Tenryu-ji Zen Temple and the Hogon-in Temple



Kyoto is the land of shrines and temples - there are over 1600 of them. When I left the Bamboo Grove it was in a torrential downpour. I was absolutely soaked through but decided to walk past the town to get to the train. I'm already wet so I  visited two Buddhist temples along the way. There are plenty of Shinto shrines in Kyoto but there seem to be as many Buddhist temples. I came at the right time because many are open to the public right now so I'm taking advantage of that.


The clouds were hanging low over the mountain which made the greens stand out against the soft grays and beige of the clouds and stone.


The Tenryu-ji Temple is the most important temple in this district and is ranked first among the city's five great zen temples. It was established in 1339 (and we think our country has history) and the garden that surrounds the Temple has survived the centuries in its original form.


 It's just magic!


It was tempting to hop a ride in the rickshaw. I didn't meander through the temple grounds as much as I would have wanted because it was just so wet and messy.
 Along one lane were statues of the 500 disciples of Buddha


Just past these wonderful statues (that all had such incredible expressions) was an entrance to the gardens of Hogon-in Temple, considered the child temple of Tenryu-ji. It was established in 1461 and is famous for its landscape garden. If it had not been a torrential downpour at this point, I would have sat and meditated in this magnificent garden. This was one of the loveliest places I have every visited. Although I didn't meditate, I felt calm and centered and cleansed.





 A rock pond




It was raining so hard at one point I'm amazed I was able to take any defined photos at all.
 The tea garden



 Perfection

You can see the rain pouring off of the roof in the picture above.



Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. - Buddha


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Last Day in Kyoto! Go big or go home!

Image
Technically I'm doing both...I'm going big AND I'm going home. Last full day in Japan! Can you believe it? I've been here for 3 weeks. In some ways it feels much longer than that because I have done SO MUCH! What an incredible adventure I've been on and today was no different. I tried to sleep in but my internal clock is set for 5:30-6:00 a.m. and that didn't change in Japan. I had breakfast and was out the door early to beat the heat and the crowds. Since everything I wanted to do today was within 1-2 miles from the hotel, I didn't take any public transportation today. I just walked it. Do you remember the walk I took the first day in Kyoto? That's the direction I headed to see my final two destinations. It was so quiet and tranquil...no hordes of tourists to make my way through. There it is, Hokan-ji Temple, aka the Yasaka Pagoda. It is 46 meters tall (that's about 151 feet) and it's only about a 10 minute walk from the inn. Init
Read more

It's a wrap!

Image
You know when you come home from a vacation or you've been gone for a longer time? Does it feel like it was all a dream? Maybe it's the jet lag but it feels like I dreamt the whole thing. Was I really in Japan for 3 weeks? As many of you know, my return on Air Canada was quite the fail. From when I left Kyoto to when I got home, it took 45 hours. I took the Shinkansen Bullet Train from Kyoto to Tokyo Station early because I wanted to make sure I had enough time to get to the Narita Express. Tokyo Station is massive with more than 3000 trains going in and out each day. It has all of these areas and levels and I'm glad I had the time to figure out where the hell I was going. I then took another amazing train straight to Narita Airport. All went smoothly! Got to the airport relatively early to mail some postcards and return my pocket wi-fi system I had used the entire 3 weeks. I totally recommend anyone getting one of these when they travel abroad instead of hunting dow
Read more

Nishiki Market - Kyoto's Kitchen

Image
Berenice, a fellow teacher from the Lesson Study Project, is also visiting Kyoto so we decided to meet up and visit the famous 400 year old Nishiki Market. This market is a treasure trove of everything food related and more! Prepare yourselves for a food ride (similar to my food posts in Taiwan). There are easily over 100 food stalls that offer local products and food. The place is MASSIVE! If you look closely you can see that the market goes on and on and on. Those little babies are tiny octopus that have been stuffed with an entire hard boiled quail egg. Of course I had to eat one. It was yummy!!! Those are little cuttlefish below, also with an egg inside. EAT NOW OK!! Berenice ate a cricket (in the bowl above) along with pickled something or other. The Japanese take pickled items seriously and I totally LOVE it all.  Fish....it's everywhere! If you don't like fish, Japan isn't the place for you!  There is so much specificity in shops in
Read more