The Meditating Monk Kobo Dashi

Today started as a travel day: up relatively early to start our train journeys to Koyasane. The trip consisted of a variety of metro and bullet trains. At one of the train stations I notice Mark (Mambo) has picked up some breakfast, specifically a mega muffin from Maccies. I have never had a MacDonalds breakfast before, but watching Mambo dig in is making me rather jealous. In fact I am not the only one: there are quite a few of us getting jealous of this combination of bread, egg, cheese and meat. I get lucky, Mambo has bought Sarah one as well and she isn’t hungry so I get to share it with Katie, one of the Guernsey Girls… and Katie gives me most of it! All in all it is not a bad start to the day. Normally not the biggest fan of Maccies but have to say that mega muffin hit the spot.

After quite a bit of travel the group makes it to Koyasan, a beautiful town in the mountains, and we are loaded into buses to be driven to the temple where we are spending the night. Koyasan is a deeply religious area and is considered extremely important to the Buddhist faith within Japan. This town is just a few kilometres square but over the years has been home to hundreds of different temples and shrines. The group’s first stop is to a restaurant in town; Rachel has suggested we get a rather large meal in case we don’t enjoy our dinner in the temple, as it will be the same as what the monks are eating. I get a hamburger curry which is rather nice and plenty filling, so I won’t have to rely on dinner.

After our lunch we get to the temple and it is time for our guided meditation, something I am told by those in the group would probably do me some good although they doubt I can stay still and quiet for fifteen minutes. I have to say I am wondering that myself. Nonetheless our group makes its way over to one of the larger buildings in the temple complex and join various other people sitting on round cushions on the floor. Shortly after one of the monks takes his seat at the front, he begins by telling us how to correctly sit, with variations for those that need it. Once everyone is seated, in some cases not so comfortably, the monk tells us a little of the history and importance of meditation he ends the lesson by guiding us into a silent meditation for fifteen minutes. I have to say, although I found some of instructions a little confusing, like thumbs touching but not touching and eye shut but not shut, I really enjoyed it. I think myself and many others forget the importance of sometimes taking some time to just sit, relax and take a few minutes to check in on yourself.

After the cemetery the group splits into various groups, many going to bed early. I go for a wander accompanied by Rachel and we have a nice chat and share a hot tea from one of the many vending machines in Japan that do hot drinks. It was a lovely evening. I then head back to my room where, sleeping on the floor, I snuggle in between Luke and Stephen.

After meditation it is time for dinner and I have to be honest the group isn’t overly keen going in. We are having a traditionally prepared monks dinner, it is of course vegan and Rachel has told us no matter how hard she tries to get them to tell her what they are serving they never say anything other than vegan and they change it every time she is here. Buddhists believe above all else in balance and minimalism, so their meals represent this. The meal is combination of different bite-sized bits that equal the different flavour profiles – sweet, sour, salty, bitter, spicy, umami, texture and temperature. I struggle if I am honest, especially with tofu, I am really not a fan of that stuff. It is about this time I am extremely thankful for Mambo for my mega muffin and Rachel for taking us to the restaurant for lunch as, although I have tried a little bit of almost everything on my plate, I have eaten the equivalent of about two mouthfuls of food. I have always had my doubts but its confirmed I couldn’t be a Buddhist monk!

Mambo's mega muffin from Maccies

After the dinner we having something I am very much looking forward to: a guided tour of the Okunoin Cemetery, the largest cemetery in Japan. This cemetery is located next to the temple we are staying in on the sacred mountain founded by Kobo Daishi. Kobo Daishi is a famous monk who lived over a thousand years ago. According to Buddhist belief, Kobo Daishi is still alive in his mausoleum in an incredibly intense and long lasting deep meditation. Kobo Daishi did lots of good during his life and when an old man is said to have entered the mausoleum to meditate, 90 years later he was checked on by one monk who found him still meditating with incredibly long hair and beard which he trimmed and then bathed and redressed the Kobo Daishi before shutting him back in to the mausoleum to meditate in peace. Since then no one has entered the mausoleum but he is believed to be still in meditation and when he awakes he will help those within the cemetery to reach enlightenment. It is a great tour – we learn about many things, which tends to happen when you have a monk showing you around. Things like how expecting mothers come here to pray for their future children’s good health and add little red hats and bibs to certain statues as a form of prayer. We learn that Panasonic have a spot here for those high level executives who have dedicated their lives to the company, we also learn that there aren’t bodies kept here; the tombs only contain a single section of the spine which is the throat bone, the rest of their body is either cremated or laid to rest nearer to home or relatives. However, I think the favourite thing I learnt is that this cemetery, although deeply important to Buddhists and home to one of their most important religious figures, you don’t have to be Buddhist to be buried here. Anyone who follows the basic tenants of Buddhist life, no matter their religion or lack of, is welcome. Anyone who did their best to leave the world a better place than they found it and had an evidenced belief in attempting to reach zen and enlightenment, in other words inner peace – not a bad goal if you ask me!