antaiji This morning I spoke about my encounter with zazen at 8am inside. Tomorrow we will be sitting on a mountain to at 4pm. Mae Yoshikawa, a Japanese yogini, introduces the course for me: From the mountain top, tomorrow we will have a great view of the sun setting behind Mt. Fuji. Thanks to the sponsorship … Read more
Got up early than the sun, as always. Following the Antaiji schedule, I did a little zazen and then went out to the lake, where Mt. Fuji was lit up by the sun. Today will be the first day of the three day “True Nature” yoga event. No-one yet in the lobby of the Prince … Read more
I will be leading zazen workshops at a yoga event in Hakone on the 27th, 28th and 29th. More information can be found here: http://www.truenature.jp The true “TRUE NATURE” event takes place in a hotel close to a beautiful lake. Starting from tomorrow, we will be sitting at the shore of this lake. On a … Read more
It started to rain yesterday and poured all night, but today is another sunny free day: Takeo official starts to train as tenzo in the kitchen. His plan for the first day is – pound cake!
Today was another one day sesshin. The day begins with the jikido, who is responsible for the meditation hall, waking up everyone in the sangha at 3:45. He strikes the drum three times, followed by three strikes of the unpan (metal board). After this, he will run down the corridors with a bell. Not only … Read more
Most of the work at Antaiji is done by hand, but for threshing the rice we use a machine. the one that we used yesterday was presented to us by the Kubota store in Hamasaka ten years ago. Although it started without problems yesterday morning, the engine seems to have not enough power to thresh … Read more
Eko-san and Ellie started threshing today. They will be busy with their job tomorrow as well. In the vegetable field, Yudai-kund and Hirukawa-kun are digging sweet potatoes. It makes them hungry for tempura they say. We had lots (more than 100) of new strawberry offshoots from the 12 plants that we planted in May … Read more
Seikan was the first monk ordain after I became the abbot 12 years ago. It was his first visit in four years, and he could stay for only one night. Let him talk for himself: After returning to Australia nine years ago, he started a Zen group and is also running a “Zen Hospice” in … Read more
Breakfast is called “shukuza” in Japanese Zen monastery, which can loosely be translated as the “gruel session”. In Antaiji though, we have brown rice, miso soup and two side dishes for breakfast, to give us the strength necessary for samu. Here you can see us recite part of the morning chant: Hitotsu ni wa ko … Read more
