Wakayama and Mie,
Japan
Monday, June 5, 2006
Last week Akira and I went on a short trip outside of Kyoto reminiscent of those we used to take together two years ago. On the first day, we headed for Koya-san, the most important site for Sengushu Buddhism. This area has almost a thousand years of history of Buddhism attached to it, with literally hundreds of temples. The Daimon (Large Gate) is the starting point towards the main temple, about 4 kilometers away. For the last 3o minutes, the pathway to the temple cuts through an ancient cemetery whose stones are set in the midst of a magical forest. The old tombstones were alive with green moss and I began to imagine the many, many generations of lives commemerated in this place. The usually solid line between my individual human existence and the collective existence of humanity slowly faded as we went farther and farther along the pathway. No words were necessary as we both silently took in the sensations of this ancient spot. And why is it that we are so attached to this particular individual memory?? And yet, alhtough I recognize that my individual existence will end just as all human lives have ended before me, I am still grateful for this particular perspective.The amazing, driving force to create, differntiate, evolve seems to laugh in the face of death. Maybe this is because this force goes beyond the individual-- it connects us, although we surely express it in very differnt ways.
