A Soto Zen temple where practice is zazen, farming and firewood. This guide is compiled from the place's own published information; we have not visited, and it is not a review.
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The place
Antaiji describes itself as a Soto Zen temple and training hall for practising Dogen's teaching in its pure form. Its site (in Japanese) says Japanese and foreign practitioners train together in a self-sufficient life centred on zazen.
It says the life is simple: about 1,800 hours of zazen a year, no parishioner families, fields of rice and vegetables, and firewood cut from the mountain for the stoves. From December to March, when snow cuts the temple off, the winter period focuses on zazen and study.
What it offers
- Long-term training in a farming monastery routine.
- Short-stay retreats for people who want to experience the training life.
- Pages on becoming a monk, the temple's history and how to sit zazen.
- Support appeals: the temple says it needs supporters.
Before you go
- Read zazen for beginners, what a sesshin is and Zen temples in Japan.
- Note that this is training, not lodging: compare a temple stay.
- Read the retreat page and contact the temple through its own site: antaiji.org (Japanese).
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