Instead of Japanese Class today, we visited the Zen temple Myoshinji where we experienced Shodo (Japanese calligraphy), Tea Ceremony, and Zen Cuisine ( Shojin Ryori or Japanese Vegetarian Meal). Obviously, the day started on a good note considering the lack of class aspect. Instead of meeting at Doshisha, the majority of us met at the central Kyoto Station and took the JR train to the temple, picking up more of the Stanford students on the way at the various stops (some homestays are closer to the temple than others). Anyway, the temple grounds themselves were gorgeous and we spent a fair amount of time just walking around before going into one of the buildings and starting our activities.
Our first activity was calligraphy. The Buddhist monk who had given us a brief introduction to the temple gave us another brief set of instructions on how to go about doing calligraphy. The idea is to pick one kanji character and practice it so much that you can draw it beautifully. I've never really had an artist's hand (my mother can attest to this...I struggled in art classes all the way through grade school and high school) so I looked at the exercise as complete fun versus others who started to stress out about their strokes. It was fun to watch people pick really complicated kanji and try to draw them. I just picked simple ones as befit my skill level (haha!). But all in all it was pretty fun.
Following calligraphy, the Buddhist monk gave us more of a detailed tour of the grounds of the temple, showing us to various picturesque places and explaining the motivations and directions behind the landscaping (which is very detailed and well thought out in Zen temples, though considering the strict discipline in the Zen tradition doesn't seem wholly unexpected). After, we were treated to a traditional Japanese vegetarian meal, which included LOTS of tofu (yay!) and sweet miso soup (OMG SO GOOD) and other food items (which were mostly delicious). However, many of the guys in the group found this meal very small and were lucky to find that the Buddhist monks and nuns were happy to give them more helpings of such. Then, at the end of the meal, the Buddhist priest walked us through a traditional tea ceremony and then served us yummy cookies. :)
Hi Hon:
ReplyDeleteIt's so funny, your romance with Japanese food! I'm really glad you're liking it. Which caligraphy character did you chose? I still have your entire portfolio from Art Renaissance! You did some great work. You probably just don't remember. Your stick figures were also very sticklike! (haha!)
Thanks for including the pictures. One of the pics. on your facebook portfolio (after #100 or so), the one with the steps going upwards, looks like it's surrounded by greenery; well, it's so beautiful I wish I could see it in person. And the pic. with the trees that are changing color,...well, breathtaking.
Keep up the great work in the photo dept.
TTYL
l/u
Mom
As always, enjoying your travel logue. Do Zen monks have a particular way of dressing? Did you get to hear about how to become a Zen monk? I'd be interested in knowing how young you have to start and what they "study".
ReplyDeleteBrad's friend, Robert, has a son named Jon. I don't know if I've talked about him or not, but he was accepted into STanford, too, this year and is a world traveler. His favorite place is Kyoto. He'll be there soon, I understand, spending a week by himself. He's very comfortable with the international travel thing, but he does speak Japanese, and Russian, and Chinese too, I think. Maybe, if you're still there, you could meet him and show him the stanford office etc. When do you come home?
Great shots, by the way.
Love, tante
PS Got your postcards!