Tony Truong
For many, a trip overseas can be seen by others as a once-in-a-lifetime journey to soak in the culture, food, and everything else in between. For others, such a trip could simply be something to check off your bucket list. But for me, it meant so much more than just these experiences. I was after something larger than myself. From both a personal and spiritual perspective, my journey to Japan in 2018 took on a deeper meaning. Speaking from a layman’s spiritual experience, I feel that when you’ve reached a state of enlightenment, you are present, completely, and acutely aware of all every faculty of your body, speech, and mind in every moment. You are awake; there are no more thoughts that take you away from the present because you come to a deep realization that you're not your thoughts, you stop being identified with them.
My journey to Japan was specific to a spiritual visit and retreat to Mount Koya, a Buddhist mountain monastery and UNESCO heritage site located deep in the Kii mountain range of Wakayama Prefecture. Mount Koya is a remote temple complex that was constructed over 1,200 years ago for the purpose of cultivating meditative practices and for training young Buddhist monks. The monastery complex has a long history, having seen and survived political upheavals and religious schisms, the progressive reformations of the Meiji Restoration, and the utter wrath of World War II. For this retreat, I chose to reside in Muryoko-in Temple, one of several hundred temples in the area which also has a history of its own. I specifically chose this temple out of a recommendation made by a friend who once stayed in this temple for his own training. Because of his positive experience, he further suggested that Muryoko-in was friendly to foreigners, especially English and Chinese speakers.
To access the temple, visitors must trek an uphill forest trail that separates Muryoko-in from the main town area. For spiritual training purposes and to observe local tradition, monks are forbidden to take any form of transportation or take a shorter route to the temple other than the forest trail. When embarking on the hike, one cannot help but marvel at being surrounded by the natural beauty of the tall trees, wild plants, and moss-covered stone statues. Observing the scenery, my mind could not fathom the awesome power and beauty revealed by the tall trees that have seen hundreds of years of all forms of life traversing through the woods. On my daily hikes on my retreat, I would often feel different kinds of experiences deep within my mind, ranging from sheer contentment in the present, to conflicts and confusion about the past. In my daily meditations while living there, apart from the sonorous voices of chanting Buddhist monks, sometimes the voices in my head would get louder, then quiet, and then louder again. I would get emotional by thinking about the people who have left my life, and in some days I would regret being off the grid for that long period time. I would get over this hump of loneliness through several interactions with the townspeople, feeling somewhat closer to understanding the answers to the great mysteries of life, and recognizing how fragile and small my own life and being was. Nevertheless, my experience was one that strengthened my spiritual goals and aspirations, and certainly one that I won’t soon forget. If I had a day to visit Japan again, Mount Koya would definitely be a place I would come back to, as it is the best that classical Japan has to offer. Even if it weren’t for the spiritual aspect of Mount Koya and all the power and beauty it breathes, a retreat like this was beneficial to my mental health and being. I think I was able to reach for some of that same enlightened bliss that the Buddha taught his disciples to reach for thousands of years ago, and I would do it all over again if I could.
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