Category Archives: Zen

On Running in Japan

Posted on February 1, 2012 by E.

For the listener, who listens in the snow, And, nothing himself, beholds Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is. – Wallace Stevens, “The Snowman” Japan makes me anxious.

Posted in Uncategorized, Zen | Tagged meditation, running, zen | 20 Comments

On Seasons, or: On Poets Taking Over the Japanese Meteorological Service

Posted on October 19, 2011 by E.

“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” – The Great Gatsby There’s a central body in Japan that declares the coming and going of rain. That means that there is a weather bureaucracy, and someone stamps … Continue reading →

Posted in Thinking, Tradition, Uncategorized, Zen | Tagged haiku, japan, poetry, seasons, weather, zen | 6 Comments

On Lenin’s Feet and the Taxi-Driving Buddha

Posted on October 5, 2011 by E.

If you visit Kyoto, you may stumble into a small home next door to a shrine and, as you’re looking for the shrine entrance, a woman may ask you for 500 yen and assure you that there is English being … Continue reading →

Posted in language, Shrines, Temples and Ruins, Thinking, Uncategorized, Zen | Tagged buddhism, japan, Kyoto, Lenin | 2 Comments

On Like Totally Living in the Now in Japan, You Know?

Posted on August 31, 2011 by E.

Japan probably has more temples, shrines and gardens per capita than garbage cans or benches.

Posted in Homesickness, Shrines, Thinking, Uncategorized, Zen | Tagged expatriates, japan, mindfulness, zen | 7 Comments

On Obon: Japan’s Homecoming Game, with Ghosts.

Posted on August 10, 2011 by E.

There’s an old Buddhist story about a monk named Mahamaudgalyayana – let’s call him Mokuren, for short – who was doing alright, as monks go, and had finally developed the skill of peering into the world of the dead.