Dear Full Life Friends,
I sit with Jan in the cafe of the Ana Crowne Hotel, Kyoto after saying goodbye to the rest of our group. She and I will leave tomorrow– a train to Osaka, a plane to San Francisco– we will travel 12 hours back through time and lose 4 hours somewhere along the way.
Time, what a strange ever-shifting concept. Our 12 days feel like their own lifetime, full and rich with new tastes, textures and moments. We visited temples, gardens, museums, shops. We learned about Kannon, the goddess of compassion and mercy– and were awed by her statues in temples– with her thousand and one arms and eleven faces, all offering compassion to those in need, in every direction.
We met Miyu’s eccentric, kimono-artist father in his studio where Jan modeled his beautiful, hand-crafted silk kimonos. She looked radiant in the array of colors and shades of silk and we imagined these as her wedding dress. Afterwards, a cat lover, Miyu’s father showed us his cat tail windshield wiper on his car and we all laughed.
On our final day at Myoshin-ji, the Temple of the Enlightened Mind, we practiced Qigong, and then deeply rested in the middle of things to the vibrations of Miyu’s singing bowls, absorbing our last moments in the Big Heart Zendo. We ate our final breakfast, shipped our big suitcases to the final hotel, gave thank you gifts to the staff of our inn, and then, toting our small bags, headed by train to the Ryokan Inn at Konosaki Hotsprings.
We settled into the pleasure of soaking in mineral waters that have been enjoyed by people for 1,300 years. And after our nine course dinners of amazing delicacies of fish and steak and tofu and miso and a lovely variety of vegetables, including burdock, bamboo shoots and lotus root, we walked outside in our Yukata robes and Geta sandals (or our own shoes) to digest and enjoy the evening air before going to bed in our traditional rooms overlooking the beautiful gardens in the moonlight. The final night, we felt like royalty as young women came to help us dress in fancy Yukata gowns. Then we fed the coy fish, laughed and took photos, reveling in the beauty and generosity of Japan.
It was so nice to spend time in a small town in the mountains, walking and riding a tram up to a temple whose care has been handed down through one family for three or four generations. A monk chanted for us and we each got to pinch some incense into the coals and make a prayer. It was so heart-warming to watch each member of our group move up to the altar, pause for prayer, to see the incense lift skyward with the monk’s deep, resonant voice– both carrying our prayers. And then the matron of the temple served us a delicious cake and tea, so happy to see us enjoy her food, so happy to see her friend Miyu again. Only later did we learn that she had baked us each a bag of several different treats and given us a calendar from the temple. Generosity in Japan seems to know no bounds.
I am still not sure all the ways I have grown and changed on this trip. I do know that I did awaken a little more each day. I did grow and expand as I tried my hand at calligraphy with Miyu coaching– “It’s like Qigong, move slowly, fluidly.” We painted the characters for peace and joy over and over again– our new friends coaching us and clapping at successes we couldn’t recognize. To us our creations looked wobbly and off-kilter. We had to be humble, kindergarteners all over again. “Feel the peace before you start, feel the joy,” Miyu instructed. Calligraphy as meditation.
Each step of the way our hearts seemed to open more– to the experiences, to the people who so graciously helped and served us, to the beauty all around us. We felt the presence of the Jizos, the stone statues of guardian spirits, of bodhisattvas, enlightened beings, who return to guide people on the path to enlightenment. These small statues particularly protect children and travelers. People tie little bibs around their necks to ask for their protection. When the bibs are red, like they are in Jori’s beautiful photo above, they offer their protection to unborn babies and children. People also leave the Jizos sweets, coins and flowers as they ask for protection for family members. As travelers, we also felt thankful for these spirits who were along roadways and trails, and in small shrines throughout town, thankful they were watching out for us as we traveled through the mountains of Japan, closer to our plane trips home.
Our final night together, transitioning us back towards the west, Miyu took us to a lovely Japanese- Italian restaurant in Kyoto where again we enjoyed the beauty and tastiness of each elegant dish. And after dinner we wandered through this new neighborhood and into a Shinto Shrine lit by many lanterns. We saw wooden hearts full of prayers and small rabbit figures. Nature and animals honored. So much honoring. So many prayers. So much compassion and gratitude.
My dear friend Miyu, “Arigato Goziamas,” thank you so much. Bow, deep, low, full bow for all you have given us in this experience.
Kannon and the Shinto Shrines, the Jizos and the members of our group swirl together inside me, melding with the Qi and prana moving through us all– through the crane, the bear, the dragon and tiger, through the deer and the beautiful trees that help us to root and ground. Through one qigong form and then another. Through the ink of the calligraphy brush into joy and peace and each other. Through the cherry blossoms, the moss garden. Through writer and reader and all our loved ones.
As we end this trip, because of this loving group of humans, and the kind people we met in Japan, I feel hope for humanity. We are one, we have the capacity to honor each other, we all felt it– and expressed it in our closing circle.
We are one across cultures and oceans. And even as we face frightening conflicts around the globe– I believe we have the capacity to remember.
Denel Kessler, author of the Kyoto poem above, has been here. In his poem the speaker feels it too. We have the capacity to remember, to honor, to love.
We are one.
See you in class Tuesday, or at a future retreat or private session. And thank you once again for being a part of this growing Full Life community.