A photo essay of a 1000+ kilometre pilgrimage through Shikoku, Japan, to the 88 Buddhist temples. Personal backpacking perspectives.
Tag: japan pilgrimage walk
Henro Afterward: Mount Koya Oct. 15
There is an old saying that upon entering the sea of Buddhist truth, even the smallest fish is instantly transformed into a great dragon. Monastic disciples upon entering the Dragon Gate at Eiheiji, one of the two Soto Zen headquarters in Japan, are transformed into dragons, and when he finishes training and re-enters the world, he goes back to being a fish. – Kaoru Nonomura (Eat Sleep Sit p. 27) It’s October 15, and I’ve left the swimming world of fish for a day to wrap up my Shikoku pilgrimage at Koya-san (Mount Koya), the headquarters of the Shingon sect of…
Henro Afterword
If you’ve gotten this far, I thank you for reading my posts, whether one or all. Since I limited myself to 2000 words for most posts, there are many thoughts left unsaid, significances left unelaborated. I will address some of them below. I am writing this in the land of pilgrimages. Every year in India, some 100 million people make a pilgrimage, whether Hindu, Jain, Muslim, or even Christian. Every year, for 40 days, an estimated 50 million men (women menstruating between the ages of 12-50 are unclean and cannot participate) take off their shoes to trek through the Periyar Tiger Reserve…
Henro: Foreword
I was adrift, bobbing along with nothing on the horizon. Imagining the potential challenges, I realised how little I knew about myself. Yet, that only made me want to find out.
