March 22, 2010

Zen-monks in Engaku-ji temple


The zen monks were silently and wholeheartedly trimming the front garden of the Shari-den or "the hall of Buddha's bones."

Intense and earnest labor is one of the essential ascetic practices for the monks in the temples of the Rinzai Sect.

The elegant and modest gardens specific to the zen temples are sustained by such hidden laborious work of zen monks.

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