Travel to Kyoto and find your spiritual side at a Buddhist meditation guesthouse

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Kyoto, Japan -- Reverend Takafumi Kawakami is a very modern priest. When I arrive at Shunkoin Zen Buddhist temple, hidden deep in Kyoto’s serene Myoshinji temple complex, we don’t discuss Buddhism; we talk about Twitter, specifically his recent tweet about the first signs of spring.

<< Reverend Takafumi Kawakami offers a very modern approach to spiritualism (Picture: Alamy)

He tells me it is one of the best times of year to visit the old city, famous for its palaces, wooden merchant houses and geishas. The cold bite of winter releases its grip, the cherry blossom crowds come and go, and the city takes on an emerald hue.

Tonight I am staying in Rev Kawakami’s new eight-room guesthouse, The Cave Of Enlightened Dragon, which sits next to the main building, parts of which were built a mind-boggling five centuries ago.

As I check in, he offers me an espresso and tells me about the temple’s free wi-fi and bicycle rental.

I wasn’t expecting this, I tell him. Most don’t, he replies.

I am given a few rules: keep a respectful silence after 10.30pm and be prompt for tomorrow’s meditation session. Then he leaves me standing in the deafening silence of his temple, feeling a little like an intruder.

Temple lodging, or shukubo, is a very special way to see Japan’s simple, spiritual side. Most stays include vegetarian food and compulsory participation in morning Buddhist services.

Shunkoin offers something in-between. It is the only temple in Kyoto that offers classes in English and, although it doesn’t serve food, guests are given full access to a modern kitchen and a map pinpointing nearby supermarkets.

The meditation sessions here begin at 9am (others can start at an eye-drying 3am) and at just £43 a night, it is also something of a bargain.

So after a late-night wander around the complex grounds, with only a monk on a bike in my sights, I retreat to my small room, containing a mattress, desk and a bathroom, and sleep soundly for a long time.

The next morning, after a breakfast of rice balls, I meet my meditation companions. A young woman from Toronto tells me she has dipped a toe in these Zen waters but the two American students, who hilariously boast of food poisoning (‘I ate so much weird food I was sick!’), are clearly first-timers.

We sit cross-legged on cushions and listen wide-eyed as Rev Kawakami tells us how Buddhism and Shinto, Japan’s native religion, live harmoniously side by side, and how meditation helps in the 21st century.

‘Meditation provides time for your brain to digest the overload of information it constantly receives, which helps us keep an inner peace,’
he tells us. ‘It reorganises thoughts and helps us to be more objective and mindful.’

After our first 15-minute session, we all admit we didn’t have much luck clearing our minds. ‘It’s normal to have random thoughts and to see images, so focus on your breath and the rest will follow,’ he advises.

I do as I am told and the next 15-minute session passes in what feels like a minute. I bask in an incredible calmness and, judging by everyone else’s faces, so do they.

Rev Kawakami then leads us on a short tour and we hear his story. He studied psychology and economics at Arizona State University and started thinking about the role of religion in modern society after 9/11 so changed his degree to major in religious studies. He then committed to one year’s training at Zuiganji Monastery in Miyagi prefecture.

He is a staunch supporter of Japan’s LGBT community, a sector of Japanese society that silently struggles. He is also, I quickly discover, a clever businessman.

There are 70,000 temples in Japan but economists have calculated that by 2050 there will be just 10,000 left because of expensive running costs.

Rev Kawakami needs funds to keep Shunkoin running so he came up with this overnight meditation package. Do the other 45 temples in the complex disapprove? ‘Not at all – they think it is a fascinating way to reinvent the temple,’ he says.

I couldn’t agree more.

£43 per night for accommodation and meditation. www.shunkoin.com

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Karmapa lama to travel to Washington DC

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The 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the Tibetan lama who, it has been widely speculated, will succeed the Dalai Lama as the figurehead for Tibetan Buddhism, will be travelling to Washington DC today, for a tour of the US.

New York, USA -- His arrival signals a significant shift by the Indian government, which has closely monitored and restricted the young lama's movements since he fled into exile from Tibet in 2000.

<< The 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, will travel to Washington DC Photo: REX

The 26-year old monk has been granted a travel permit to attend the Kalachakra ceremonies in the US, alongside the Dalai Lama.

The "Kalachakra for World Peace" ceremony began on Wednesday in Washington DC and will see 100,000 visitors take part in prayer, chanting, meditation and speeches.

The Karmapa's presence at the Dalai Lama's side will reinforce long held speculation that the Dalai Lama sees the young Karmapa as his spiritual successor.

While the Dalai Lama has renounced his political role as the de facto leader of the Tibetan community-in-exile, he remains the undisputed spiritual figurehead and moral force for Tibetan Buddhism. His death will leave a vacuum which it is widely expected that the Karmapa will fill.

Since arriving in India, following an epic 900 mile trek across the Himalayas, the Karmapa has been forbidden from travelling freely, the object of suspicions by the Indian intelligence services that he was a Chinese agent.

In 2008 he was allowed to leave India for the first time to visit America, where Michael Bloomberg feted him in New York by declaring the day of his arrival 'Karmapa Day'. But last year he was refused permission to travel to Europe, without any explanation being offered by the Indian government.

Earlier this year he became embroiled in further controversy following the discovery of large amounts of foreign currency in his monastery in Dharamsala, leading to a witch-hunt by sections of the Indian media.

It was subsequently established that the money was actually donations from devotees – a traditional practice in Tibetan Buddhism – earmarked for the purchase of land for a new monastery which had been tied up by India's complicated land laws.

The fact that he has been allowed to travel now is a further strong indication that the Indian government regard the spying allegations as baseless.

The young monk has been praised for his intelligence and personable approach, and his international profile is building steadily, with the Dalai Lama having chosen to take the Karmapa under his wing.

The Kalachakra ceremony is the first major public event the Dalai Lama has attended since his announcement in March that he is formally stepping down as the political leader of the Tibetan community in exile.

Robert Thurman, the American Buddhist writer and academic, and the Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, told the Telegraph: "I am very happy His Holiness the 17th Karmapa is coming. It is a great happening that the Indian government is realising he deserves free travel permissions. His friendship and discipleship with His Holiness the Dalai Lama is of historic importance in the Tibetan world, deeply healing of a subtle division that is almost four hundred years old.

"He will be a great voice for the Buddha Dharma in the future, actually he already is, but not in any sort of missionary way, in the way of joining the worldwide network of spiritual leaders turning spirituality toward peace and not letting religion serve as a source of division within humanity in this time of the world crisis, environmental, economic, political.

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India allows 17th Karmapa to travel to US

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Shimla, India -- Amidst hectic lobbying by his followers in the corridors of power, government has finally Ogyen Trinley Dorje- 17th Karmapa, who is parallel head of powerful Kagyu karma sect of Tibetan Buddhist to travel to United States to attend Kalchakra.

Under scanner of investigating agencies for huge stacks of foreign currency recovered from his monastery, Ogyen Trinley Dorje had earlier expressed his desire to visit United States along with Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the – Dalai Lama for Kalchakra which commences from July 6th in Washington D.C.

According to Buddhist beliefs, the Kalachakra was first given by Shakyamuni Buddha, in ancient India. The Kalchakra in Washington will last for 11 days. During the first three days of the Kalachakra, from July 6 through 8, the Dalai Lama, along with the monks of Namgyal Monastery and senior lamas, will conduct rituals, which prepare and consecrate the venue.

Karmapa’s administration - Tsurphu Labrang in Dharamsala had written to the ministry of home affairs seeking permission to travel abroad.  It was late in the afternoon on Tuesday that Karmapa’s administration received intimation about the clearance given by home ministry. “ We have got clearance from the Indian government. We are extremely grateful to the Indian authorities” Sonam, Karmapa aides in Delhi told Hindustan Times.

Twenty-six year – old monk - 17th Karmapa himself  had been camping in Delhi since  past one week.  Karmapa’s high profile followers hectically lobbied in New Delhi to ensure that   spiritual leader is allowed to go abroad. This will be Karmapa second visit abroad ever since he escaped from Tsurphu in   China controlled Tibet a decade ago. Karmapa is likely to stay in United States for over two weeks and would return back to Dharamsala on July 25.

Looked with suspicion, Karmapa lives under the watchful eyes of the Indian agencies in the backside of  Gyuto Tantric monastery in Dharamsala. His movements within the country remains restricted his travel schedule is cleared by the home ministry. Karmapa made his maiden trip to United States in the 2008. He had visited the seat of his predecessor 16th Karmapa the 16th Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, who is largely credited for introducing Tibetan Buddhism in western countries. Rigpe Dorje had escaped to Bhutan in 1959 along with 150 of his students later he set up a monastery in Rumtek in Sikkim Rigpe Dorje who lived in United states died of cancer in Chigao in 1981 he was cremated at the rumtek monastery, that remains forbidden for the two claimants Ogyen Trinley Dorje and Shamar Rinpoche enthrone parallel Karmapa- Thaye Dorje.

Ogyen Trinley Dorje had made nations headline in January, since police during the raid in the monastery had recovered Rs 6.5 crore from the possession of   Rabjey Choesang treasurer of Karmapa headed Karmae Garchen Trust.  What surprised the investigating agencies was the recovery of   12 lakh Chinese Yuan. Karmapa’s followers denied   spiritual leader had anything to do with the money, which claimed was donated by devotees.

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