Today morning two ladies came to my temple to practice Zazen. Both are teachers of high school, one is Japanese and the other is American. The Japanese mailed me according to my web site and I arranged the date.
First I asked, “Should I explain in English?” The American lady, named Rebecca was little bit surprised, “Wow”. She seemed not to imagine, a Japanese monk living in the country mountain can speak English.
She came to Japan in August and does not know not only Zazen, but also Japanese so much. I had to speak English until they leaved. It was challenging for me, but a lot of fun.
I have explained how to practice Zazen in English once. It is sometimes difficult to translate technical terms of Zen or Buddhism. But I found a magic sentense to explain every thing – “Like this.” Very easy! By this they understood Zazen and started 30 minutes’ sitting.
Zazen is a kind of meditation, but I noticed them to try not to think anything. It is very important point of Zazen to get nothing-ness.
After 30 minutes Zazen was over, but they could not stand up soon because their legs are paralized;
Drinking green tee, we talked much about religion, culture, and philosophy. She was curious and asked many questions. “Why does Hikikomori happen in Japan?”, “Do you practice Zazen every day?(No!)”, “What is the Japanese logic?” and so on. It was pity I could not find the word “Confucian”(in Japanese Ju-kyou).
Two hours passed very quickly. They said, “It was very interesting and We want to come again.” “Come again, you are always welcome!” This is the speech I used to listen from many kind families in India.