Ito

Miraculously, I did not much today. I walked in the ocean. I read by the river side.

I soaked. I ate. I even took a nap! But near then end of the day I checked in with the world and discovered a friend had died. Thanks to this Temple be speckled country I had a place to go to pray that he found the peace he could not find in life. 

Bukkoji Temple was the closest. A woman opened the doors to the temple for me. She was trying to tell me about the temple stamp and the various prayer options I could purchase in japanese, which i do not understand, when I told her why I was there. She brought me to the alter and led me in Japanese in a repetitive prayer and indicated a moment in which I was to say my words of prayer to my friend. 

She was very consoling. 

Life and death do continue on.

From great sadness comes the appreciation of simple happiness. I watched a crane fish for food, a duck work his little feet to paddle up stream, and a pigeon trying to woo his mate with a groovy head bobbing maneuver.