Buddhism in Japan
Mood:  special
Sunday afternoon on a lazy day in Japan. It's been raining all morning. This afternoon, Yokoyama-sensei was so gracious to drive down the mountain and pick me up. She took me to her home and newly built Tendai temple just above my apartment. She is a true inspiration and we got to pray together in her temple and then sit and drink tea and converse. I got just a taste of her truly remarkable life. First as a married woman with children teaching Japanese to foreigners with the YWCA. She amazingly found Buddhism by studying the Bible. It's a long story but she is now a married woman, Buddhist monk, with her own temple (the only Tendai temple in Nishinomiya). The temple which she built herself just two years ago sits next to a wonderful old 3-story home that houses her sister and husband, herself and her parents. I feel so honored and lucky to be able to talk with someone who is living the Buddhist tradition so thoroughly. I hope to attend some services at her temple in the future. They are on the 1st and 18th of every month, so I must watch for when these dates fall on a weekend so that I can go. wow.