By now, I’m feeling like the Japanese temple will close before I ever get there. As I  pull away to hurry down the road, the young monk offers Jess and Arry the opportunity to see some special sites in the Thai complex.

I’ve been reading about, studying and practicing Japanese forms of Zen for a very long time. 35 years at least. This quirky form of Japanese Buddhism is at the heart of Japanese culture. The most commonly seen toy in the country is a ball shaped image of the man who brought zen and Buddhism to China (Bodhidharma or Dharuma). 

Great Japanese design is asymmetrical and irrational. The core principle, wabi sabi, is an outgrowth of zen. 

There are monkeys in the junkyard across from the Japanese temple here in Kushinigar. They scurry to a safe distance and then watch me jog down the lane.

I spend thirty minutes inside the temple. It’s a simple layout with 10 ten foot tall images of the men (arhats) who surrounded Buddha during his life. They sit on either side of a simple (large) statue.

We have dinner and an early bed. The morning brings a very full day of driving to Bodhgaya, the site of Buddha’s enlightenment.