Places & destinations
JapanPlaces & destinations
Eihei-ji
The mountain temple where Sōtō zen has trained its monks since 1244, with no concession to tourism.
On the mapFukui
Dōgen, back from China convinced that sitting in zazen is awakening itself rather than a means to it, founded Eihei-ji far from Kyoto’s intrigues. Seventy buildings step up a wooded slope, linked by covered walkways the novices polish every morning. Between one and two hundred monks follow a rule in which everything is practice, including cooking, washing and eating, taken in silence from nested bowls. Visitors may stay one night if they keep to the monastic timetable.
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