Zen Experience at a little temple

Sunday scenery in precincts
The temple is not  famous unlike ones with big incidents to be marked in the history of Japanese Buddhism. The appearance of the temple is not
particularly outstanding either. It is a kind of the
temple you can often see in the middle size of cities in Japan, insisting its existence quietly in the
corner of the residential area crowded with many
houses. At the entrance of the temple hangs a small wooden notice board " 座禅” ,practice of zen,
on Sunday morning and some people of around
fifteen in number gather one after another from
only God knows where.The expression on the faces of the people exchanging morning greeting
are far from those of ascetic spiritual seekers deeply sunk in their thought in search of an answer to existential problems . They appear to be
ordinary citizens. Behind their faces they should have their own problems ,anxieties and worries.
They should  come to the temple early in the morning hoping solution through zen.

With the sound of singing bowl
Precisely at 7:00 am. The sound of the singing
bowl echoes all over inside the temple. Sunday 
zazen ( practice of zen) participants are already
ready for zazen, taking zen posture with legs crossed. " October 8th' zen session ・・・” runs
the voice of the priest, which is the annoucement
of beginning of zazen. Then facing Japanese sliding doors , they keep sitting , paying all their
attention to counting of one breath after another.
It may be a question of 30 minutes but they throw
all their consciousness into infinitive time. Sometimes the sound of singing birds or that of  passing cars grasps their brains momentarily
but their consciousness is brought back into the
wordless world dominated by absolute silence soon. This unusual silent time when all physical activities stops! It is the peaceful time just like
one you experience when you return your ultimate
spiritual homeland at the deepest part of your 
inner self. It may not be the heart-throbbing time
with excitement but rather the time when your inner happiness rises slowly from the bottom of
your inner being.
Precisely at 7:30 am. Again rings the sound of singing bowl . It is the announcement of the end
of zazen. And then the participants start zazen walk in line slowly half step after another around the inside of the temple. In the end comes chanting of zen script written by the 
pioneer of their zen sect, Dohgen.

What to seek there
The practice of zen there is not very strict with air
stretched with continual sound of ”警策”　or shoulder -hitting rod nor stiff. Very few people
seek the high spiritual stage among them. The 
function of the zazen there is more like  a passing
cool breeze which cools down their hot brain raised in their daily life  and helps them to return
their routine revitalized. Strangely speaking, you
feel your mind cooling down only by sitting with zen posture. It seem to be much more effective than thousands of words. Borrowing the words of
great zen priest , it may be that self settles in self.
Among regular comers there are a few people who
have been attending the practice of zen for more 
than 20 years. For them the zazen there may play the role of easing existential anxieties or fear inevitably coming from inside their mind no matter
how much their worldly life is satisfied in terms of
money, family life and job. Telling figuratively ,
it may be similar to the sound of a temple on the
top of hill coming down to the place where people live, wrapping the mind of Japanese people tenderly with a nostalgic sensation and peace.
Here I can see an aspect of contemporary Japanese spiritual life.
Casual chat over sweet and tea
With the announcement of the priest" Now today's
zazan session is over" the interior of the temple
which was dominated by silence suddenly turns into a noisy place with people running up and down. They prepare for small tea party. Each one
of them engages in different works

such as cleaning, making tea, roasting rice-cakes
and so on. Then casual chat begins.
                            participant A   "Soon I will go to Eihei-ji, the head
                        temple of their sect.
priest             "Good move. You may reach the                               stage as high as a professional                                  nun."
participant B  " The group of monkeys came into                             our garden."
everyone        " What a wild place you live in!"

participant C  " This is a souvenir from Africa.
                  D  " You mean this is the taste of 
                         tea from Tanzania?"
In this way chatting proceeds,sometimes about 
zen-related topics and other times about worldly
topics. The face of everyone  casually talking
appears to be shinning after spiritual activity.
With the announcement of the priest" Now see
you next week" 

everyone gets ready to go home. Somehow the faces of the people getting

out of the temple appear to be clean as if dust 
accumulated in their daily life unconsciously is
washed away.

An aspect of present Japan
At this temple zen session is held every Sunday,which is nowadays unusual in Japan.
The priest is very casual and anything but a kind
of priest with frightful atmosphere which old zen
priest used to have. He is still a vigorous middle-aged man. If you are interested in having a glance
of casual spiritual side of Japan, "座禅”　or practice
of zen here may give you a good chance. Why not
join them?

the name of temple       福昌寺（Fukusho-ji)
     address                     Kanagawa-ken Atsugi-shi
                                      Hase 1600
     Phone NO                 247-5485