This morning experience the quintessential Japanese enlightenment – Zazen (Zen meditation).
Your guide will pick you up from your hotel in the morning and take you to a Zen temple, where you can learn the basics of the same sitting meditation that led the Buddha to Enlightenment: folded legs,erect posture, half-closed eyes and a focus on measured breathingthat leads to awareness of the way the mind works.
After Zazen, you will go to Chion-in temple which is the head temple of the Jodo (Pure Land) sect of Japanese Buddhism, one the most popular Buddhist sects in Japan. The Sanmon Gate, Chionin’s main entrance gate, stands 24 meterstall and 50 meters wide, making it the largest wooden gate in Japan and dates back to the early 1600s.
From Chion-in walk through Maruyama Park and Yasaka Shrine, one of Kyoto´s most popular Shinto Shrines.
Your spiritual day finishes with a Tea Ceremony in a Gion tea house. Your Tea Master will give you a full explanation of Japanese tea as well as the tea ceremony itself, its long history and relationship with Zen Buddhism.