On the 21st, I was invited to give a talk in Iwate Prefecture in Northern Japan. I used the opportunity to visit my friend Yoichiro Kashiwa, who lost his house in the Tsunami two and a half years ago. Both the area in Ofunato where his house stood as well as the town of Rikuzen-Takada, … Read more
One of the many technical terms in a Zen monastery that even present day Japanese hardly understand is “tosu”. The oldest and biggest tosu in Japan can be found in Tofukuji in Kyoto. Today it is used as a zazen hall, but originally it used to be a huge toilet. The literal meaning of “tosu” … Read more
Presenting two new Japanese books by Uchiyama Roshi and Seigaku. Segaku is a young Japanese monk who has a dojo in Berlin. Here is his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/undoinberlin And this is his “Unsui Cafe” in Japanese: http://unsui.net/ Below are links to the respective books by Seigaku and Uchiyama on Japanese Amazon: 坐ればわかる 身体と心が美しくなる禅の作法 内山興正老師いのちの問答
On the evning of the last day of sesshin, Jinen, Yoshin und Hakue received lay ordination in the main hall of Antaiji. We started with reciting the Heart Sutra: Senior monk Gusho leads the three through their movements.
Last day of the yoga event in Hakone. In the morning, I sat zazen with two ladies from Germany at the lake in Hakone, and from 10:30 I gave a talk on bodhi-mind with about 15 Japanese participants attending. Because it was done on a pier on the lake, the right side of my face … Read more
I led two courses today, “Introduction to kinhin” held at a local shrine in the early morning, and “Just sitting” in the evening. Thanks to the sponsorship by MINI, the event could take place at the top of the mountain. Here I am talking to Andreas from Germany, who introduces their new model (in English!): … Read more
