Ryushin Recounts Day 1 of the Pilgrimage
This is from a group e-mail that Ryushin Creedon, a Great Vow Zen Monastery resident and postulant (priest candidate) wrote to family and friends following the Jizos for Peace pilgrimage.
Dear Folks,
Okay, so I’ve just ended one of the longest months of my life. Maybe you don’t believe that time can be longer or shorter. I say time at least seems to go longer if you are in a difficult or boring situation (for most people organic chemistry or surgery would do as a good example).
For those who had no idea what has been going on, I went to Japan! I was there for two weeks. I went with about 35 other folks from the US (mostly Oregon), Canada, and Germany. We went in remembrance of the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We brought with us approximately 500,000 images of Jizo Bodhisattva which we had received from around the world (including Germany, South Africa, Brazil, Australia, El Salvador (thanks Kelly), and many more.
This project stemmed from Chozen’s desire to bring 60 Jizos to Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the 60th anniversary (60 being a prominent year in Asian cultures). She was born on the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, and so her connection to the bombing runs deep. Kaz Tanahashi, a famous calligrapher and peace activist, thought the project was wonderful, and that she should bring 1 Jizo for every person who died in those cities within the first year after the bombing. That was 270,000 people! Kaz suggested that they copy Jizos onto cloth the way that some Japanese people copy the Heart Sutra (one of the most fundamental Buddhist texts), and bring the cloth Jizo panels to Japan. Needless to say it worked.
Why Jizo? Jizo is a prominent figure in Japan. He is seen as the protector of women, children, and travelers. Jizo helps those on the spiritual as well as the physical realm of existence. Chozen, being a pediatrician and child abuse researcher, has trusted in Jizos power to heal emotional pain for a long time. Through making panels, many people expressed that their anger about WWII, the bombings, or war in general began to dissipate.
Anyway, so we had all these Jizos and on July 29th we headed off for Japan! We had a “sweatshop night” two nights before we left, to get all the panels sewn into prayer flags and get nice ribbon borders on for handing out. The night before we left Chozen realized (at 10 pm, mind you) that we didn’t have anything large with the name of the project on it. SO, Chozen and Jogen went to work making a banner. It took them about three hours to make, and then they had to leave it with a fan on to dry the paint (we were leaving at 4 in the morning).
I was up all night sewing. I had been sewing jubans (formal undershirts) for various people, and making one for myself. I was sewing samu-gi (zen duds) out of light weight material for what we heard was a hot and humid climate in Japan. I finished around 2am. I considered going to sleep, but I realized that I would be even more tired and that there would be time on the plane to sleep (approximate travel time = twenty four hours!). Instead of sleeping, I made muffins for those departing and the three folks who would be staying at Great Vow Monastery to tend to all it’s needs (including our 22 year old mutt, Mickey).
4 am came, and people stumbled out with bags and suitcases. Chozen and Hogen were busy doing the last minute packing thing. Jihiken (our coordinator) had told us to be at the airport by no later than 5:45. If you subtract the hour and ten minutes it takes to get to the airport, we needed to leave at 4:35am. 4:15 and no sign of Chozen or Hogen. Shugetsu, Rob, and I decided that, rather than stand around, we would do a grand send off. 108 is a prominent number in Buddhism. In honor of the trip, we hit the large bell and taiko drum in the hallway alternately 108 times. Meanwhile, Rob offered incense in the zendo and performed 108 bows. We left at about 4:40, a timely departure by most monastery standards.
When we got to the airport we began to collect our pilgrims. We got our e-tickets and headed for a little breakfast before our flight. Energy was high for most in the group. Our first stop was San Francisco. We arrived and got a quick bite to eat. Some people exchanged their money before finding out that the exchange rate is better in Japan. Such is life.
I should mention that we received a little booklet (carefully constructed by Jihiken) giving us lots of information about helpful phrases, food items, and the like. On the front cover, in big friendly letters, were the words: Don’t Panic.
Just inside the cover was a message from Hogen about the mind of a pilgrim. Essentially he said that once we set out on a journey as a pilgrim, our job is accept everything that comes to us with appreciation. He stated that we would most likely encounter problems with money, weather, illness, etc. However, if we didn’t complain about it internally and externally, there wouldn’t be a problem. I was one of the people who exchanged their money in San Francisco. Hogen told me that I didn’t get as good a deal on exchanging and I took a moment to be bummed before realizing that it was too late to do anything.
Onward we went to more adventures.
We picked up some more pilgrims in San Francisco. Namely, Tova Green, a priest from Green Gulch Farm, Daigaku…something, an American priest who has trained in Japan for about fifteen years, and Yuji-san, a Japanese priest who trained in Japan and is living and working in San Francisco. Daigaku and Yuji-san came along primarily as translators and to ensure that we didn’t lose too many pilgrims in the midst of our travels.
If you’ve never been on a plane to Japan…woah baby. They treat you like a king or queen. You can watch video footage of what you’re flying over (for us it was mostly clouds), get a full vegetarian meal and hearty snack, play video games (Super Mario 1, 2, and 3!) or watch movies on your personal television, and much more. Given that we were in the air for about twelve hours it was helpful have a number of things to do. I ended up making use of only a small number of these fun distractions, as I was quite tired. I did have a lovely chat with Tsarra (a Portlander, school teacher, Sangha member, friend, etc.) which was the first of many wonderful conversations I had with people during this trip.
When we arrived it felt like coming back to life after hibernation. My sandals no longer fit, on account of the blood accumulated in my feet. In general I felt slightly drugged. We landed in Narita, Tokyo, and we had to deboard and go through customs. I had taken it upon myself to tend to the largest trunk that we had (since my trip was paid for, I felt like part of my way of returning the favor was to be pack-mule). So, I brought my suitcase and this enormous trunk up to the Customs officer. He politely asked if he could see inside my trunk. I knew this would be interesting. I got it up on the table okay and popped the latches. His eyes boggled when he saw all the colorful Jizo quilts neatly packed into the trunk. “Jizo-sama,” I said. He nodded. I smiled. He said I could go. I proceeded to breathe.
We were waiting for our flight to Osaka, so I decided to give people their first cultural experience. Green tea ice cream is amazing, and you can get it virtually anywhere in Japan. I bought a Haggan Daz Green Tea Bar and gave about 15 people a biteful. Ahhhh. On to Osaka, where we got a bus to drive us to the Hanazono Kaikan at the South end of Myoshin-ji (one of the large training temples) in Kyoto. All told, about 24 hours of travel. We met up with our Canadian and German pilgrims,our videographers, and Kaz Tanahashi. Jogen, Rob, Michael O’Neill (one of the other videographers (we had two sets!) and myself shared a room together. The room was barely large enough for our bags and some futons for sleeping, but it was like heaven.
The Kaikan only had Japanese style baths. I explained this phenomena the last time I wrote about Japan, but it’s worth repeating. So, you go into the bath area (where everyone takes baths together) and there’s an area to shave, brush your teeth, and leave your cloths outside of the main bath area. You go in with a towel. Inside it’s slightly steamy, a good heat. You go up to one of the stools and sit on down. There’s a shower nozzle and some soap for scrubbing off any dirt. When you are completely clean you can get into the bath. The “bath tub” is big enough for twenty guys to fit comfortably. Though it is large, it is not deep, about waist height. The room is slightly steamy because the bath is hot, about eighty or ninety degrees. Some baths are extremely hot, and the Japanese like it hot. You can rest your head on your wash cloth, place it on your face to soak up sweat, or put it to the side altogether. You soak and let the stress of the day dissipate. Ahhh, bath time. This was one of my favorite parts of Japan.
Thus ended the first day.
Dear Folks,
Okay, so I’ve just ended one of the longest months of my life. Maybe you don’t believe that time can be longer or shorter. I say time at least seems to go longer if you are in a difficult or boring situation (for most people organic chemistry or surgery would do as a good example).
For those who had no idea what has been going on, I went to Japan! I was there for two weeks. I went with about 35 other folks from the US (mostly Oregon), Canada, and Germany. We went in remembrance of the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We brought with us approximately 500,000 images of Jizo Bodhisattva which we had received from around the world (including Germany, South Africa, Brazil, Australia, El Salvador (thanks Kelly), and many more.
This project stemmed from Chozen’s desire to bring 60 Jizos to Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the 60th anniversary (60 being a prominent year in Asian cultures). She was born on the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, and so her connection to the bombing runs deep. Kaz Tanahashi, a famous calligrapher and peace activist, thought the project was wonderful, and that she should bring 1 Jizo for every person who died in those cities within the first year after the bombing. That was 270,000 people! Kaz suggested that they copy Jizos onto cloth the way that some Japanese people copy the Heart Sutra (one of the most fundamental Buddhist texts), and bring the cloth Jizo panels to Japan. Needless to say it worked.
Why Jizo? Jizo is a prominent figure in Japan. He is seen as the protector of women, children, and travelers. Jizo helps those on the spiritual as well as the physical realm of existence. Chozen, being a pediatrician and child abuse researcher, has trusted in Jizos power to heal emotional pain for a long time. Through making panels, many people expressed that their anger about WWII, the bombings, or war in general began to dissipate.
Anyway, so we had all these Jizos and on July 29th we headed off for Japan! We had a “sweatshop night” two nights before we left, to get all the panels sewn into prayer flags and get nice ribbon borders on for handing out. The night before we left Chozen realized (at 10 pm, mind you) that we didn’t have anything large with the name of the project on it. SO, Chozen and Jogen went to work making a banner. It took them about three hours to make, and then they had to leave it with a fan on to dry the paint (we were leaving at 4 in the morning).
I was up all night sewing. I had been sewing jubans (formal undershirts) for various people, and making one for myself. I was sewing samu-gi (zen duds) out of light weight material for what we heard was a hot and humid climate in Japan. I finished around 2am. I considered going to sleep, but I realized that I would be even more tired and that there would be time on the plane to sleep (approximate travel time = twenty four hours!). Instead of sleeping, I made muffins for those departing and the three folks who would be staying at Great Vow Monastery to tend to all it’s needs (including our 22 year old mutt, Mickey).
4 am came, and people stumbled out with bags and suitcases. Chozen and Hogen were busy doing the last minute packing thing. Jihiken (our coordinator) had told us to be at the airport by no later than 5:45. If you subtract the hour and ten minutes it takes to get to the airport, we needed to leave at 4:35am. 4:15 and no sign of Chozen or Hogen. Shugetsu, Rob, and I decided that, rather than stand around, we would do a grand send off. 108 is a prominent number in Buddhism. In honor of the trip, we hit the large bell and taiko drum in the hallway alternately 108 times. Meanwhile, Rob offered incense in the zendo and performed 108 bows. We left at about 4:40, a timely departure by most monastery standards.
When we got to the airport we began to collect our pilgrims. We got our e-tickets and headed for a little breakfast before our flight. Energy was high for most in the group. Our first stop was San Francisco. We arrived and got a quick bite to eat. Some people exchanged their money before finding out that the exchange rate is better in Japan. Such is life.
I should mention that we received a little booklet (carefully constructed by Jihiken) giving us lots of information about helpful phrases, food items, and the like. On the front cover, in big friendly letters, were the words: Don’t Panic.
Just inside the cover was a message from Hogen about the mind of a pilgrim. Essentially he said that once we set out on a journey as a pilgrim, our job is accept everything that comes to us with appreciation. He stated that we would most likely encounter problems with money, weather, illness, etc. However, if we didn’t complain about it internally and externally, there wouldn’t be a problem. I was one of the people who exchanged their money in San Francisco. Hogen told me that I didn’t get as good a deal on exchanging and I took a moment to be bummed before realizing that it was too late to do anything.
Onward we went to more adventures.
We picked up some more pilgrims in San Francisco. Namely, Tova Green, a priest from Green Gulch Farm, Daigaku…something, an American priest who has trained in Japan for about fifteen years, and Yuji-san, a Japanese priest who trained in Japan and is living and working in San Francisco. Daigaku and Yuji-san came along primarily as translators and to ensure that we didn’t lose too many pilgrims in the midst of our travels.
If you’ve never been on a plane to Japan…woah baby. They treat you like a king or queen. You can watch video footage of what you’re flying over (for us it was mostly clouds), get a full vegetarian meal and hearty snack, play video games (Super Mario 1, 2, and 3!) or watch movies on your personal television, and much more. Given that we were in the air for about twelve hours it was helpful have a number of things to do. I ended up making use of only a small number of these fun distractions, as I was quite tired. I did have a lovely chat with Tsarra (a Portlander, school teacher, Sangha member, friend, etc.) which was the first of many wonderful conversations I had with people during this trip.
When we arrived it felt like coming back to life after hibernation. My sandals no longer fit, on account of the blood accumulated in my feet. In general I felt slightly drugged. We landed in Narita, Tokyo, and we had to deboard and go through customs. I had taken it upon myself to tend to the largest trunk that we had (since my trip was paid for, I felt like part of my way of returning the favor was to be pack-mule). So, I brought my suitcase and this enormous trunk up to the Customs officer. He politely asked if he could see inside my trunk. I knew this would be interesting. I got it up on the table okay and popped the latches. His eyes boggled when he saw all the colorful Jizo quilts neatly packed into the trunk. “Jizo-sama,” I said. He nodded. I smiled. He said I could go. I proceeded to breathe.
We were waiting for our flight to Osaka, so I decided to give people their first cultural experience. Green tea ice cream is amazing, and you can get it virtually anywhere in Japan. I bought a Haggan Daz Green Tea Bar and gave about 15 people a biteful. Ahhhh. On to Osaka, where we got a bus to drive us to the Hanazono Kaikan at the South end of Myoshin-ji (one of the large training temples) in Kyoto. All told, about 24 hours of travel. We met up with our Canadian and German pilgrims,our videographers, and Kaz Tanahashi. Jogen, Rob, Michael O’Neill (one of the other videographers (we had two sets!) and myself shared a room together. The room was barely large enough for our bags and some futons for sleeping, but it was like heaven.
The Kaikan only had Japanese style baths. I explained this phenomena the last time I wrote about Japan, but it’s worth repeating. So, you go into the bath area (where everyone takes baths together) and there’s an area to shave, brush your teeth, and leave your cloths outside of the main bath area. You go in with a towel. Inside it’s slightly steamy, a good heat. You go up to one of the stools and sit on down. There’s a shower nozzle and some soap for scrubbing off any dirt. When you are completely clean you can get into the bath. The “bath tub” is big enough for twenty guys to fit comfortably. Though it is large, it is not deep, about waist height. The room is slightly steamy because the bath is hot, about eighty or ninety degrees. Some baths are extremely hot, and the Japanese like it hot. You can rest your head on your wash cloth, place it on your face to soak up sweat, or put it to the side altogether. You soak and let the stress of the day dissipate. Ahhh, bath time. This was one of my favorite parts of Japan.
Thus ended the first day.
posted at 7:33 PM
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