Japan

Here I am in front of the zendo at Tenryuji, sometime in the middle of my second Osseshin, with its 12 hours of meditation a day.

We went begging today, literally. Called "takuhatsu," the Buddha advised his monks to live on only what they could beg that day.

Thierry-Marie and I received teihatsu, ritual head shaving, in preparation for another Ozesshin. Ozesshin is an intense retreat of sitting zazen for 10 hours a day in a zendo, interspersed with chanting sutras, walking meditations and a bit of work. Sitting on folded legs for so many hours every day is very painful, and one tries to use the pain to focus and clear the mind.

After working in the gardens, pulling weeds for a few hours, the monks all break for tea. It is hot, so we have iced tea. Very civilized.

As light fades, we head back to the zendo for evening zazen.

The Ozesshion begins! The center of the Osession is time spent in zazen meditation in the zendo, pictured here.

Tonight our OSesshion retreat starts, so today we wait. We prepare as well, but mostly we wait.

While we wait, there are hundreds of visitors to the Sogen-ji monastery to attend the annual formal tea ceremony today.

Downtown Shibuya, Tokyo. "Bustle" doesn't quite capture it. Everywhere you look, you could look more and see more.

My first day in Japan. Tthe Dominicans took me to visit a local Shinto shrine, Meiji Jingu.