I'm out of here!

I leave tomorrow afternoon for Great Vow. I'll be back in Eugene on March 11, 2010 for about 5 days then I go to Japan. I'll maybe have time to write a summary of the Sotoshu Ango then.

The contact information for Hokyoji, the monastery I'm headed to in Japan, can be found by following the link. I won't be there until April and may not be able to receive or send mail for quite a while after I arrive. I don't know what the situation will be exactly.

That's all I've got right now. I'm off to finish up my preparations for tomorrow.

The Future Unfolds

Unless I break my leg or get struck by lighting, this is what my future has in store for it: On December 6th, I will leave my teacher's temple and go to Great Vow Zen Monastery for Rohatsu Sesshin. On the evening of the 13th or the morning of the 14th, I will fly to Los Angeles and from there go to Yokoji Zen Monastery, just east of L.A. I will be there until March 15th and then I will return to my teacher's temple in Eugene for a few days. Then I will fly to Japan and go to my teacher's teacher's temple, Shurinji, in Sendai. Again, for a few days, before I go to Hokyoji sometime before April 2nd, which is when the 90 Training Period begins there. And there I shall remain until the Powers™ that move my life around tell me otherwise.

I know that's a lot of repeated information, but for the first time I have dates and there is some sort of official "plan". As useful as those ever are. The way it's looking, I've got about 3 weeks here and then I'm not likely to post anything for quite a while. Two days here and then two days there doesn't leave much time for blogging. I will post some contact information soon and also on my Facebook profile for those who want to write me in Japan. Keep in mind that I may not be able to receive mail for up to 6 months after I arrive. They will hold it for me until I'm no longer a new monk and then my situation will relax a little.

I will, perhaps, write more later when I'm feeling more reflective. Weeee....

There aren't enough hours in the day...

There aren't enough hours in the day. That's been my theme for the past month or so. I've been quite busy. I always struggle to find a way to talk about that without sounding like I'm complaining about it. Cause I know my life isn't particularly hard or bad, but I am busy. Despite the popular image of "monastic life" being about spacious solitude and contemplation, with little or no "worldly" troubles beyond making a cup of tea, the reality is a little different. Now, I could go on about all the various things that I do in a day, but I don't know how to do that without sounding like I'm whining. So... I'll just shut up, except to say that I'm probably as busy as somebody who has a full-time job and owns their own home with a descent sized yard that they keep well-maintained. I'm up early, go to bed late, and when I close my eyes at night I know there's a bunch of things I intended to do that I just didn't quite get to. Yet.

In other news... there is still no final word on my attendance to the California Ango but it does seem likely that I will be leaving here mid-December for Yokoji. I made a mistake before, I'll actually be there until mid-March, not February. That would actually put it at 90 days. Then I will most likely head straight to Japan without returning to Oregon. I'm really looking forward to being in Japan again. I miss it a lot.

I'm also a little torn because there are things brewing here in America, both at my teacher's temple and in the larger Soto Zen scene, that I feel like I want and should be part of. I don't have doubts about leaving though. I think that my training in Japan will put me in a much better position to be of some benefit to the development of Buddhism in America. But, there's a definite question about "oh! what's going to happen next" that's a little hard to just walk away from.

Well, it's dinner time and then Term Student Meeting. Jaa... mata!

Quote

That's man all over for you, blaming on his boots the faults of his feet.

-- Beckett, Waiting for Godot

The More Things Change...

So, I'm not feeling as heavy as I was a little while ago. That's how these things go, I guess.

Still no final word on when I will go to Japan. It depends on if I get accepted to the Soto-shu Ango in California. *IF* that happens, this is how my life will possibly look for the next few months: 90 Study Term at the Eugene Zendo, Sit Rohatsu Sesshin Dec. 6 - 13 at Great Vow, December 14 fly to L.A. and enter California Ango, February 15 Leave for Japan and enter Hokyoji. Or I could do all of those things except for the California Ango and just leave earlier for Japan. Stay tuned.

I've been reading Kenneth Chen's "Buddhism in China". It starts off a little slow but gets going quickly. I find the parallels between what China was experiencing 1800 or so years ago with the "foreign" religion of Buddhism and what the West is currently undertaking to be fascinating. It's really amazing. The one difference that I can see is that in China, Chinese Buddhists seemed to revere their predecessors a great deal more than (at least in America) Westerners do our own.

Here are a few pictures I scanned of the Japanese monastery I'm headed towards. Apologies to whoever has the copyrights on them. I'm poor and not worth suing. I was going to post some links to other photos available on the net, but don't feel like tracking them down now.

Jaa... mata ne.