JETs are a varied and interesting group mostly characterized by their relative intelligence (usually anyway) and their flexibility and willingness to try new things. Hey y’all – I’ve got a hell of a thing for you to try! I first heard about Vipassana from a tour guide in Cambodia, but it seemed like a thing to do in Japan since it’s a Shinto-Buddhist nation. Although it’s not religious or sectarian, the philosophy behind Vipassana is deeply grounded in Buddhist thinking.
As I’m sitting in the steamy outdoor section of the Oosado onsen hotel on Sado Island, Niigata, I’m struck by the vast beauty of the Japan Sea and the snow-covered garden that serves as the only barrier between the hotel and the coast. The scenic view engulfs me in a calm serenity despite the frigid temperature. It’s a crisp minus four degrees, and the hot, bubbling onsen water feels like a warm blanket that heats me up to the neck,
“One day Roland Barthes strolled up the Champs Elysees toward L’Etoile and met an outside-insider. There are many outside-outsiders and a few inside-insiders, he would say, and there are even a very few inside-outsiders [. . .] but the authentic outside-insider is rare.” (Robert Rawdon Wilson, In Palamedes’ Shadow 48)…
