Buddhist Service . Okunoin . Spa World . Dōtonbori . Fugu . Spas

Jamie and I wake up early this morning. A buddhist service begins at 7AM, and we don't want to miss it... although I hate getting up early, and I'm at my worst in the mornings. I knock on Khanh's door, and he gets ready to go as well. He tells me that Quoc is planning on sleeping in.

We head our way down the hall into the Buddhist area, uneven floorboards creaking between our feet in the quiet and gray morning. The prayer room is a large room which smells strongly of incense. We are shown into the back area, and provided with a few flat cushions for the session. Someone flips a switch and all these small lanterns suspended from the low ceiling light up. Monks scurry in and out of the room, lighting incense, spreading offerings in front of buddhist altars. After a while a bunch of them file in, and a head monk occurs. He is flanked by two other high-ranking monks, distinguished by their more ornate garb. One of them is the one who showed us into the rooms yesterday.

The ceremony featured a lot of mumbly rumbly buddhist chanting, with some readings from texts. It was a difficult 30-45 minutes to sit through, as my legs intermittently went numb from kneeling, crossing, sitting M-shaped, and various other positions that we alternated between to stay comfortable. Several times during the ceremony the thought crossed my mind that probably Quoc had the right idea. The monks themselves appeared never to move from their kneeling positions. I suppose years of practice allowed them to stretch the nerves out to prevent ischemia, or at least conferred upon them the ability to make small adjustments to relieve tension on them. Every once in a while, you hear about overzealous neophyte practitioners of eastern religion who develop peroneal neuropathies and foot drops as a result of intense meditation and ignoring signals sent to them from their tingling body parts.

After the ceremony was over, the monk gave us a short tour of the prayer room, showing us various small altars, explaining the historical and religious significance of the statues and sacred relics stowed away in various places throughout the room. I think I understood less than 25% of his explanations, but his enthusiasm and educational goodwill was 100% evident.

Soon afterwards he showed us into a tatami room where he said breakfast would be served. Two other caucasian guests were there at a separate "table". The monk asked about Quoc, and we told him that he was fast asleep. To which, he asked one of us to get him. I volunteered, ran over to his room, and knocked on the door... however, he had every intention of staying in his warm futon and skipping the meager vegetarian breakfast, and my attempts at persuasion were met with stubborn rebuttals. Coming back to the room in defeat, I explained to the monk that he wished to skip breakfast. So then, he went personally to encourage him to come to breakfast. 10 minutes later, as we started digging into our rice and vegetables, the shojo door slid open and in stepped a sleepy, tousle-haired Quoc, looking a bit sheepish. I suppose you can say no to a friend whom you know well, but not to strangers under whose roof you are sleeping.

We finished breakfast, then headed back to our rooms where we cleaned up. Our plan was to stow our luggage at the front, and use the morning to stroll around the mountain village. While Quoc showered, Jamie and I stepped out into the temple garden from our room, using the slippers we found at the garden door. The morning was cold and misty, the skies were gray, and moisture permeated the air. The garden was carefully sculpted as typical for Japanese gardens. An artificial brook, a thatch gazebo, and several stone torii broke up the meticulously trimmed and mowed green bushes and grass. A small mountain rose behind the garden, covered with trees, its peak blurred from the fog. Jamie really liked this place. Now that I think about it, I can't imagine her family coming to a place like this on their own, or any westerners for that matter who aren't seriously interested about Japanese culture and Buddhism. We took several pictures here before heading back in.