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9784770030757

Eat Sleep Sit My Year at Japan's Most Rigorous Zen Temple

by ;
  • ISBN13:

    9784770030757

  • ISBN10:

    4770030754

  • Format: Hardcover
  • Copyright: 2009-04-01
  • Publisher: Kodansha USA
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Summary

At the age of thirty, Kaoru Nonomura left his family, his girlfriend, and his job as a Tokyo designer to undertake a year of ascetic training at Eiheiji, one of the most rigorous Zen monasteries in Japan and head temple of the Soto sect of Buddhism. This book is Nonomura's account of that year, and his quietly determined quest to imbue his life with spiri-tual meaning.Shocking, moving, insightful, funny, and warm, Eat Sleep Sit is a warts-and-all story of the life of a novice Buddhist monk, grappling not just with the day-to-day mysteries of Buddhist practice-how to eat, how to sleep, how to sit-but with fear, exhaustion, hunger, and loneliness.A bestseller in Nonomura's native Japan, this beautifully written and inspiring memoir is a fascinating insight into a life of hardship that few people could endure. Eat Sleep Sit will appeal to all those with an interest in Zen Buddhism and to anyone with an interest in the story of one ordinary man's search for spiritual enlightenment.Disillusioned with the rat race, thirty-year-old Tokyo salaryman Kaoru Nonomura gives it all up to spend a year at Ja-pan's strictest and most revered training monastery, Eiheiji.Deep in the mountains of remote Fukui Prefecture, trainee monks live a life of hardship that few could endure: the physical agony of hours of seated meditation, lack of sleep, meager diet, and a punishing schedule of physical labor, against a background of threats and beatings from superiors. Yet Nonomura's account of his year at Eiheiji is full of warmth, humor, and gratitude, and as we follow his journey, we discover with him the courage to affirm the past and the joy of living mindfully in the present.

Author Biography


Born in 1959, Nonomura traveled widely in China and Tibet as a young man. He worked as a designer before his year at Eiheiji. After his year there, he returned to his design job, and it was on the daily crowded train commute to work that he began to scribble his recollections of his Eiheiji experience, and these scribblings eventually became Eat Sleep Sit, the author's only book.

Table of Contents


CONTENTS

PART ONE: The End and the Beginning
Resolve ..11
Jizo Cloister ..17
Dragon Gate ..25
Main Gate ..29
Temporary Quarters ..34
Lavatory ..38
Facing the Wall ..46
Buddha Bowl ..47
Evening Service ..53
Evening Meal ..56
Night Sitting ..61
PART TWO: Etiquette Is Zen
Morning Service ...69
Morning Meal ..74
Cleaning the Corridors ... 81
Dignified Dress ... 84
Washing the Face ..89
Verses ..96
Noon ..97
Stick ..103
PART THREE: Alone in the Freezing Dark
Entering the Hall ..111
Monks' Hall ..115
Common Quarters ..120
Wake-up Bell ..129
Bell Tower ..133
Self-reflection ..143
Food Server ..150
Monks' Food ..153
Shaving the Head ..159
Daikan ..164
Hunger ..169
PART FOUR: The Passage of Time
Escape ..177
Registration Ceremony ..180
First Bath ..185
Beginning Intensive Training ..189
Manual Labor ..195
Penance ..201
Main Lecture ..207
Transfer ..211
PART FIVE: The Source of the Warmth of Life
New Job ..219
Sales ..223
Distribution of Goods ..229
Guest Pavilion ..233
Inspection ..238
Washrags ..242
Ending Intensive Training ..247
PART SIX: The Colors of the Peak, the Echo in the Valley
Attendant to the Director ..253
Conference Room ..256
In Attendance ..259
Morning Session ..263
Incense Bearer ..267
Preparations for Winter ..271
Intensive Sitting ..275
Year-end Cleaning ..280
New Year's Day ..283
New Arrivals ..286
Just Sit ..290
Departure Survey ..294
Leaving ..300
Afterword to the Japanese First Edition ..311
Afterword to the Japanese Paperback Edition ..315
Notes ..323

Supplemental Materials

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

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