I Spent 24 Hours Training Like a Japanese Monk

[00:02] history and culture and one such aspect that brings out the uniqueness of Japan is Buddhism according to a 2022 study around 67% of the Japanese population identify as Buddhist making it easily the most predominant religion in all of

[00:18] Japan I personally grew up with a lot of these Buddhist beliefs praying at temples like this believing in karma and reincarnation but I never stopped to think about the Deep meanings and messages hidden between the lines so

[00:32] today I decided to experience firsthand what it's like to really be a part of Japanese Buddhism by going to a Japanese Temple and training like a Japanese monk

[00:44] for an entire day I'm either going to really hate this or I will be reborn as really hate this or I will be reborn as an entirely new man only time will tell but hey before you watch me suffer in my monk training a quick little word about

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[02:58] to Joey in the mountains as he's about to go through a very difficult yet eye openening experience located far east of central Tokyo in the hoha village lies teni a modern Temple that sees over 5,000 pilgrimages per year the temple

[03:14] offers a service that allows visitors to experience a form of Monk training that practices shinon Buddhism introduced to Japan during the 9th century by the Japanese Buddhist monk kukai the main teachings involve the idea of soin or

[03:30] buddhahood In This Very body finding inner peace and letting go of one's evil energy the moment I stepped into the main room of the temple an overwhelming sense of Serenity and calmness came over me the air around me was still and the

[03:44] smell of incense and wood tickled my nose as I felt the presence of the large Buddha statue standing before me okay we're inside the temple now um we just had to do a little bit of a ritual I am in here no phone no nothing thing just

[04:01] going to be as Zen as possible and see what the Japanese monk experience is like but very I don't know it's a very still atmosphere in here kind of makes me nervous a little bit that I'm not doing anything rude accidentally but

[04:16] yeah after placing the offering to the statue of Buddha and kukai and giving thanks to this pilgrimage we officially began the monk training with something began the monk training with something very simple yet very important breathing

[04:29] shingon Buddhism uses a lot of deep breathing techniques to exercise meditation calmness of the mind and true contact with oneself to help achieve enlightenment as this was my first ever experience going through proper Japanese

[04:44] Buddhism monk training I was definitely struggling a bit to sit straight and breathe deeply as I've never had to do that in my life all that often every that in my life all that often every single movement from bowing to sitting

[04:57] single movement from bowing to sitting to breathing had a purpose and a reason and learning to be comfortable with all of these took me a little longer but once I got the hang of it I could feel my heart rate going down as I sank

[05:10] my heart rate going down as I sank further and further into deep meditation with each breath in I felt a powerful energy radiating through my limbs and with each breath out I could visualize all of the negative energy being

[05:23] expelled from my body it's a truly strange feeling that I can't quite describe but I definitely felt great afterwards the head monk would keep reiterating the importance of calmness in times of stress anxxiety and worry

[05:39] and that with this simple exercise you could free yourself from these negative emotions and be one step closer to True enlightenment

[06:05] [Music] oh oh

[07:39] could definitely believe his words in front of me lay a small double-sided book which consisted of all of the chants and sutras that I would be saying during my time here as someone who grew up Shinto I was definitely used to

[07:52] seeing the walls of kanji sprawled out through its pages but it would be my actual first time Rec reting these sutras out loud myself the rhythm of the chants was steady and purposeful and reciting them pulled me into a lull of

[08:08] sorts as I let the sounds wash over me like a stream

[08:29] [Music] kikik

[09:10] was breakfast and of course we would be eating some Shori which is essentially a collection of various vegetable dishes rice miso soup and barley tea it tasted

[09:22] surprisingly good and I was thankful that the batteries could be recharged with this especially considering what I knew was was about to come next after breakfast I changed into a traditional white robe similar to those that real

[09:35] the main room with some other participants starting with some more Sutra meditations and then proceeding to move outside to do another meditation session and wow this outside meditation session was just otherworldly the

[09:52] trickling sounds of the river flowing in the distance the birds chirping into the Deep Mountain Air the crickets buzzing in a cacophony to signify another Japanese summer everything all collapsed into a soothing white noise that

[10:07] accompanied My Mind through its Journey for inner peace as corny as it sounds it made me feel one with the Earth and it'll probably be something I won't forget for the rest of my life but soon after this meditation came our first

[10:22] piece of physical training it consisted of a series of stone pathways leading to and from a single single wooden pole that had a short Sutra written on it in forth while giving thanks to Buddha for letting us give pilgrimage to this

[10:38] Temple and to give us the strength to overcome the many challenges in life we would face from here on out however this wasn't just a one-time operation no we would have to repeat this cycle 100 times in a row although a

[10:54] single set of this only consisted of jogging around 10 m or so in total I probably covered close to a kilometer of solid stone ground on bare feet even

[11:06] though it didn't seem like much at first the harsh Japanese summer heat and the monotonous exercise was definitely getting to me both physically and getting to me both physically and mentally

[11:57] of accomplishment wash over over me knowing that whatever task I would be knowing that whatever task I would be faced with next I had the will and power to overcome it you almost forget you're like what am I doing again and I don't

[12:10] know I think it like takes all of the unnecessary thoughts out of your head but I am drenched bro it's it's like 36° 37° today this is not running season right now but let's go get some tea and then we're off to the

[12:25] waterfall yay it was time to hop in the car and head deep into the mountains to face what would ultimately become the most physically taxing part of the entire training that's right it was finally time for the waterfall

[12:41] meditation I would be lying if I said I wasn't slightly looking forward to it I'd seen so many videos of people praying as a colossal force of water crushed them from above and always thought I mean how hard could this

[12:56] thought I mean how hard could this actually be oh man was I about to find out that looks small but I can already tell that's going to

[13:08] waterfall under the watchful eye of the temple you couldn't just walk in and start praying a multistep process of giving thanks to the gods of the Mountain Land and waterfall itself was in order and then it was finally time to

[13:23] sink myself literally into the deep end and well I guess it's easier to show and well I guess it's easier to show than tell what happened

[13:51] immediately Hit Me No not just the water itself hitting me more the realization that I was literally gas sping for air between chance as my body was experiencing the pure shock of the freezing water temperature and the

[14:07] crushing pressure from above you might be looking at this footage and thinking oh come on man it's a tiny waterfall look at it how hard could this be and trust me I was thinking the exact same

[14:20] thing but I had severely underestimated everything after I was pushed back further into the waterfall the force grew exponentially it felt like I was being constantly punched in the back of the

[14:33] head by a group of people but the only thing that held me to this Earth was the Shivering desperate chance I was repeatedly squeezing out of my face and throwing out into the void however when I eventually had to literally sit under

[14:49] I eventually had to literally sit under the waterfall something strange happened all that force all of that pressure all of that cold suddenly all went away it of that cold suddenly all went away it was as if my body had accepted its fate

[15:04] and decided to shut off all of my senses and I felt like I was floating my teeth stopped chattering my limbs stopped shaking and all I felt was this sense of

[15:23] Serenity there's a Japanese phrase that monks use that understood this phrase for the first time under this meditative State once my

[15:35] body and mind shut itself off and I dived deep into my subconscious everything almost felt Pleasant and that there was absolutely nothing to worry about finally though after the longest 2 minutes of my life I was dragged out by

[15:52] the head monk gave my thanks to the gods again and my physical training was officially complete bro I thought I was going to pass away that first like 5 to 10 seconds you can't breathe like you literally cannot breathing there it's

[16:07] not even it's the shock it's the of your body like for the first 5 to 10 seconds I was struggling to breathe I was like oh go but once I sat down actually it didn't feel like anything it like the pain went away the cold went away I

[16:23] actually feel really good right now I'm not even cold or anything never again once we were all done it was back to the temple to complete the last part of the training Sutra copying in Buddhism monks would

[16:37] hand copy sutras for many reasons but the biggest Merit was that it was considered a devotional practice that showed respect and honor towards the religion and would also be used as a form of mental training to calm the mind

[16:51] and soul [Music]

[17:07] I would have to hand copy a Sutra I chanted many times throughout today and be as neat and precise as possible with it in complete silence and isolation and

[17:19] it in complete silence and isolation and I'm not very good at calligraphy so I knew this was going to be tough not even 10 minutes in and my hand was cramping the sweat forming on my brow would narrowly miss the incredibly thin paper

[17:35] I was writing on and the nature of the ink brush was making me question if my hands worked at all but the silence and Solitude was revealing itself to be incredibly calming and Serene like I was

[17:50] stuck in a Timeless void with only me and my

[18:26] had finished my Sutra which officially marked the end of my monk training

[19:05] I've experienced it first hand one thing I can say with the utmost sincerity is that Buddhist monk training is absolutely no joke every part of me both

[19:17] physically and mentally was pushed to boundaries I didn't even know existed but after it all it was a very humbling feeling I felt one with the Earth but I

[19:30] feeling I felt one with the Earth but I also felt one with myself and my spirit and the things I felt would be things I would take with me for the rest of my life well I finished up my monk training and uh honestly it was an incredible

[19:45] experience did some parts of it suck like me having to sit in a cza position until my knees broke and having to sit under a waterfall to experience the longest 2 minutes of my life yes but I think the whole point of training like a

[20:00] Japanese Monk Is to make it through those difficult times and to find some kind of soless at the end of it all and honestly I think this whole experience was just a nice detox for me to kind of look back at myself kind of look deep

[20:13] within myself to be able to see life in a different way and I believe this is an experience that everyone should try at you to Tanki for letting me film if You' want to check it out for yourself I will

[20:26] below and thanks for watching guys leave a like if you enjoy subscribe if you're new and I will see you all in the next one Johnny