You Can’t Find Everything Online
Lessons learned from attending a disappointing meditation retreat on the other side of the world.
From finding the most popular restaurants anywhere in the world (thanks Yelp, HappyCow, TripAdvisor) to the best products in any category (thanks Amazon), I pride myself in the ability to find anything and everything through the internet.
For anyone catching up to what I’m up to now, I left my job in San Francisco to travel and explore mindfulness around the world. As a part of my Eat Pray Love adventure, I stumbled upon a beautiful Zen meditation retreat in Oita, Japan. (Southern Japan for anyone curious)
Recently, I attended a seven-day Vipassana (silent meditation) retreat in Massachusetts that was deeply enlightening. To say the week was perfect… would not do it justice. It was that good. Thinking that this Zen retreat was going to be another extraordinary experience, I packed my bags and flew to Japan giddy with excitement.
Upon arrival, I immediately noticed that something was very different. I was invited into the kitchen where the other guests were sitting, enjoying tea, and chatting with their laptop and phones wide open. This was extremely odd to me. Coming from a week-long silent meditation Vipassana retreat, I was used to complete silence and zero electronics. My short time practicing Zen in San Francisco also had all of the attendees put away our phones. (We would often hide them under our Zafutons)
“I’m sure everyone is just on a break” I thought.
The next morning, the retreat started just like my Vipassana retreat. A loud gong woke everyone up at 5:30 AM and I rolled out of my bed towards the meditation hall. After the morning meditation session, which lasted a full one hour, the main monk left and I was abruptly released to do whatever I had wished for the remainder of the day.
Looking back, a small part of me expected this when I saw that there were a few gaps for “free time” in the example itinerary, but I assumed that it would be picking various activities to deepen my meditation practice. However, I felt reassured at the time after reading reviews on Google Maps and TripAdvisor.
Reviews, as helpful as they are, are also quite biased in nature. The users leaving these reviews have their own personal preferences and life history that skew both the quantitative (number of stars) and qualitative (written review) rating. Most reviews are also left by either starry-eyed (five-star) or scarred (one-star) experiences. Thinking about myself, rarely do I leave reviews for average products with average experiences.
At the retreat, I was left with unstructured free time, no zen teaching and full of regret. Ironically, I sat in meditation on the second day asking my mind and heart for advice on this particular situation. In the end, I chose to make the most of the opportunity by transforming the meditation retreat into a stay-cation. I caught up on my work, immersed myself in books, and connected with the other retreat attendees on life. Over the weekend, we all left the temple to visit a nearby tourist town to celebrate one of the retreat attendee’s birthdays. In Beppu, also known as “Onsen (Hot Springs) Town”, we ate (hot pot), relaxed (hot springs), and sang (Karaoke) the night away.
Although I am still bummed about this whole experience, I hold this retreat as a reminder that I can’t find everything online, even enlightenment. But by relishing in the opportunity, I walk away from this retreat having made beautiful friendships with those who are on the same journey to be awakened as I.
(For anyone curious, Shoganji Zen Retreat is the meditation destination)
Thank you for your time and readership!
If you liked this content, give me a few claps 👏 or follow my Medium account! 👆 I love creating content related to mindfulness, health, and productivity.
I also have a weekly newsletter called Mindful Moments where I share my latest content and discoveries in mindfulness. Free for you and the work of my love. 💘
💌 Subscribe to Mindful Moments!
Have a fabulous day!
Metta (loving-kindness),
Steven
