From April 14 to May 19 I attended Shingyo Dojo the final monastery training period leading to ordination. It is an intense training period of long days. The days began with waking up before 4AM and then quickly doing Suigyo, a water purification ritual. Following that we change into our robes and chanted the Life Span chapter of the Lotus Sutra until time to march up to Kuon-ji for service at 5:30. After morning service at Kuon-ji we quickly marched over to Nichiren's grave and performed a service there. From there we marched back to the monastery to do our morning service there. And so the day went until we went to bed at 9PM. The days were filled with long periods of sutra recitation and Odaimoku chanting. We also had lectures and long practice sessions to perfect our service manner.
The pictures are only part of the story, because no photos can be taken while in Shingyo Dojo so these are contributed by friends.
The photos on this page were taken by Pam Reaville from Seattle who was there to see Joel and I graduate.
