Contemplation

Thursday, August 23rd - Kyoto

After leaving Osaka Castle, the group road the bus to Kyoto. We'll be staying in Kyoto for the next three days. Kyoto used to be the site of the Imperial Palace. While the Emperor was mainly a figurehead during the Shogunate, he was the Japanese peoples' religious leader. As a result Kyoto has a TON of shrines and temples, over 1,600 added together.

The first place we visited as the Ryoanji Temple, a Buddhist temple that has one of the oldest rock gardens in Japan. Three monks tend the guarden, which is used as a part of the training. Zen Buddhism stressing activity over simple meditation.

The rock guardian has 15 stones set into its gravel. One is supposed to sit and view the garden and meditate on what the rocks represent. The problem is that you can only see 14 of the rocks from any given vantage point. This is done on purpose, and is supposed to a demonstration of human limitation.