M.K.

Now that Temple Stay is over, I feel like a different person

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Ogu Osho and everyone at Fukugonji Temple for taking the time out of their busy schedules to welcome us to their temple stay and provide us with guidance.
I can’t put it into words well, so I’ll just write down my impressions from the 6-day temple stay in bullet points.

Through my interactions with everyone at Fukugon-ji Temple and the Zen pilgrims, it was a 6-day period in which I once again realized how foolish I am as a young person.
We may feel amazing when we see or hear someone’s actions or words, or we may feel guilty because of idle thoughts or arrogant feelings that arise within ourselves, or we may constantly look at what is happening around us and how we are changing in response to it. , I felt that. Normally, whenever I had free time, I would look at my smartphone and enjoy some kind of content, but I never looked at reality and myself head-on. There was a part of me that was afraid of facing reality, and I was running away from it. It was very comforting to look at my surroundings, look at myself, feel the good and bad, and honestly feel gratitude and reflect, and it was a quiet healing experience. When I realized that I was a foolish young person, I would normally have looked for excuses or become excessively depressed. However, in this temple stay, we have created a vessel to simply accept it. Normally, I was the type of person who would drag everything down and get depressed, but during this period, even if I made a mistake, I didn’t get depressed, I calmly reflected on it, and I was able to change things quickly.

I have learned a lot from my uchideshi, and I have also learned a lot from watching their behavior. I can’t thank you enough for your guidance on how to clean, how to eat, how to prepare when doing something, the meaning of sutras, and where I was lacking.
When I saw her dignified appearance, her beautiful and streamlined movements, and her straightened spine, I felt like I wanted to be like her.
I learned a lot from his sermons, his responses to the Zen worshipers, and his small remarks, which have stayed with me.

To be honest, on the first day, I felt very anxious as the Zen participants were young and old, men and women, of different nationalities and values. However, that was only the beginning, and I have received a lot of help and learning from each and every one of them, and now I am filled with gratitude and respect. There were so many people who said “thank you” to me for everything I did, no matter how small, and I realized that this is what “fuse” and “love language” mean.

At first, there were some things that were difficult for me to accept (I wasn’t good at doing five-body throws or cleaning toilets of the opposite sex), but as the days passed, I was able to do it with gratitude. When I interviewed him, I felt that it was a hassle to wake up in the morning and go to the building to go to the washroom, etc., but as soon as I woke up in the morning, I was in a quiet mountain, looking at the sky that was starting to turn white and the trees towering high. It was a very luxurious and comfortable time to walk.

When I chanted the sutras with everyone in the majestic main hall, it was a strange feeling, as if everyone, myself, the space, and the sounds had become one.
When I did the five-body throw and chanted sutras during the morning session, I felt motivated to do my best again today, and during the evening session, I felt grateful for the day as well. Similarly, the Gokan verse before the meal created a feeling of gratitude towards the food and the people involved in it.
I hardly understand the meaning of the sutra that I recited this time. I will continue to read the sutras at home while researching their meanings, and I will work hard every day so that one day I will be able to truly understand the words rather than just tracing the words.

I have a very extreme personality, and I thought that no matter how hard I was on myself, it would never be enough. However, when I heard the teachings of the “middle path,” which says that you can’t do too much, and you can’t do too little, I was both surprised and reassured that this is true.
At Temple Stay, there was a clear contrast between working hard and resting, tension and relaxation, and I learned the tricks of the middle path through practice.

Now that Temple Stay is over, I feel like a different person. I was always afraid of people and lived my life feeling guilty and sorry for the world, but now I’m no longer afraid of anyone around me and I’ve come to accept myself even though I’m no good. I think this is because of my life at the temple and the teachings that Daigu-sama taught me at the dojo, “The mind and body are connected.” Even when I started to feel anxious, by practicing the image training at the dojo, I became calmer and more at ease.

I’m a lazy and weak-willed person, so I think there will be many moments in the future when I want to be lazy.
Even on days like these, I remember that everyone at Fukugon-ji Temple wakes up at 4 a.m. and works to the best of their ability, and that the Zentomo who participated in Temple Stay with me this time are also working hard all over the world, and I want to live my life to the fullest. think. Thank you very much for your help for 6 days.