Japan Ho!!

Three more sleeps to departure... on an adventure that is well overdue. The culmination of pouring heart and soul into work, achieving related pecuniary and quality goals... in combination with the slow realisation that there has to be more to life than... well, than work.

Perhaps reading too much of Osho's works is to blame for the growing disquiet and feeling of discontent. This brought on the proverbial Aha! moment that was heart felt rather than intellectual. Society conditions us to behave in accepted ways - not for the good of the individual, or for the good of the person, or the spirit or the soul... but in a rather stifling manner ostensibly for the good of the collective, but largely for the benefit of a select few who gain from the rest of us behaving like mindless morons who have lost touch with the essence of self, individuality, independent thought and self expression.

So - I'm hopping of the self-perpetuated hamster wheel of life and freelance writing for a while.

I'm taking three months off the walk the 88 Temple route around Shikoku island in Japan. Solo. With backpack, sleeping bag, tent...

I'm mindful that the answers I seek are within, and that I don't really have to travel to distant and exotic lands to find my essence and personal answers. But am equally aware that if I extricate myself from the comfort zone of my hamster wheel it will be easier to break the cycle or habit.

I'm also aware that I enter the zone of meditation or personal awareness best when moving - which is why tai chi resonates so well with me - and there will be plenty of moving - just the pack, the road, and me... and what better route to follow than a traditional Buddhist pilgrimage, imbued with energy, and visit the temples on the way and become one with the heart sutra which is said twice (one at each of the temple halls) at each temple.

I fly out early Sunday afternoon (via Sydney) and land in Tokyo in early on Oct 6th, and spend the night with a friend of Bob's in the outskirts (2 hours by train) of Tokyo. Oct 7th I catch the overnight bus to Osaka and on the 8th make my way to to Mount Koya.

I will spend two nights on Mount Koya, staying at one of the temples - getting ready both mentally and in terms of the gear that pilgrims (henro) need.

Oct 10th - I start walking... and thats what I'll be doing for many days. Walking.

My route takes me down from Mt Koya to the coastal city of Wakayama (estimated 2 days walking), then by ferry across to Shikoku island, and then another day to walk up to Temple 1.

The plan is then to visit the 88 temples (in the correct order - no short cuts) as well as the 20 Bangai (additional unnumbered) temples, returning to Temple one to complete that mandala or circuit; and then to walk back up to Mount Koya to complete that mandala too.

I'm not enjoying the process of packing. In a way it is a process of letting go, handing over control... there is no way to know what I will actually need, or to be prepared for every eventuality - and trying to do so is impossible, but I find it hard to stop trying.