One Nun, Two Faiths: Zen Catholic nun

Yuko Wakayama Yamada, Lon Kurashige (Tricycle); CC Liu, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Is the Catholic Church (Holy Roman Empire) the worst force in the world? (mattbors.com)

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One Nun, Two Faiths: A Japanese devotee’s journey from Catholicism to Zen

Whatcha up to, Sisyphus? - Working, Buddha.

When I was a girl, I was very close with my aunt, my mother’s sister. She didn’t have children of her own, so she treated me as if I were her daughter.

She took me to the park, to the beach, and for drives. She taught me to cook and do patchwork. During summer vacations, I stayed at her house for many days. I really loved her.

Shortly before I graduated from high school, my aunt got sick and in just a few months passed away, at the age of 36. It was too sudden. I was shocked and depressed, and I cried for many days.

On the tombstone, a warning. Let that S go.

“Why did Aunty Michiko have to die?” I asked myself. In my grief, I began to wrestle with the meaning of life.

A concerned friend invited me to her church. I hesitated, because my parents were Buddhist, but I went, and while listening to the Gregorian chants I felt a kind of restoration and peace of mind come over me.

The priest talked about eternal life, which made a deep impression on me, especially in light of my aunt’s death and my nascent search for meaning.

I went back to the church after the first visit and ultimately became an active member of the congregation.

Meditating at the convent confirmed for me that monastic living was the only way I could be truly at peace in this world.

After five years of church attendance, I had the opportunity to visit and meditate at a Catholic convent. I went, but not with the intention of becoming a nun. I didn’t know anything about monasticism; rather, I was seeking to further and deepen my relationship to God.

The convent’s sacred silence and the nuns’ sincere practice moved me. I returned a number of times, and over the course of those visits I came to realize the inadequacy of my ordinary life.

I had enjoyed a normal upbringing with a stable and supportive family, a good education, and many friends (including a romantic partner). But I wasn’t fulfilled.

Meditating at the convent confirmed for me that monastic living was the only way I could be truly at peace in this world. So I decided to take the vows that would make me a Catholic nun.

The convent sat on vast stretch of land in the northern part of the Kanto region of Japan and was surrounded by a tall concrete block wall. In three years, I only left twice — both times to see a doctor when I got sick.

We were 12 sisters practicing together — four novices and the other eight our seniors. The schedule was strict. Every night we were awoken at midnight to go to the chapel for one hour of prayer.

We then went back to sleep until four o’clock morning prayer, which lasted for three hours and included Mass.

Will living as a nun make me happy at death?

During the day we prayed five separate times. Between these sessions we worked in the chapel, kitchen, and vegetable garden and cleaned the convent thoroughly.

All activities except for prayer were conducted in silence. The convent was very quiet, and at first the silence scared me. Only once per day, during a 45-minute recreation period, were we allowed to speak freely to one another. More