Climb the Joyous Mountain

The number 108 holds within it a great mystery, but I have never found anyone who could explain this mystery. There are 108 beads in both the Hindu and Buddhist rosaries. There are 108 movements [...]

We create needs and then struggle to fulfill them, which is like voluntarily placing our ball in the sand trap. ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ Time has always seemed to me [...]

To understand Japanese culture, one must know something of the wabi-sabi concept. The Japanese sense of beauty, unlike some of the elaborately embellished Chinese manifestations, usually relies on delicate understatement. What is left out is [...]

The world is a reflection of ourselves. What we see without is an accurate measure of what we are within. If there is serenity inside, the outside world seems friendly. When we go to a [...]

There is a profound difference between the life-negating pessimism of traditional Indian Buddhism and the life-prolonging, immortality-seeking attitude of Chinese Taoists. The Indian Buddhist sees the world as a place of complete impermanence, a forest [...]

It is always cold when we arise at 5:30 a.m. on a winter’s morning in Kyoto. If I am staying at the small Tenrikyo Church community, just off Karasuma Street near the ancient Emperor’s Palace, [...]