Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye: A Journey (26 page)

D
gen returned with this newfound insight into Buddhism and began to teach it to other monks. His following grew, and in 1244 he founded the great monastery of Eiheiji. Though his life continued to be marked by political struggles with priests on Mount Hiei and at court, D
gen was able to build a formidable following and to leave behind numerous writings. A typical D
gen saying includes this line: “To practice the Way single heartedly is, in itself, enlightenment. There is no gap between practice and enlightenment and daily life.” This stripped-down Buddhist aesthetic pervades all aspects of S
t
Zen. Most S
t
Zen temples eschew the fantastic sculptures of bodhisattvas with their jewelry and fluttering robes. Instead, Zen emphasizes rock gardens, green-tea caffeine-infused meditation, and single-mindedness.

Japan’s fierce and self-effacing medieval warriors often became followers of Zen. As these soldiers helped to expand Japan’s boundaries farther and farther to the northeast, they took their love of Zen with them. The practical, rugged nature of Zen became extremely popular with the residents of T
hoku, where it remains a majority religion even today.

SEVEN

S
ITTING
T
OGETHER

T
WO TEMPLES ADMINISTER THE
bureaucracy that governs S
t
Zen in Japan today: Eiheiji and S
jiji. The latter is located in Tsurumi, a neighborhood on the outskirts of the City of Yokohama. The unpretentious Tsurumi train station is flanked by a liquor store, a discount clothing shop, and a McDonald’s; you would not know that one of Japan’s great centers of religious training is a few minutes’ walk away. But not too far in the distance, you can see a cluster of evergreen trees on a gently rising hill. Walk a few steps up this hill, and you can make out the eaves of a temple roof jutting out between the branches of the trees.

There are twelve structures at S
jiji. Each is mammoth, with powerful, swooping rooflines that occupy much of the sky, like a flock of bold ravens stretching their wings. Japanese temples project an atmosphere of tense grandeur that I haven’t experienced in the stone churches and cathedrals of Europe, with their spires and domes. In a Japanese temple, it’s as if the roof itself, with its flexing and stretching, is asking you to remember to stand up straight.