Monks, Meditation and Monasteries: 5 Days in Koyasan

Monks, Meditation and Monasteries: 5 Days in Koyasan

For 5 days and 4 nights, I stayed in the Koyasan (Mt. Koya) area of Japan, the center of Shingon Buddhism. The thing to do here, besides visiting the multitude of Buddhist temples, is to stay at one (or two, in my case). Temple lodging, or Shukubo offers guests a taste of a monk’s lifestyle, eating vegetarian (vegan, actually) monk’s cuisine (shojin ryori) and attending the morning ritual and prayers. Around fifty

Jen’s favorite country: Japan

Jen’s favorite country: Japan

Japan is the closest thing to a utopia to me; in many ways it’s the perfect place for me to be. It’s my favorite country so far and that’s certainly saying something, as I’ve visited more than 18 countries (and counting). I loved Japan so much that the two weeks we spent here in April weren’t enough. I came back to stay for the entire month of September. Japan does