I\u2019m currently struggling to stay awake, even though as I\u2019m starting this post it\u2019s only almost 9 PM. \u00a0Going to bed late last night and hiking a mountain this afternoon have made me exhausted. \u00a0I was able to wake up with enough energy to get up, shower and eat before we returned to Tofuku-ji to see Kei-san one last time. \u00a0The zazen seemed long today, and we gave our answers to his koan.<\/p>\n
The historical answer to the question of \u201cWhat would you bring if asked to bring your kokoro?\u201d is that the very action is impossible. \u00a0That is, to think that the kokoro is something that you can hand off to someone else is to have lost sight of it entirely.<\/p>\n
The answer I gave Kei-san is that I would bring my smile. \u00a0At first, this may seem like a reference to the story of Shakyamuni picking his successor – giving the \u201cdharma talk\u201d by holding up a flower and choosing his one student in the audience who smiled as his successor. \u00a0My reason for choosing this answer was similar, but not entirely the same.<\/p>\n
If I smile at you, you\u2019ll probably smile back. \u00a0Biologists may have a technical explanation for this based on evolution, but I think there\u2019s more to this phenomenon than can be explained by science. \u00a0When you smile at someone and they smile back, there is a connection occurring, a mutual understanding of your heart-minds, your kokoro. \u00a0That\u2019s why I would bring my smile. \u00a0If people are receptive to your smile, they can feel your kokoro through their own.<\/p>\n
After we said goodbye to Kei-san, we then said goodbye to Sachi-san and Mitsue-san and thanked them for helping us during the program. \u00a0They gave each of us hugs and told us to come back and visit and we took group photos. \u00a0It was all very sweet.<\/p>\n
All of us then walked around Tofuku-ji garden for a short while. \u00a0Some of us went to see the main garden, which is known for its section with stone tiles and moss. \u00a0I prefered the main part of the garden with the sharp islands of rocks and large swatch of moss-covered rocks that looked like mountains. \u00a0The group of us then went to the base of the Fushimi Inari shrine, where we stopped for ramen. \u00a0After eating, all of us went to the base of the shrine, but only four of us were able to climb the whole mountain and reach the summit.<\/p>\n
Red gates and shrines decorated the whole mountain. \u00a0At first we went up some of the side paths to visit smaller shrines, but then we went up the main path with all of the gates lined up. \u00a0There were many tourists on the main path, but that didn\u2019t detract from the feeling of walking up the steps flanked by the gates. \u00a0I also saw a few cats on the way up. \u00a0Their presence was very appropriate given the abundance of fox statues at the shrines. \u00a0You can actually see Osaka from the peak. \u00a0I liked all of the foxes. \u00a0Kagaya-sensei was worried when we told her we went back down the mountain as the sun was setting, but it wasn\u2019t scary and we got some good drinks out of a vending machine. \u00a0I was glad to see the gates lit by sunlight and by incandescent light along the paths at night.<\/p>\n
Despite everything we did after ten days, there is so much we haven\u2019t even touched in Kyoto, let alone the rest of Japan. \u00a0And tomorrow is our free day. \u00a0I\u2019ll be spending some time tonight planning out what I want to do, but I don\u2019t feel strongly that I have to see one thing or another. \u00a0I\u2019m just going to have fun, see something new, and enjoy my last full day here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019m currently struggling to stay awake, even though as I\u2019m starting this post it\u2019s only almost 9 PM. \u00a0Going to bed late last night and hiking a mountain this afternoon have made me exhausted. \u00a0I was able to wake up … Continue reading