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