Autumn In Japan

What is an Arhat, you might ask? Well, not quite a Buddha, but a tad more advanced than I am.

I made it to Ho-onji Soto Zen Buddhist temple.  Its claim to fame are the representative figures of 499 Arhats, carved long ago in Kyoto. Quite wonderful, actually, because these figures show the full range of human emotion, from laughter to calm meditative states. I might have expected them all to be represented as pious ever-too-saintly figures. Thankfully, no.

This was my first visit to a Buddhist temple in Japan. A good beginning. Only 76,999 to go!. Even if I were an Arhat I couldn’t visit them all, at least not in the time I have left to me. I read that Buddhism in Japan is going to be losing many of these temples in the years to come due to lack of participation and funding. On the other hand, Buddhism in America is on the rise. I’ll not speculate on the reasons for this.

I’ll add many more pictures of the Arhats and the Monastery without further comment. Please enjoy these lovely Arhats. I did! And, enjoy that menacing Japanese dragon (differs from the British version with wings) painted on the ceiling of the Arhat room. Got to love those fearsome creatures rising from the depths of our imaginations!

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.

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!

I had wanted to keep this site classy and did not intend to start out with a Manhattan and a witchlike Jack-O-Lantern. But, what with the “classy” juxtaposition of the downward pointing cocktail glass and the upward pointing hat, I couldn’t resist!

I did not expect to see representations of Halloween in Japan, expecially this early in the season or this early in my trip. This was night one, having spent a long time on the plane and endless confusion at Narita airport gathering up train tickets and getting lost. I figure that “lost” will be my default status for the next two months.

After a difficult night of sleep and continuing jet lag, I am now in the Tokyo train station awaiting my first Shinksen that will take me up to Morioka. This is a little known small city in the north of Japan that, in 2023, was named, second only to London, as one of 52 pleces in the world to visit. Even the Japanese were shocked. Anyway, since I had already known that I wanted to start my trip out of Tokyo and up north, this seemed to be a good choice as a place to get my bearings. I was right to think that Tokyo would NOT be a good place for that, having just spent too long in the madhouse Tokyo train station trying to find a good cup of coffee and a place to sit down that wasn’t named Starbucks.

My trip to Japan is a first for me. I will be travelling solo and I will be there for two months. What could go wrong? Don’t answer that!

I’ve been in the planning stage before, at least twice, having reserved plane tickets and hotels. Both times I chickened out. My concerns about language and food issues overrode my long held desire to visit Japan. But now that I’ve told everyone that I’m going, I can’t chicken out again. It’s going to happen. I swear it!

People have asked me why Japan is my dream destination. I mumble things about the gardens, the art, the architecture, the temples. However, as I think about it I find it a bit of a mystery. Why not Spain or the Galapagos, Greece or Egypt? Surely, for many, these are the places that beckon through desire. What they lack is my desire. Why not? I don’t know why not. Why Japan? I don’t know.

So here I am trying to plan this massive trip. I’ve got plane reservations again and many hotel reservations. Having these does not mean that everything will go smoothly. I can’t plan for all of the bumps and roadblocks that will come.

Some love to travel the world and will jump at any chance to board that jet plane and be off, somewhere or anywhere. I’m not one of those. I’d be most happy just to cruise around the Pacific Northwest and go camping from time to time. But, Japan beckons and I think I have one big trip left in me. After that, I’ll head out to the Hoh rainforest and soak in the loveliness of the Olympic peninsula.

Peace.