See the Monks at Eiheiji Zen Temple
Nestling a thick mountainside forest with Buddhist monks silently passing by, Eiheiji Temple is a quintessential Japanese experience. The sense of calm, the stunning beauty, the confusion about exactly when to wear shoes, slippers or just socks: it’s all here.
Eiheiji is a working monastery. Monks live, eat, sleep, wash and pray here, and you’ll see many of them walking around. If you can time your visit to reach the 19th-century Hatto building for when there’s a service, you’ll hopefully get to witness the full power of drumbeats and chanting. We turned up at 11 am and experienced a good 20 minutes of chanting so fast and intense it wouldn’t have been out of place in a trance club. One famous story recounts that the young Steve Jobs once considered becoming a monk at Eiheiji. At this monastic temple, monks still undergo this solemn training.
Visitors to Eiheiji will find there the foundation of the Soto school of Zen Buddhism in Japan, and a place of great history and beauty. Today, it serves the same intent as when established centuries ago, as a living and breathing space within which the teachings of Buddha are practiced and transmitted through the generations.
Eiheiji is a working monastery. Monks live, eat, sleep, wash and pray here, and you’ll see many of them walking around. If you can time your visit to reach the 19th-century Hatto building for when there’s a service, you’ll hopefully get to witness the full power of drumbeats and chanting. We turned up at 11 am and experienced a good 20 minutes of chanting so fast and intense it wouldn’t have been out of place in a trance club. One famous story recounts that the young Steve Jobs once considered becoming a monk at Eiheiji. At this monastic temple, monks still undergo this solemn training.
Visitors to Eiheiji will find there the foundation of the Soto school of Zen Buddhism in Japan, and a place of great history and beauty. Today, it serves the same intent as when established centuries ago, as a living and breathing space within which the teachings of Buddha are practiced and transmitted through the generations.
