raw novice in this Way.
I am grateful to many new friends in Seattle who are supporting me in this journey and are becoming my community. Also, I am grateful to my friends past (and still) who supported me and Carol in our lives and who continue to support me still, whether they may or may not comprehend this new path I have chosen.
Peace, one and all.
Autumn In Japan 