Tag Archives: chomon
Introspection
For some time I’ve been quite persuaded by Sartre’s critique of ‘introspection’ (see below); an analysis that seemingly resonates with the Buddhist deconstruction of the ‘self’ concept. Whilst feeling this way however I travelled all the way to Japan last winter to undergo a type of retreat the name of which, ‘chomon’, is usually translated within our [...]
Post-Chomon Reflections (3)
“Impossible it seems to leave this old house of agitation where we have wandered aimlessly since the beginning of time …” (Tannisho IX) My second week after returning from Chomon has been quite challenging. I’ve experienced a number of spontaneously arising insights into my past and present behavioural patterns, whilst at the same I’ve sought to be [...]
Post-Chomon Reflections (2)
I’ve been reflecting a little more on something that I wrote the other day: “Chomon is not a form of psychoanalysis, and certainly conceptual psychological presentations that I gave of my experiences and introspection were routinely rejected by the supervising priests.” In that vein I just recalled that after chomon my teacher actually said to [...]
Post-Chomon Reflections (1)
Just before I went to Japan I read a passage in Annie Cohen-Solal’s Jean-Paul Sartre: A Life (p.xii-xiii) which elicited a strong emotional reaction from me, a response that proved a foreshadowing of my chomon experience. The passage in question describes a parable found in Sartre’s unpublished adolescent novel ‘Une Défaite’: “[The parable is] the story [...]
Temple Stay in Japan 2011 (Part 1)
Chomon Retreat I’ve been away in Japan for the past couple of weeks, the bulk of which time I spent doing a retreat at a Jōdo Shinshū temple. The following is a rough account of my experiences on retreat although I have left out quite a lot of personal detail about my feelings and impressions. Close [...]
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