On enlightenment and cramped legs.
Dec. 1st, 2002 08:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shirenomadIf I understood the monks correctly (which is questionable, but oh well), Shuzen-ji ("ji" means "temple" in this case) is devoted to Zazen Buddhism, which is a cross-breed of Zen Buddhism and Shintoism. There were a couple religious ceremonies which we were all invited to join; I was a little hesitant, but there was nothing we did that I'd consider problematic in regards to my own faith. The only action that could have been questionable was bowing to the Buddha statue (that's what made Tae decide to sit out), but I noted we had been bowing in the same manner to the monks all day, and they to us in return, so I treated it as a sign of respect and nothing more. Besides, I don't think it would be fair to refuse to participate in something like this, then expect people to accept invitations to church.
Unfortunately, the ceremonies involved sitting in formal Nihon-style, which basically means get on your knees, flatten your feet level with your legs and the floor, then sit on your heels. After about ten minutes of serious discomfort I literally lost what remained of the circulation to my feet; when I attempted to get up at the end of the ceremony I had to spend two or three minutes rubbing them until they changed from two numb masses on the ends of my legs into something I could actually walk on. The monks didn't seem to have this problem. Is there some trick to this that I don't know about, or does it just require flexible feet?
We also tried some meditation. Fact: I cannot sit lotus-style. Period. Fortunately, they had a partial lotus position explained for us less limber fellows. So we all sat down, face forward, eyes down at the floor, and stared at the tatami for half an hour. All while trying to keep our minds clear. Which is NOT easy for me, for the same reason I'm such an insomniac. I'm an imaginative fellow because my brain never shuts down. If I have no audio input, for instance, my brain will fill in the blank by getting some song or another stuck in my head. I spent my first attempt trying to meditate to the DDR remix of "Smoke on the Water", which was predictably disastrous. Second attempt, my brain drew a J-pop song called "Time Rolls On" which was actually reasonably relaxing; I think I successfully zoned out during the meditation, at least, if that was the intent.
Meals were, naturally, vegetarian, but surprisingly good. Dinner was six (small) courses, in fact: miso soup, tofu, rice (of course), veggie tempura and pickles, something I didn't recognize with sesame sauce, and stewed daikon (Japanese white radish). Then tea, which doubled as a cleaning agent: pour it into the rice bowl, scrub the sides with a pickle between your chopsticks, then pour both into the next smallest bowl, repeat, and go down the line until you've got a weird mix of tea and various sauces in the smallest bowl. Finally, drink. Tasted odd, but not that bad, and it's a creative way of making sure you literally "clean your plate."
There was an onsen (hot spring) five minutes from the temple, and any one of us who wanted it was given a free pass the first night. I hadn't tried one before, and I figured I would be remiss to leave Japan without experiencing it at least once, so I walked on over. Yes, that means I got naked with several other guys. No, the onsen was not co-ed (well, it was, but the ladies were on the other side of the wall). Once you get over the initial shock, actually, you get used to it quickly; the actual pool was fairly roomy so you can keep a comfortable distance, and it's not like anyone's going to be rude enough to stare at you, so any embarrassment fades fast.
Total time spent was from Saturday 5pm to Sunday 9:30am, consisting of the onsen, two meals, two meditations, two ceremonies, a sort of a "Sunday School lesson" on the meaning of one of the chants (which, as usual, mostly went over my head), and clean-up. And sleep, though the temple's mouser decided to wake us up with some random meowing at about 3:30am (lights out was at 10, wake-up call was at 5, so it wasn't as bad as it seems). Came out of it with a certificate declaring me enlightened (okay, just that I had been through a cultural experience at Shuzen-ji) and they took an official photo, which hopefully we'll all be getting copies of.
Unfortunately, the ceremonies involved sitting in formal Nihon-style, which basically means get on your knees, flatten your feet level with your legs and the floor, then sit on your heels. After about ten minutes of serious discomfort I literally lost what remained of the circulation to my feet; when I attempted to get up at the end of the ceremony I had to spend two or three minutes rubbing them until they changed from two numb masses on the ends of my legs into something I could actually walk on. The monks didn't seem to have this problem. Is there some trick to this that I don't know about, or does it just require flexible feet?
We also tried some meditation. Fact: I cannot sit lotus-style. Period. Fortunately, they had a partial lotus position explained for us less limber fellows. So we all sat down, face forward, eyes down at the floor, and stared at the tatami for half an hour. All while trying to keep our minds clear. Which is NOT easy for me, for the same reason I'm such an insomniac. I'm an imaginative fellow because my brain never shuts down. If I have no audio input, for instance, my brain will fill in the blank by getting some song or another stuck in my head. I spent my first attempt trying to meditate to the DDR remix of "Smoke on the Water", which was predictably disastrous. Second attempt, my brain drew a J-pop song called "Time Rolls On" which was actually reasonably relaxing; I think I successfully zoned out during the meditation, at least, if that was the intent.
Meals were, naturally, vegetarian, but surprisingly good. Dinner was six (small) courses, in fact: miso soup, tofu, rice (of course), veggie tempura and pickles, something I didn't recognize with sesame sauce, and stewed daikon (Japanese white radish). Then tea, which doubled as a cleaning agent: pour it into the rice bowl, scrub the sides with a pickle between your chopsticks, then pour both into the next smallest bowl, repeat, and go down the line until you've got a weird mix of tea and various sauces in the smallest bowl. Finally, drink. Tasted odd, but not that bad, and it's a creative way of making sure you literally "clean your plate."
There was an onsen (hot spring) five minutes from the temple, and any one of us who wanted it was given a free pass the first night. I hadn't tried one before, and I figured I would be remiss to leave Japan without experiencing it at least once, so I walked on over. Yes, that means I got naked with several other guys. No, the onsen was not co-ed (well, it was, but the ladies were on the other side of the wall). Once you get over the initial shock, actually, you get used to it quickly; the actual pool was fairly roomy so you can keep a comfortable distance, and it's not like anyone's going to be rude enough to stare at you, so any embarrassment fades fast.
Total time spent was from Saturday 5pm to Sunday 9:30am, consisting of the onsen, two meals, two meditations, two ceremonies, a sort of a "Sunday School lesson" on the meaning of one of the chants (which, as usual, mostly went over my head), and clean-up. And sleep, though the temple's mouser decided to wake us up with some random meowing at about 3:30am (lights out was at 10, wake-up call was at 5, so it wasn't as bad as it seems). Came out of it with a certificate declaring me enlightened (okay, just that I had been through a cultural experience at Shuzen-ji) and they took an official photo, which hopefully we'll all be getting copies of.
