BERLIN A 34-year-old Japanese Buddhist monk and actor who is living in Berlin is trying to teach his students there how to apply Zen wisdom to modern life.

Seigaku, who was born Seitaro Higuchi in Yonago, Tottori Prefecture, in January 1981, became an actor when he was a student at Tokyos Keio University. It was there that he encountered Zen Buddhism, which he studied as part of his actor training.

I recognized that acting and Buddhism are the same in the sense that each requires the practitioners to know themselves, he said.

He spent three years undergoing relentless training at Eiheiji, the head temple of Soto Zen Buddhism, in Fukui Prefecture.

Life at the temple was the absolute opposite of ordinary daily life, but he did not consider it painful.

Seigaku said he listened to the voices of my body during Zen meditation, ate simple meals and cleaned floors until they were spotless.

As we dont know what will happen tomorrow, we should do what we can do today, he said, recalling his conclusion that Zen Buddhism can be practiced anywhere, even in big cities.

In October 2011, Seigaku moved to Berlin with his wife on a scholarship from a temple in Yokohama. They now have two children.

As the scholarship lasted for only a year, Seigaku said he and his wife, who now have two children, were barely surviving.

But he has no worries about life as the participants in his Zen meditation sessions donate from time to time, and he also receives bread and vegetables when he goes out to seek alms.

Continued here:

119.3 /$ (5 p.m.)