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Scary Zen Garden
This weekend was a pleasure. On Saturday, Naomi and I went to a buffet dinner at the Tokyo Dome hotel and it was great. We had roast beef, coconut curry, fish, nice salads, fish shaped chips, and crepes for dessert. And a beer. It was nice to splash out a little :-)
I also went shopping for pressies for my family. I bought some cool stuff and it was fun to shop for everyone.
Today I went to Tsurumi temple. I hadn't been for a year or so. Although the sitting - 2 40 minute sessions - was fine, it kind of hit me that training in a Zen temple is a lot scarier than I had previously thought. At the entrance to the temple, by the temple gates, they were initiating a new monk. Man! It looked harsh. There were 4 or 5 monks standing around a trainee monk who was sitting in zazen. They were having him chant a sutra and were shouting at him. I looked in through a gap in the window and the head monk smiled at me, then resumed his scowl. Later on during Zazen the trainees were all shouting in the hall next to our Zendo. It gave me chills just hearing it. Zen gardens are really nice but they've got nothing to do with Zen. And it dawned upon me how incredibly depressing it would be to just sit in a dimly lit, old, sepia hall all day. I hadn't really thought about the reality of it. I'd been dreaming of Zen gardens and quiet forest temples and sitting as a nice mountain breeze wafts over me. But if you started enjoying all that you'd have no chance!
But, I did get the chance to fullfill a dream of mine - I got to clean the floor! Not with a mop, but a la Zen monk. It's probably just me who thinks this is cool, but they get down on all fours with a cloth under their hands and then run sliding the cloth along the floor. It's great fun! I did this back and forth one time and felt a rush of joy and a stitch. He he. I'm going to keep my idealized view of Zen monks if it kills me!
Anyway, was a nice weekend.
6 days to go to France :-)
posted by PA on Sunday, July 31, 2005
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