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Eat Sleep Sit: My Year at Japan's Most Rigorous Zen Temple
At the age of thirty, Kaoru Nonomura left his family, his girlfriend, and his job as a designer in Tokyo to undertake a year of ascetic training at Eiheiji, one of the most rigorous Zen training temples in Japan. This book is Nonomura's recollection of his experiences. He skillfully describes
every aspect of training, including how to meditate, how to eat, how to wash, even how to use the toilet, in a way that is easy to understand no matter how familiar a reader is with Zen Buddhism. This first-person account also describes Nonomura's struggles in the face of beatings, hunger,
exhaustion, fear, and loneliness, the comfort he draws from his friendships with the other trainees, and his quiet determination to give his life spiritual meaning.
After writing Eat Sleep Sit , Kaoru Nonomura returned to his normal life as a designer, but his book has maintained its popularity in Japan, selling more than 100,000 copies since its first printing in 1996. Beautifully written, and offering fascinating insight into a culture of hardships that few
people could endure, this is a deeply personal story that will appeal to all those with an interest in Zen Buddhism, as well as to anyone seeking spiritual growth.
every aspect of training, including how to meditate, how to eat, how to wash, even how to use the toilet, in a way that is easy to understand no matter how familiar a reader is with Zen Buddhism. This first-person account also describes Nonomura's struggles in the face of beatings, hunger,
exhaustion, fear, and loneliness, the comfort he draws from his friendships with the other trainees, and his quiet determination to give his life spiritual meaning.
After writing Eat Sleep Sit , Kaoru Nonomura returned to his normal life as a designer, but his book has maintained its popularity in Japan, selling more than 100,000 copies since its first printing in 1996. Beautifully written, and offering fascinating insight into a culture of hardships that few
people could endure, this is a deeply personal story that will appeal to all those with an interest in Zen Buddhism, as well as to anyone seeking spiritual growth.
328 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1996
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July 10, 2025
A Year Of Asceticism At Eiheji
This book offers a view of Zen Buddhist practice that will come as a surprise to many Americans with an interest in Buddhism. The book tells of the rigorous, harsh, and all-consuming training that young male recruits undergo at Eiheji. Located in the mountains in a remote area of Japan, Eiheji Monastery was founded by Dogen (1200 -1253) in 1244. A Buddhist monk, Dogen travelled to China and brought back to Japan what became known as the Soto school of Zen Buddhism. Eiheji remains the head temple of Soto Zen. It trains priests who serve in Zen temples throughout Japan.
In this memoir, Kaoru Nonomura describes the year he spent in training at Eiheji. As a young man of 30, Nonomura was a university graduate who had travelled throughout Asia and had a good job as a designer. He lived with his parents. Nonomura is vague about what led him to abandon his life for the rigors on training as a monk. He writes "I'd grown weary of my life, had come to feel the entanglements of society so burdensome and disagreable that I'd resolved to flee them by becoming a Zen Buddhist Monk --and yet now that society's hold on me was slipping. I felt increasingly sad and sentimental." Nonomura bids a short farewell to his parents and his girlfriend and sets out for Eiheji.
Nonomura's book details the harsh, rigorous training to which he had subjected himself at Eiheji. Designed to strip the recruits of their egos and concepts of self, the training subjected Nonomura, who as a monk received the name of Rosan, to beatings, kicks, and abuse, to long days beginning at 1:30 a.m. and ending at 10:00 p.m., to extensive periods of sitting in the painful full lotus position, to endless chores and studies of Zen texts, and to rigorous procedures covering every aspect of the day from eating, walking, and sleeping, to folding one's clothes, washing one's face, and going to the toilet.
Rosan and his fellow trainees were understandably overwhelmed. In the book, we follow the training year from its beginning in January with the initial seven day orientation period through the end of the year and the beginning of a new cycle the following January. Gradually, almost imperceptibly, Rosan's attitude towards his training changes. Rosan moves from a focus on the training's brutality and hardship to a realization of the value of the course he had, without fully realizing it, chosen for himself. Nonomura writes:
"[W]hy, in order to remove the ego, is it necessary to sit with legs folded, facing the wall? Why this form and no other? I doubt whether anyone could put the answer into words. Only in sitting for oneself, and persisting in sitting to the very end, does the answer come welling up in one's blood and bones. .... Devoting oneself to sitting, getting used to sitting, and conquering the pain of sitting are all equally pointless. The only point of sitting is to accept unconditionally each moment as it occurs. This is the lesson of 'just sitting' that I had absorbed after one year."
Besides focusing on the training, the recruits, and the hierarchy at Eiheji, Nonomura's book quotes liberally from the works of Dogen, particularly from the "Treasury of the True Dharma Eye", a collection of 95 essays Dogen wrote between 1231 and 1253 which detail his Zen practice. Dogen's teachings were followed closely at Eiheji. His book was studied extensively by the trainees in learning their practice. The book also quotes extensively from Buddhist sutras and other texts which illuminate Eiheji monastery and its ideals. Early in their training, a senior monk presses upon the new recruits the significance of the words written on the main gate to the monastery, composed in 1820 by the abbot at the time:
"The tradition here is strict: no one however wealthy, important or wise may enter through this gate who is not wholehearted in the pursuit of truth."
"The gate has no door or chain, but is always open, any person of true faith can walk through it at any time."
During his year of training, Rosan gains insight into the significance of these inscriptions.
The book ends with Rosan's decision to leave the monastery after the year and to return to his former life. In two postscripts to Japanese editions of this book, the author reflects further on the factors which led him to enter Eiheji and on the course of his life following his year in the monastery. (Nomura spent 1989-90 at Eiheji. His book first appeared in Japan in 1996, with the Japanese paperback edition appearing five years later. Nomura wrote the book largely while commuting to and from his work.)
The harshness and difficulty of training at Eiheji, with its almost militaristic trappings, differs markedly from the softer forms of Buddhism often portrayed and practiced in the United States. Although I have some background knowledge, I found myself not entirely prepared for the severity portrayed in this book. This is a compelling, thoughtful memoir. For all its rigor, this book helped me see Buddhist teachings in a way I hadn't seen them before.
Robin Friedman
This book offers a view of Zen Buddhist practice that will come as a surprise to many Americans with an interest in Buddhism. The book tells of the rigorous, harsh, and all-consuming training that young male recruits undergo at Eiheji. Located in the mountains in a remote area of Japan, Eiheji Monastery was founded by Dogen (1200 -1253) in 1244. A Buddhist monk, Dogen travelled to China and brought back to Japan what became known as the Soto school of Zen Buddhism. Eiheji remains the head temple of Soto Zen. It trains priests who serve in Zen temples throughout Japan.
In this memoir, Kaoru Nonomura describes the year he spent in training at Eiheji. As a young man of 30, Nonomura was a university graduate who had travelled throughout Asia and had a good job as a designer. He lived with his parents. Nonomura is vague about what led him to abandon his life for the rigors on training as a monk. He writes "I'd grown weary of my life, had come to feel the entanglements of society so burdensome and disagreable that I'd resolved to flee them by becoming a Zen Buddhist Monk --and yet now that society's hold on me was slipping. I felt increasingly sad and sentimental." Nonomura bids a short farewell to his parents and his girlfriend and sets out for Eiheji.
Nonomura's book details the harsh, rigorous training to which he had subjected himself at Eiheji. Designed to strip the recruits of their egos and concepts of self, the training subjected Nonomura, who as a monk received the name of Rosan, to beatings, kicks, and abuse, to long days beginning at 1:30 a.m. and ending at 10:00 p.m., to extensive periods of sitting in the painful full lotus position, to endless chores and studies of Zen texts, and to rigorous procedures covering every aspect of the day from eating, walking, and sleeping, to folding one's clothes, washing one's face, and going to the toilet.
Rosan and his fellow trainees were understandably overwhelmed. In the book, we follow the training year from its beginning in January with the initial seven day orientation period through the end of the year and the beginning of a new cycle the following January. Gradually, almost imperceptibly, Rosan's attitude towards his training changes. Rosan moves from a focus on the training's brutality and hardship to a realization of the value of the course he had, without fully realizing it, chosen for himself. Nonomura writes:
"[W]hy, in order to remove the ego, is it necessary to sit with legs folded, facing the wall? Why this form and no other? I doubt whether anyone could put the answer into words. Only in sitting for oneself, and persisting in sitting to the very end, does the answer come welling up in one's blood and bones. .... Devoting oneself to sitting, getting used to sitting, and conquering the pain of sitting are all equally pointless. The only point of sitting is to accept unconditionally each moment as it occurs. This is the lesson of 'just sitting' that I had absorbed after one year."
Besides focusing on the training, the recruits, and the hierarchy at Eiheji, Nonomura's book quotes liberally from the works of Dogen, particularly from the "Treasury of the True Dharma Eye", a collection of 95 essays Dogen wrote between 1231 and 1253 which detail his Zen practice. Dogen's teachings were followed closely at Eiheji. His book was studied extensively by the trainees in learning their practice. The book also quotes extensively from Buddhist sutras and other texts which illuminate Eiheji monastery and its ideals. Early in their training, a senior monk presses upon the new recruits the significance of the words written on the main gate to the monastery, composed in 1820 by the abbot at the time:
"The tradition here is strict: no one however wealthy, important or wise may enter through this gate who is not wholehearted in the pursuit of truth."
"The gate has no door or chain, but is always open, any person of true faith can walk through it at any time."
During his year of training, Rosan gains insight into the significance of these inscriptions.
The book ends with Rosan's decision to leave the monastery after the year and to return to his former life. In two postscripts to Japanese editions of this book, the author reflects further on the factors which led him to enter Eiheji and on the course of his life following his year in the monastery. (Nomura spent 1989-90 at Eiheji. His book first appeared in Japan in 1996, with the Japanese paperback edition appearing five years later. Nomura wrote the book largely while commuting to and from his work.)
The harshness and difficulty of training at Eiheji, with its almost militaristic trappings, differs markedly from the softer forms of Buddhism often portrayed and practiced in the United States. Although I have some background knowledge, I found myself not entirely prepared for the severity portrayed in this book. This is a compelling, thoughtful memoir. For all its rigor, this book helped me see Buddhist teachings in a way I hadn't seen them before.
Robin Friedman
April 12, 2018
Sometimes it was painful to read about what ascetics have to endure during their training. I would often stop and wonder if I could turn my back on the world and endure the same. Never did come up with an answer. Maybe the fact that I'm not packing some meager belongings and heading to the nearest temple may be the answer. After reading about Nonomura's first year, it's hard not to get emotional at the end of the book. Carpenter's translation is excellent, as always. Especially the writings of Dogen, the founder of Eihei-ji where Nonomura trained. She made several trips to Eihei-ji during the course of the translation to discuss the Buddhist concepts with the monks for accuracy. And such dedication to her work shows in the finished product.
February 5, 2019
A year learning to be a Zen monk? What do you imagine that would be like?
I thought it would be a year of quiet meditation. Service to others. Gentle walks in the forest. Perhaps an occasional conversation with a wise old monk.
Think again. Imagine sitting until your legs collapse when you try to stand. Imagine meager amounts of food, so little that you develop beriberi. Imagine being allowed to sleep only a couple of hours a night. Imagine being struck with sticks or slapped or kicked each time you make a small error.
Hmmm. No thank you. I think I will pass.
I thought it would be a year of quiet meditation. Service to others. Gentle walks in the forest. Perhaps an occasional conversation with a wise old monk.
Think again. Imagine sitting until your legs collapse when you try to stand. Imagine meager amounts of food, so little that you develop beriberi. Imagine being allowed to sleep only a couple of hours a night. Imagine being struck with sticks or slapped or kicked each time you make a small error.
Hmmm. No thank you. I think I will pass.
June 26, 2023
230625: this is curious review for curious book. this is zen as religion. there is no talk of theory. if zen has any. the beginning is perhaps distasteful, resembling the worst practices of many kinds of cults from religious to military. only gradually does the author start to, with relevant quotes and sutras, give sense of this spiritual adventure he has embarked upon, in describing in great detail of his experience...
I found fascinating the direct, unedited, simple descriptions of the most banal rules for everything from how to defecate, how to eat gruel, how to bathe, how to sleep etc. I found fascinating the embodied practice of buddhism in chants and repetitious prostrations. I found it fascinating place to read about but I would not like to live there. I recognise how the author feels he has changed by the end. I feel talking about zen is as empty as wind in the leaves of trees, but even less meaningful...
I found fascinating the direct, unedited, simple descriptions of the most banal rules for everything from how to defecate, how to eat gruel, how to bathe, how to sleep etc. I found fascinating the embodied practice of buddhism in chants and repetitious prostrations. I found it fascinating place to read about but I would not like to live there. I recognise how the author feels he has changed by the end. I feel talking about zen is as empty as wind in the leaves of trees, but even less meaningful...
September 18, 2012
This book is about a man's journey through the trials and tribulations required to become a Zen Buddhist monk. You read, and it quickly becomes apparent that the book itself was a kind a Zen Buddhist test. Make sense? More on this in a second.
I love the title of the book. It's "Eat Sleep Sit", not "Pray Meditate Enlighten". Let me see if I can explain myself. In the monks' training, proper eating, sleeping and sitting is necessary and sufficient to attain monk-dom (?) and enlightenment. You do not need to fancy things up. You do not need to master difficult concepts. If you can properly sit and be still, then you are enlightened. If you are enlightened, then you can properly sit. You eat, sleep and sit on your mat, and that place is sacred. No more or less sacred than any place on Earth. Excellent.
I hope that makes sense. It does to me, and its a powerful construct, IMHO. For example, you are a positive cheerful person, if you are positive and cheerful. If you aren't positive, then you aren't positive. No excuses. No this, that, intentions whatever greater powers that are holding you back blah blah. Super. Simple. (Also, if you run, then you are a runner. Ha!)
Two surprising things about the book:
1. The basic training for a monk has a lot in common with the basic training of a Marine. It's very physically and emotionally demanding (and abusive at times). The trainer monks/drill sergeants are brutal in their efforts to "break" their new recruits and get them to signup to the cause.
2. The narrator is a wuss. OK, that may be a little strong. Let me try again. The narrator is a very subservient Japanese male with a greatly exaggerated response to authority. Not an uncommon Japanese condition, I suppose.
Back to the book as a Buddhist test itself. I didn't really enjoy the read much. It was very boring, most of it. I mean, there are pages and pages of text on properly going to the bathroom and taking a bath. Sigh. I get it. But, sigh. And to redeem myself, the pages related to proper sitting were fascinating.
The test is to get into the boredom and submit. Alas, I failed my test as a faux Buddhist monk. Sure, I finished the book, but I totally white-knuckled it.
The main character is very whiny and over-dramatic. I think I have an overly positive view of Buddhism as being somehow superior to western religions. I'm pretty sure that's not true. It sure seems there's a lot of overlap with the paternal society and the silly rules and the hierarchy and all that you find in western religions.
I don't think this is a spoiler. In the afterword, this is one of my favorite passages.
QOTD
Excellent.
yow, bill
I love the title of the book. It's "Eat Sleep Sit", not "Pray Meditate Enlighten". Let me see if I can explain myself. In the monks' training, proper eating, sleeping and sitting is necessary and sufficient to attain monk-dom (?) and enlightenment. You do not need to fancy things up. You do not need to master difficult concepts. If you can properly sit and be still, then you are enlightened. If you are enlightened, then you can properly sit. You eat, sleep and sit on your mat, and that place is sacred. No more or less sacred than any place on Earth. Excellent.
I hope that makes sense. It does to me, and its a powerful construct, IMHO. For example, you are a positive cheerful person, if you are positive and cheerful. If you aren't positive, then you aren't positive. No excuses. No this, that, intentions whatever greater powers that are holding you back blah blah. Super. Simple. (Also, if you run, then you are a runner. Ha!)
Two surprising things about the book:
1. The basic training for a monk has a lot in common with the basic training of a Marine. It's very physically and emotionally demanding (and abusive at times). The trainer monks/drill sergeants are brutal in their efforts to "break" their new recruits and get them to signup to the cause.
2. The narrator is a wuss. OK, that may be a little strong. Let me try again. The narrator is a very subservient Japanese male with a greatly exaggerated response to authority. Not an uncommon Japanese condition, I suppose.
Back to the book as a Buddhist test itself. I didn't really enjoy the read much. It was very boring, most of it. I mean, there are pages and pages of text on properly going to the bathroom and taking a bath. Sigh. I get it. But, sigh. And to redeem myself, the pages related to proper sitting were fascinating.
The test is to get into the boredom and submit. Alas, I failed my test as a faux Buddhist monk. Sure, I finished the book, but I totally white-knuckled it.
The main character is very whiny and over-dramatic. I think I have an overly positive view of Buddhism as being somehow superior to western religions. I'm pretty sure that's not true. It sure seems there's a lot of overlap with the paternal society and the silly rules and the hierarchy and all that you find in western religions.
I don't think this is a spoiler. In the afterword, this is one of my favorite passages.
QOTD
Now, when a mosquito lands on me, I hesitate for a second before killing it.
I no longer eat more than necessary.
I no longer think about things more deeply than necessary.
I have become capable of tears. Once I told someone, "A man who can cry is a lucky man." I never could, before. I used to think what a relief it must be to let yourself go and cry, but I just couldn't. Now I can cry in great gulping sobs.
That's about it, I think. Then again, I could be completely wrong.
- Nonomura, on 4 ways his Buddhist training changed him, years later
Excellent.
yow, bill
July 18, 2017
I found this account of a year spent in monastic training at a Zen temple compulsive reading, although I tried to slow down to fully appreciate the philosophy and images that were unfolding. This is a detailed account of daily live at an extremely rigorous monastery, but it gives very little insight into the emotions and thoughts of the monks. The narrator doesn't seem to understand himself why he has entered the monastery, and doesn't give much account of the effects it has on his mental state. The training he undergoes is incredibly harsh -- some might say abusive -- trainee monks are regularly kicked, hit and beaten for seemingly small infractions of complex rules. They are given no time to rest and very little to eat. They rise at 1.30 am, and many suffer from vitamin deficiencies. Though the narrator makes the physical impact of this clear, and the immediate emotional impact, i.e. the anxiety and suffering, he does not really discuss the lasting impact this may have, or why he continues with the training. I found this account very interesting in its detailed descriptions of training, and the insight this gives us into Zen as practiced by these monks, but it lacked depth.
May 13, 2011
"Accept each moment as it comes."
-Nonomura. Eat, Sleep, Sit.
As the river flows, so does life. This is the message that is given to us by Nonomura (age 30 at the time) in this short book of his year long stay at Eihei-ji, Japan's most rigorous Soto-Zen temple. With every page, the message 'without suffering and hardship in this moment, there cannot be peace and happiness in subsequent moments' flows out. The message, however, is very subtle, and if you don't look closely, and really consider it, you'll miss it.
This idea can be captured by another quote:
“Nature speaks eloquently to those who listen; to others, she barely shows herself.”
The book meanders through the natural seasons, relating them to life and ritual at Eihei-ji. The relation is very subtle in that the two are so intimately linked, it would be hard to imagine life in that setting without them. With each new season, everything changes: from the bells that are tolled, to the food that is eaten, to the sutras and cermonies that are read and performed. Staying very present, the book explains many of the facets of that life, of the difficulties, and also of the rewards. It speaks of just living as a human being on the earth, about how to just be a person, without complicating the matter.
In the afternote, the author mentions that for a long time before coming to Eihei-ji, he had lived in a single season: one full of hopeless, passionless emptiness; a completely unfulfilling and saddening existence. Coming to Eihei-ji allowed him to come back in touch with himself, and touch the peace within him, and in the world around him. His afternote, written five years after Eihei-ji, has a dramatically different tone: the tone of one who has fully reintegrated into society, and is once again busying about. It speaks of sadness and despair again. At last, it talks about his memory of life at Eihei-ji fading away.
When I look back at my own childhood, at the golden summers spent growing up in California, I also see the peace and happiness that I had in them slipping away. Everything is subject to change, and nothing is completely satisfactory. If I live knowing these two things, I can truly accept each moment as it comes, and touch peace within and without. This is the message I was made aware of by "Eat, Sleep, Sit."
-Nonomura. Eat, Sleep, Sit.
As the river flows, so does life. This is the message that is given to us by Nonomura (age 30 at the time) in this short book of his year long stay at Eihei-ji, Japan's most rigorous Soto-Zen temple. With every page, the message 'without suffering and hardship in this moment, there cannot be peace and happiness in subsequent moments' flows out. The message, however, is very subtle, and if you don't look closely, and really consider it, you'll miss it.
This idea can be captured by another quote:
“Nature speaks eloquently to those who listen; to others, she barely shows herself.”
The book meanders through the natural seasons, relating them to life and ritual at Eihei-ji. The relation is very subtle in that the two are so intimately linked, it would be hard to imagine life in that setting without them. With each new season, everything changes: from the bells that are tolled, to the food that is eaten, to the sutras and cermonies that are read and performed. Staying very present, the book explains many of the facets of that life, of the difficulties, and also of the rewards. It speaks of just living as a human being on the earth, about how to just be a person, without complicating the matter.
In the afternote, the author mentions that for a long time before coming to Eihei-ji, he had lived in a single season: one full of hopeless, passionless emptiness; a completely unfulfilling and saddening existence. Coming to Eihei-ji allowed him to come back in touch with himself, and touch the peace within him, and in the world around him. His afternote, written five years after Eihei-ji, has a dramatically different tone: the tone of one who has fully reintegrated into society, and is once again busying about. It speaks of sadness and despair again. At last, it talks about his memory of life at Eihei-ji fading away.
When I look back at my own childhood, at the golden summers spent growing up in California, I also see the peace and happiness that I had in them slipping away. Everything is subject to change, and nothing is completely satisfactory. If I live knowing these two things, I can truly accept each moment as it comes, and touch peace within and without. This is the message I was made aware of by "Eat, Sleep, Sit."
January 21, 2014
Wow. The book is not the most beautiful piece of writing you will ever read (or it lost it's grace in translation). But the content is electrifying, fascinating, horrifying, confounding and unique.
I actually can't guarantee it's unique. Maybe somebody else has written a Tell all book about being a trainee monk at the most prestigious monastery in the Soto Zen tradition in Japan.
In it's simple, blunt way, the pain and exhilaration of training to be a Soto Zen monk is perfectly captured and communicated. Often, the author resorts to listing the methods for certain common tasks: brushing one's teeth say.
At first I thought these lists of tasks, or sequences of activities was an odd way of communicating his point. But by the end of the book I realized it was Central to his life as a trainee monk, or any Soto Zen monk. It's all about the minutiae of living, codified a thousand years ago and not much changed since then.
Just be glad one of the changes includes the introduction of toilet paper, as the original was, well, it sure surprised me.
I have to say it broke my heart to read about the awful conditions the trainees are subjected to. Surely there is a better way, but maybe not, especially if you are in a hurry to reach enlightenment ( if that's the way to say it) -or at least, to be a monk.
If you are curious about the topic - it's a great fast read. And it's very moving at times. I you never thought to read a book in the Buddhist world of books until now, this one would be a very difficult place to start!
Edit: I don't know why so many words have gone missing in this review. I assure you that my sentences start normally, rather than in the middle. I can't see a way to make the missing words appear.
I do apologize for the very awkward way this review reads as a result. Maybe I should find a librarian and ask what's going on.
Ruby
www.opaltones.com
I actually can't guarantee it's unique. Maybe somebody else has written a Tell all book about being a trainee monk at the most prestigious monastery in the Soto Zen tradition in Japan.
In it's simple, blunt way, the pain and exhilaration of training to be a Soto Zen monk is perfectly captured and communicated. Often, the author resorts to listing the methods for certain common tasks: brushing one's teeth say.
At first I thought these lists of tasks, or sequences of activities was an odd way of communicating his point. But by the end of the book I realized it was Central to his life as a trainee monk, or any Soto Zen monk. It's all about the minutiae of living, codified a thousand years ago and not much changed since then.
Just be glad one of the changes includes the introduction of toilet paper, as the original was, well, it sure surprised me.
I have to say it broke my heart to read about the awful conditions the trainees are subjected to. Surely there is a better way, but maybe not, especially if you are in a hurry to reach enlightenment ( if that's the way to say it) -or at least, to be a monk.
If you are curious about the topic - it's a great fast read. And it's very moving at times. I you never thought to read a book in the Buddhist world of books until now, this one would be a very difficult place to start!
Edit: I don't know why so many words have gone missing in this review. I assure you that my sentences start normally, rather than in the middle. I can't see a way to make the missing words appear.
I do apologize for the very awkward way this review reads as a result. Maybe I should find a librarian and ask what's going on.
Ruby
www.opaltones.com
June 6, 2011
I read this book after spending nearly two years living and working in Nagoya Japan. The book helped to complete my quest for insight into what constitutes genuine "Japanese" culture - in the traditional sense. Nonomura-san could not have imagined the subtle doors that he opened for those who sympathize with his quest for real meaning in the cultural slurry of modern living, but lack the opportunity to commit, as he did, the time, the resources, or the fortitude to making the bold move to do it. My own decision to move to Japan was an Eiheiji moment of sorts, but involved nowhere near the sacrifice of modern convenience and sensibility. Those who consider this book "boring", may similarly pass on, say, Ansel Adams' black and white renditions of Yosemite in winter. In my opinion, the book was equally stunning in its objective capture of nature, in the form of day-to-day life at a centuries old Zen temple, doing its slow work.
January 23, 2016
This books was fascinating to me. I got to learn about a life completely different from my own, experience one man's year of transformation. I was incredibly surprised by the level of violence and harshness experienced by the monks. Although in one passage Nonomura explains that the purpose of the violence isn't to inflict pain, the result is nonetheless unpleasant. I also found I was ignorant as to the cultural drivers that lead some men to find themselves at Eiheiji. I think the most important take away for me is understanding that these men are still human, and go through the same struggles any of us would have in going from a freedom embracing society to one identified by lack of self.
As a member of modern society, I couldn't resist Googling Eiheiji and seeing what the place looks like. In that respect it met my expectations for what a Zen Buddhist temple would be, and is certainly beautiful.
As a member of modern society, I couldn't resist Googling Eiheiji and seeing what the place looks like. In that respect it met my expectations for what a Zen Buddhist temple would be, and is certainly beautiful.
August 1, 2022
This is an account of a 30-year-old Japanese man's first and only year at Eiheiji. Unlike most entrants he didn't want to qualify as a priest to run a temple, but went simply for questioning/spiritual reasons, which he downplays hugely in the book because he's not writing about Zen theory if there is such a thing, but about practice, so it's almost all focused on the physical and practical details.
I think you would need some experience of Zen practice to appreciate this book because otherwise, as some reviewers have said, it reads a lot like a description of a very harsh military boot camp, with a excess of detail that wouldn't mean much to the non-practitioner and might get boring. But for anyone with some familiarity and interest in Zen, I highly recommend it.
I think you would need some experience of Zen practice to appreciate this book because otherwise, as some reviewers have said, it reads a lot like a description of a very harsh military boot camp, with a excess of detail that wouldn't mean much to the non-practitioner and might get boring. But for anyone with some familiarity and interest in Zen, I highly recommend it.
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March 28, 2024It’s always fun to read about a group of people (that I’m unfamiliar with), what they eat and do.
Living in an ancient architectural complex deep in the mountains would undoubtably fill one with something akin to peace and awe. (I’d love that.)
The living condition was …inhumane? Out of the bed at 3:30 AM (even earlier if they had tasks that require as early as 1:30AM); restrictive and unbalanced diet (excessive carb) to the point a third of the group had to be admitted to the hospital; the violence and abuse, gaslighting, shamming…..
Makes me question where do we draw the line between religion and cult.
Living in an ancient architectural complex deep in the mountains would undoubtably fill one with something akin to peace and awe. (I’d love that.)
The living condition was …inhumane? Out of the bed at 3:30 AM (even earlier if they had tasks that require as early as 1:30AM); restrictive and unbalanced diet (excessive carb) to the point a third of the group had to be admitted to the hospital; the violence and abuse, gaslighting, shamming…..
Makes me question where do we draw the line between religion and cult.
March 26, 2010
very interesting book, but i think you need to be in the right mindset to read it. i was coming off of a yoga retreat, and was ill so had a good chunk of time to delve in - this isn't the kind of book you want to read in random pieces, though it does go rather quickly.
the author is headed to a Japanese zen temple, so that is interesting in that it is two stages removed from the original zen founding (India, then China, then Japan). i wish i knew a little bit more about the distinction before i read it, but it was easy enough to see what was Chinese and what was Sanskrit.
it is basically a telling of his year, dwelling on activities of a single regular day, as well as more ceremonial holidays, etc. you learn little about the other monks and their development - you assume the author knew little about them as well, focusing on his own path instead.
the author's rethinking of himself is a great path to see unfold through his days at the temple. i was at first surprised by the violence of the teachings, but can see the value in the method even if i do not agree.
i would recommend it to anyone curious about the lifestyle of a zen monk in training, or who is looking for their own path.
the author is headed to a Japanese zen temple, so that is interesting in that it is two stages removed from the original zen founding (India, then China, then Japan). i wish i knew a little bit more about the distinction before i read it, but it was easy enough to see what was Chinese and what was Sanskrit.
it is basically a telling of his year, dwelling on activities of a single regular day, as well as more ceremonial holidays, etc. you learn little about the other monks and their development - you assume the author knew little about them as well, focusing on his own path instead.
the author's rethinking of himself is a great path to see unfold through his days at the temple. i was at first surprised by the violence of the teachings, but can see the value in the method even if i do not agree.
i would recommend it to anyone curious about the lifestyle of a zen monk in training, or who is looking for their own path.
January 4, 2012
First, my thanks to the author, Mr. Nonomura, for sharing this intimate portrait of his year at Eiheiji monastery. It took courage to enter the Dragon's Gate, and even more courage to tell everyone about it with such honesty. For anyone curious about life inside Eiheiji, this book tells it like it is. What thought kept coming to me as I was reading it was, "Why would anyone put themselves through this willingly?" When one usually thinks of Buddha, one doesn't think of starvation, beatings, yelling, sleep deprivation and endless cleaning all in the name of monastic discipline. Would the historical Buddha approve of such treatment? Is this what he had in mind? Is such strict discipline necessary for attaining enlightenment? I cannot say. But Mr. Nonomura says what he learned at Eiheiji was to cherish and accept each and every moment of your life as it happens.
September 30, 2015
A very accessible and well written account of what it is like to go to Eiheiji and try to be a monk. I learned a lot from this book!
November 9, 2023
I've always found Zen the widest Eastern cultural chasm to navigate. By this I mean, I've always found it hard not to see Zen as a very stupid and gleefully non-Buddhist sect of Buddhism. There's nothing here that resembles the Middle Way, and there's a lot more of the Japanese love for authority and imposing power on inferiors than there is any mention of the Eightfold Path. Master Dogen did kindly pass on his teachings on how to shit properly, so we must be grateful for that. It seems, with the invention of toilet paper, humanity is hellbent toward the suffocation of sensual indulgence.
Zen always puts emphasis on practice rather than philosophy (as the practice is so clearly in conflict with any wider philosophy) so let's try to put those complaints aside. I've read this described as a boot-camp memoir, and it seems accurate. Nonomura is so fearful of defining his objective in becoming a monk in any clear way we have to consider him in the vein of Sosuke from Natsume Soseki's The Gate; seeking some kind of spiritual answer for questions he cannot himself articulate. We get to meet a very colourful cast of characters to make up for Nonomura's Murakami-esque vacancy.
Like, uh...the fat guy. The fat monk. The monk who is fat. And jolly! And plump.
And the guys who are training to be monks because it's in their family! So spiritual and inspiring. And the guy with a wife and child, whose brain is apparently too slow to learn sutras or whatever because it's impossible to learn anything beyond the age of 35. A dynamic cast.
Frequently I had to question the quality of the translation. Juliet Winters Carpenter is a very accomplished translator, and I read two other books she translated and found...well. Similar problems in all three books. Laboured, hackneyed turns of phrase. Thought-terminating cliches that don't even have the advantage of cliche in English, of sounding natural. I'm leaning towards this being a problem of the original text and not Winters Carpenter, but it's disappointing when translators studiously recreate bland language. (I wouldn't have noticed if you improved on the original, you know. Maybe you already did, but it wasn't enough.) Nonomura denotes the passage of time with traditionally Japanese awareness of the seasons, always rendered prosaically, and finishing with...wow, is it Spring?!? Cherry blossoms?!?! What an amazing country.
Accidentally turned out quite scathing here. A lot of what is translated here refers to the texts of Dogen, and a lot of that is interesting, even if it seems at times that Dogen was a monk who went to China, thought everyone was gross, and returned home to write texts and texts on grooming and justify it after the fact as Zen practice.
I think I have to finally turn away from anything Zen related, as my taste and prejudice is too firmly entrenched. I'd love to have my mind changed, but I don't think anyone has the time of day for me. I still think Buddhism is incredibly important to me in developing my own spiritual understanding, finding my religion, or whatever, and I'm still very appreciative of Japanese culture, despite how this review sounds. The twain shall not meet.
Zen always puts emphasis on practice rather than philosophy (as the practice is so clearly in conflict with any wider philosophy) so let's try to put those complaints aside. I've read this described as a boot-camp memoir, and it seems accurate. Nonomura is so fearful of defining his objective in becoming a monk in any clear way we have to consider him in the vein of Sosuke from Natsume Soseki's The Gate; seeking some kind of spiritual answer for questions he cannot himself articulate. We get to meet a very colourful cast of characters to make up for Nonomura's Murakami-esque vacancy.
Like, uh...the fat guy. The fat monk. The monk who is fat. And jolly! And plump.
And the guys who are training to be monks because it's in their family! So spiritual and inspiring. And the guy with a wife and child, whose brain is apparently too slow to learn sutras or whatever because it's impossible to learn anything beyond the age of 35. A dynamic cast.
Frequently I had to question the quality of the translation. Juliet Winters Carpenter is a very accomplished translator, and I read two other books she translated and found...well. Similar problems in all three books. Laboured, hackneyed turns of phrase. Thought-terminating cliches that don't even have the advantage of cliche in English, of sounding natural. I'm leaning towards this being a problem of the original text and not Winters Carpenter, but it's disappointing when translators studiously recreate bland language. (I wouldn't have noticed if you improved on the original, you know. Maybe you already did, but it wasn't enough.) Nonomura denotes the passage of time with traditionally Japanese awareness of the seasons, always rendered prosaically, and finishing with...wow, is it Spring?!? Cherry blossoms?!?! What an amazing country.
Accidentally turned out quite scathing here. A lot of what is translated here refers to the texts of Dogen, and a lot of that is interesting, even if it seems at times that Dogen was a monk who went to China, thought everyone was gross, and returned home to write texts and texts on grooming and justify it after the fact as Zen practice.
I think I have to finally turn away from anything Zen related, as my taste and prejudice is too firmly entrenched. I'd love to have my mind changed, but I don't think anyone has the time of day for me. I still think Buddhism is incredibly important to me in developing my own spiritual understanding, finding my religion, or whatever, and I'm still very appreciative of Japanese culture, despite how this review sounds. The twain shall not meet.
April 8, 2020
Not sure what exactly I was expecting from this book. It’s essentially a run on sequence of events as they occurred from his first steps to the monastery to his final exit a year later. Very informative and detailed, but quite boring. Then again, as he states quite clearly in the afterword, life is comprised of quite a bit of monotony — moments we typically classify as “boring,” so maybe this story is told perfectly in line with the philosophy being conveyed. Within the every day monotonous lies the sacred, the absolute, the holy. If you’re completely unacquainted with Zen, this book will surely provide you insights into the hardships training monks must endure while on their spiritual path within communal living. If you’re already familiar with etiquette and have watched a five minute YouTube video regarding the schedule of a monk’s life in a Zen temple, well.... this probably won’t be much new content. I very much enjoyed his thoughts on “the point” of sitting (hint: there is no point except absolute acceptance of every thing that comes up in each moment), as well as what he took away from living in the monastery for a year, told in the afterword. Probably won’t be rereading this one, but there’s something in it for someone else, certainly.
June 4, 2018
Given that I’ve often though the only way to live a truly ~pure~life is by doing something like becoming a recluse/buddhist monk figured this would be an educational look into what it is actually like. Also being in Japan I wanted to learn more about Zen Buddhism and WOW there’s a lot I didn’t expect. The rigor! physical abuse! starvation! stress! It’s not the leisurely zen experience I imagined at all it is very UNCHILL. But, the author clearly took away a lot from his experience there and does a great job of describing his progression through the temple’s hierarchy while keeping things interesting and engaging which considering they are mostly sitting eating and cleaning is hard to do. Also the translation is amazing! It’s beautiful and I feel like I got a real sense of the author’s style which I don’t always feel with translations. Overall, I am concluded I could never enter a Japanese temple like this I would actually die. But I learned a lot from Nonomura’s recount of his experience and thoroughly enjoyed the read which focuses on the positive aspects of his hardships. A good museum shop find!!
October 21, 2024
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. As some other reviewers have mentioned, I expected it to have some content related to the spiritual, but this was minimal. The book largely describes the ludicrously rigorous details of the first year of temple life--and I mean that without disrespect, for the apparent pointlessness of the rules is kind of the point. I wouldn't have minded the detailed descriptions of how to get dressed for various occasions or go to the bathroom if the author had described the internal effects of these on his spiritual life or outlook. In fact, there was so little information about why he'd decided to go into the monastery to begin with and what kept him motivated to stay, that his decision to leave at the end of the first year felt kind of arbitrary. And then, at the end he can't even say what, if any, lasting effect the whole experience had on him. I'm glad to have the understanding of what's involved in the first year of Zen monks' training, but overall I found this book unsatisfying.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 8, 2021
An inordinate amount of time is spent on capturing the routine at Eiheiji, Japan's foremost Zen temple. It made the early going tough, but as the book unfolds, you get glimpses into the author's true impressions, and the effect the rigorous life has on him. From the violent treatment at the hands of the trainers, to the spare diet which leaves some prone to medical issues caused by nutritional deficiencies. The training seems so much like a military boot camp, and I found myself wondering why this takes place at a Zen monastery. Perhaps it is a remnant from the time a few centuries ago when many of the temples had their own standing armies to defend themselves against a multitude of aggressors. They often had fearsome reputations. Still, it seems a holdover that could be easily dispensed with, and may even help the trainees feel closer to Zen.
June 5, 2024
Its been 10 months since picking up this book, began reading it at large, slowed down somewhere and would only read a few pages here and there, putting it my bag almost everyday to not be opened for weeks at a time, we’ve travelled across countries and states and parks and as I recently picked it up and finished it, I feel such a content-ness I cannot explain.
Few notes from my reading:
If night where as bright as day, a great portion of the worlds beauty would surely vanish
Young and old alike need to live with the dignity appropriate to their age and society must ensure that this is possible
Nature speaks eloquently so to those who listen, to others, she barely shows herself
All progress and development must line with nature
Winter stars like sparkling chips of ice
Forgetting is a sign of life, a principle of nature
Few notes from my reading:
If night where as bright as day, a great portion of the worlds beauty would surely vanish
Young and old alike need to live with the dignity appropriate to their age and society must ensure that this is possible
Nature speaks eloquently so to those who listen, to others, she barely shows herself
All progress and development must line with nature
Winter stars like sparkling chips of ice
Forgetting is a sign of life, a principle of nature
April 30, 2019
A brutally honest account of one man's year training at Eihei-Ji, a temple at the pinnacle of the Zen world. Westerners tend to have a ridiculously idealised view of what Zen is. Nonomura, or Rosan as he was known as a monk, will put all that to rest. Zen puts the Spartans to shame. Trainees tied into place to ensure proper posture while meditating. Food so restricted monks contract beriberi. Beatings with canes for each infraction. And that's the beginning of training so intense trainees would routinely skip meals to avoid vomiting.
None of this, however, is a condemnation of Soto Zen practice. I adored Nonomura's clear-eyed devotion. The lessons he learned about life and Buddhism through the austerity of Eihei-Ji are clear and inspiring.
None of this, however, is a condemnation of Soto Zen practice. I adored Nonomura's clear-eyed devotion. The lessons he learned about life and Buddhism through the austerity of Eihei-Ji are clear and inspiring.
March 9, 2020
Lovely memoir from a year spent in one of the most strict Soto Buddhist monasteries in the world. I can only wonder what exactly are experiences after such times. The book really gave chills from time to time, while reading about the total lack of sleep at nights, early night meditation or work practice, physical and psychological hardships. On the other hand - this is experience of your own nature stripped to the very core (I suppose). The first half of the book with extensive quotations from Dogen and not many things happening, did not do much to me, however, it got much better and more interesting in the second half of the book. And I am just left wondering what exactly IS that feeling of spring after one year of intense training. Great.
February 4, 2021
This is not a book about Zen… it makes no grand postulations about aesthetic practices nor scholarly examinations of Eiheiji. Written in plain, untheatrical descriptions of the daily lives of a trainee monk, this book had taken me along on a journey, where I could vividly see myself walking in the dim covered corridors of the grounds. It felt cleansing to read this book, and I was especially able to relate the harsh initiation periods for new entrants to some of my experiences in college, invoking long-harbored interests in aestheticism. The narrator plays an elusive role in the book, at once giving the readers the impression of a humble, but actually brilliant, and downtrodden pawn in society and that of shenxiu in the platform of the sixth patriarch, who is forever outside the door.
October 15, 2017
I was first introduced to this book while staying at a benedictine monastery where it was the suppertime reading for the month. The book is - as described - a glimpse into the life of those undergoing training at Eiheiji. While much of the books is very bare bones descriptive narration, we get more of a glimpse of Kaoru's thoughts and feelings in the later chapters as he moves up the ranks and his decision to leave. It was these last chapters that left me wondering about monastic virtue and whether there would be a benefit to me recovering some of those practices in my own life.
July 19, 2020
This was a highly descriptive book, but was light on personal emotional insight. I've read a ton of books on the topic of Buddhism. This one as an eye opener. I didn't know that there was a Zen Monastery (Eihei-ji) where they still hit their students. The book describes a very severe environment that brings the author into the present moment, but the atmosphere also reminded me of the code of bushido, where duty, hierarchy and authority reign supreme.
August 21, 2023
Kokonaisuus myötäilee kirjailijan luostarikokemusta ja on täten ymmärrettävästi aika ajoin hieman pitkästyttävää ja yksitoikkoista luettavaa. Suuri osa kirjasta keskittyy kuvaamaan Eiheijin arkea hyvin yksityiskohtaisesti ja henkilökohtaisempi näkökulma jää useimmissa kohdissa puuttumaan. Kun kirjailija teoksen loppupuolella viimein avaa kokemustaan enemmän myös tunteiden ja oppimansa näkökulmasta, kirja saa aivan uuden sävyn jota olisin kaivannut enemmänkin.
May 5, 2018
Having been to Eiheiji Temple and having sat meditation in the mountains elsewhere, this book had a great appeal! What life was like physically, but also what it felt like comes through so clearly. I did wonder, though, if anyone ever got sick--or did I miss that. A lot to think about in this book and I look forward to re-reading it!
August 3, 2018
Very much about the ins and outs of life at Eiheiji, with not as much about the author's growth in Buddhism and Zen as I was expecting. Or, maybe that was the point, as he very succinctly sums up how he's changed towards the end. Still worth a read.
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January 12, 2025Spent the last 2 months just reading Proust so it was nice to read something more legible lol - liked that after a year of Eiheiji he finally understood Spring and that was all that he needed… Nice!!!
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