八關齋界

The Zen center of Sunnyvale is having a 7 day zen retreat over the Christmas/New Year's break. It must've been popular because it was full, so I signed up to volunteer instead. While signing up, the receptionist told me to sign up for 八關齋界 and 三皈依 too, and since I wasn't going anywhere over the break, I thought sure, why not. I think this was my 2nd time ever holding the vows of 八關齋界 for 24 hours.

1. I undertake to abstain from causing harm and taking life (both human and non-human).
2. I undertake to abstain from taking what is not given (stealing).
3. I undertake to abstain from sexual misconduct.
4. I undertake to abstain from wrong speech: telling lies, deceiving others, manipulating others, using hurtful words.
5. I undertake to abstain from using intoxicating drinks and drugs, which lead to carelessness.
6. I undertake to abstain from eating at the wrong time (the right time is eating once, after sunrise, before noon).
7. I undertake to abstain from singing, dancing, playing music, attending entertainment performances, wearing perfume, and using cosmetics and garlands (decorative accessories).
8. I undertake to abstain from luxurious places for sitting or sleeping, and overindulging in sleep.

It wasn't too hard since I've already taken the 5 precepts. As part of the volunteering, I helped out in the kitchen and I stayed overnight in their apartments and had to wake up at 4:30. 3 things I want to note from this experience:

1. working as an overnight volunteer is tough. I've helped in the kitchen and as 行堂 before, but mainly work the hour or so before lunch. In this case, some kitchen staff were in there as early as 4am getting ready for breakfast. The idea is to make everything run smoothly for the practitioners, so there's an army of volunteer staff behind the scenes serving. There was about 50 or so retreat participaters and easily 20 or so volunteers. It was pretty impressive to see all of the operations behind the scene, especially old grandmas working so diligently and zealously.

2. I had a good heart to heart talk with my two roommates. we returned back to our rooms around 5:30pm and since it was too early to sleep and nothing to do, we stayed up chatting til 9pm. one was called 傳奉 and the other one i'm not sure what her name was. In either case, both are Vietnamese immigrants but speak mandarin and cantonese. Talk about impressive! It's always fun being able to meet other 善知識 who talk about their experiences and are able to help guide you along your practice.

3. I noticed my tolerance for retreats is getting lower. I used to do 7 day retreats no problem, but i was kind of anxious to come home after just one day. I think partly because I was a volunteer and there was a lot of down-time and often some chaos or aimless wandering. I think Shikoku will help with this, especially since there will be lots of down time at night to reflect and be mindful.

Merry Christmas!

Slightly missed it since it's almost 1am now, but Merry Christmas! I hiked a little over 2 miles today in nothing but Vibram. I went with Shirwin, Alice, and Diana. We inadvertently ended up walking to Wu's Aunts' house. hahahaha. It was funny at first because I could feel the little twigs under my feet. But, I can say that after walking around them today, my feet feel just fine. I took them all around town and even to the movie theater where we watched Sherlock Holmes. I feel like Spiderman just because my toes feel like they have such grip. Now I just have to work on that shooting spiderwebs out of my wrist thing.

8 miles..piece of cake

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Total Distance: 13.26 km (8.2 mi)

Total Time: 2:54:32

Moving Time: 2:38:54

Average Speed: 4.56 km/h (2.8 mi/h)

Average Moving Speed: 5.01 km/h (3.1 mi/h)

Min Elevation: 72 m (236 ft)

Max Elevation: 463 m (1519 ft)

Elevation Gain: 639 m (2097 ft)

I seem to average at 20 minute miles hiking Rancho San Antonio. I went with my backpack and loaded it up with 1 pair of shoes, 4 shirts i plan on taking, 1 pair of pants, towel, book, cell phones, wallet, and water. It's pretty representative of the things I'll be bringing, but I'm already starting to feel like i need to re-evaluate. I still had more things to bring and already the pack is full. I don't want to go with my bigger pack because I want to keep the weight down. I'll have to try again next time and see how much more i can stuff in. The weight was tolerable although my shoulders got a little sore. Also got a blister on the top of my pinky toe of the right foot, but that's because i have wide feet and the merrell trekking shoes are a little tight for me there. I'm going to keep wearing my vibrams around the house and see if i can take it for a real test run in a month or so.

Vibram five fingers

Today I went out and bought Vibram five finger shoes. I've heard about these shoes from friends that run a lot. It seems like there's a lot of scientific research saying that walking/running barefoot is a lot better than wearing athletic shoes. But since you don't want to walk barefoot because of things like rocks and glass on the road, this is the next best thing. It's basically like having a rubber glove for your foot. You're supposed to ease into it slowly since your feet need a little adjustment and need to build up muscles and tendons that are put out of use with regular shoes. I plan on wearing these around the house for the next week before taking them outside. If all goes well, I plan on taking them to Shikoku with me.

I'm gonna go hike me an island

What can i say? I saw the documentary and I was intrigued. I did more research and I was hooked. Part of me is doing it for the adventure. I hiked the Inca trail in Peru..this would be like doing it 30 times back to back! It's not everyday that you can say you hiked an island and have a cool souvenir to show for it (the book with the stamps from each temple). Part of me thinks it's cool to visit the Buddhist temples because I'm Buddhist. Part of me wants to reconnect with my spiritual side- take a break from the meaningless hustle and bustle and get enlightened on a scenic island. I also want to dedicate some merit to Mom, even though we all know she's in a much better place than I am. And finally, part of me thinks the outfit is super cool. What's not to love about the rice paddy hats and walking sticks with bells?

How it all started

About 3-4 years ago, I was watching tv on pbs or some travel channel and came across a documentary on someone hiking an island in Japan (Karen Muller, Japanland). She talked about hiking to 88 temples and getting a stamp from each one in a special book. She traveled the island with a backpack and walking stick, exploring different parts of the island. At the time, I wrote down the name of the island on a slip of paper, noting that this would be something that I would want to look into someday.

Sometime in 2007, I decided that I was going to hike Shikoku island. The 88 temple pilgrimage is no walk in the park. It would be very demanding on the body and was something I'd like to do while I was still relatively young. I calendared myself and friends for September 2009 to embark on my adventures. Timing to coincide with a 5 year sabbatical that my work would've given me to take 2-3 months of unpaid time off, but while holding my job for me. In 2008, the global economy collapsed. I changed teams, and having just started in a new role, decided to push my journey back a year.

Fast forward to last week. After months and years of talking about hiking Shikoku, I finally asked and got approval from my manager to take the 3 months of time off i need for the 900 mile trek. So here I am now, 2.5 months away from an early March departure. I'm starting this blog to document my travels because I know this is something I will definitely want to look back on, and i know if i kept a physical journal, i would surely lose it or misplace it.

So that's how it all started. This blog is mainly for myself, but if you happen to follow or stumble upon it, I hope it's somewhat entertaining or enlightening.