Book Review: Eat Sleep Sit: My Year at Japan’s Most Rigorous Zen Temple

By Kaoru Nonomura – Translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter.

For anyone who has ever considered becoming a Zen monk this account is a serious wake up call to the rigours that novitiates at Eiheiji Temple in Fukui Prefecture, one of two main temples of the Sōtō school of Zen Buddhism, have to endure.

Founded by Dōgen in 1244 its claim that Dōgen was in residence at Eiheiji tends to outshine its rival Sōjiji, the other main Sōtō school of Zen with which it tends to compete, which is located in Tsurumi near Tōkyō, though in spite of the ‘rivalry’ those undergoing zuise training to complete their

Book Review: Japanese Stone Gardens: Origins, Meaning, Form

Written by Stephen Mansfield with a foreword by Donald Richie!

With a foreword by the formidable Donald Ritchie, in itself a recommendation, the Japanese Stone Gardens is divided into two parts. The first covers the pivotal points during the development of the Japanese dry landscape garden (kare-sansui), often referred to these days as a Zen garden. It explains how this developed from the pre-animistic use of stones as markers of space to their use as connections to the natural world and the landscape, their use as mystical vectors with which to communicate with the Gods, the influence of Korea and China, their eventual

Shodo (Japanese Calligraphy) Master Shoho Teramoto & The Enso Of Zen

Japanese calligraphy is an art-form that can reveal the depth of enlightenment and the personality of the artist!

Many of us are familiar with Japanese calligraphy.  Although we may not know the meaning of a particular character, its formation is instantly recognisable as being a symbol of the Far East which in itself is just a communication tool.  However, as the calligrapher forms a spiritual union with his/her brush and ink it then becomes known as ‘Shodo’, meaning to express the

Film Review: KanZeOn – A Celebration of Buddhism And Music

Flows like a stream of serenity, gently and naturally going from one sequence to the next!

Zen Buddhism has influenced many Japanese art forms, including the tea ceremony, calligraphy, martial arts and music. It is the latter in which KanZeOn, another word for Kanon the Buddhist goddess of compassion, she who hears the cries of the world, and written as