Praying, burning incense, meditating – people across all denominations seem to have a basic need for holy acts. Why is that?
It is just 100 kilometers from Munich to Japan. At least that evening you feel a little like you are in the Far East – and not in the Lower Bavarian hamlet of Eisenbuch. In the middle of the hills there is an old inn that was converted into a Zen monastery called Daihizan Fumoji in the 1990s. Zen master Fumon Nakagawa Roshi is sitting at the top under the roof for one last round this Wednesday evening. The word “sit” does not adequately describe its external appearance. Fumon Nakagawa Roshi appears as still as a rock for 45 minutes when he meditates. The 76-year-old has been practicing and teaching Zen Buddhism of the Soto school for decades – in the middle of Catholic-influenced Bavaria. Zazen, i.e. meditating on a seat cushion, is the highest ritual of Buddhism. A bit like the communion celebration in Christianity, even if the comparison is flawed. Sitting, says Fumon Nakagawa Roshi, is an “expression of the dignity of being.”