Picking Megumi and Hikaru up at the Ike-ga-naru bus stop, September 12th 2013
Bringing the kids to the school in the morning and picking them up again in the afternoon is also part of my job.
Work in the Zen garden and in the vegetable garden behind the main hall, September 12th 2013
Today is a regular (nyojo) day. Shoko from Germany, who designed the garden behind the mainhall, and Jisui from Singapore plant new stuff, while harvesting is done in the vegetable field close by. The net that covers the vegetable field was donated by fishers in Hmasaka and serves to protect the summer vegetables from crows.
Snake eating a lizard at Antaiji、September 11th 2013
Filmed by Ellie from Australia. This is the mating season of snakes, they can be seen everywhere:
Tenzo makes breakfast on a free day, September 11th 2013
The schedule at Antaiji does not depend on the week day, but rather the day of the month. From the 1st to 5th each month was sesshin, when we sat all day long. On the 6th was a free day. After that, the schedule changes depending on a five day cycle: The first three days, 7th to 9th, are regular “nyojo” days where we sat zazen in the mornign and evening for two hours each, and do agicultural work during the day time. the fourtth day in the cycle (10th) was a obe day sesshin, and after that, there is a free day again. That means that we have free days on the 6th, 11th, 16th, 21st, 26th and last day of each month. there are sesshins from the 1st to 5th, and then again on the 10th, 15th, 20th and 25th. The other days are the days where we do samu during the day.
Normally, breakfast would be at 6am, but today, as it is a free day, the camera observes the cooks during meal preparation at uarter past 6.
Werner Penzel and Ayako Mogi from Nomadomura visit Antaiji, September 10th 2013
Today was a one-day sesshin. After the tea meeting at the end of the sesshin, Werner and Ayako arrived from Awajishima, an island in the south of Hyogo prefecture. Werner explains about their film project that will start in November.
http://www.nomadomura.net/nomadomura/index.html
Work in the rice field, September 9th 2013
For the first time this month the sun has come out. We continue to raise the rice plants that fell over during sesshin.
Dharma talk in Kinosaki-Onsen, September 8th 2013
Raining since the early morning. Today’s samu was chopping would, making tomato puree and raising the fallen rice plants. I went to Kinosaki-Onsen, a hot spring town about one and a half hours away. The car had a puncture on the way, but I was just in time to participate in a small tea ceremony before the talk. Was invited to enter the hot spring after the talk, but had to leave eraly to do shopping for the monastery.
Antaiji forest group meets to discuss tree cutting, September 7th 2013
Group leader Eko, Tsukan from Oregon and Yudai, a rikshaw driver from Asakusa meet with Muho to discuss a government sponsored project that involves felling trees around Antaiji. Gusho, a Japanese monk who is laso part of the so called “Antaiji forest group”, was tenzo in the kitchen on this day.
During the next three years, we will cut dead pine trees, fell cedar and cypress trees (to be used in the kitchen and boiler stoves, as well as in the wood stove for heating during the winter) as well as the bamboo groves that keep extending around Antaiji.
Antaiji’s rice fields, September 6th 2013
Today is the free day after the 5-day sesshin at the beginning of September. Muho exlains in Japanese about the rice, some of which have fallen over because of the taifuns that passed during the sesshin. Other work planned for this month includes harvesting the sweet potatoes that can be seen behind the second rice field.
This month at Antaiji: August 2013
You are looking at the new Antaiji Homepage. It will need refining here and there, but in the long run this will be our official “window” to the world. Have fun checking it out!
Muho was away doing sesshins in Europe until the middle of August. Carrots, daikon radish, chinese cabbage and buckwheat will be sewn out during the summer, to be harvest before the winter. A lot of grass cutting and weeding is done during this season as well.
After the end of summer, a number of new, motivated practioners will join us for the autumn season.
Video about the “wabi sabi” aspect of Japanese culture: http://youtu.be/5aLc7pF8eHs?t=30m45s: