Читать книгу One Arrow, One Life. Zen, Archery, Enlightenment онлайн

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"Didn't you get my letter?" I asked.

"I got the letter," he replied. "You gave us the flight number and your arrival time. You forgot to tell us what day." He slowly shook his head from side to side.

I took my shoes off on the stairs and stepped back on to the verandah. Tanouye Roshi then showed me into the kitchen. "Hurry up and change into your training clothes," he said. "Kyudo practice starts in half an hour and you might as well go. I know this is going to be hard for you."

I changed clothes and waited in the kitchen. An older Japanese man with a shaved head and wearing priest's robes walked by on the verandah. Tanouye Roshi spoke to him in Japanese and brought him towards me. "This," said Tanouye Roshi, "is Suhara Osho." I said I was pleased to meet him. Tanouye Roshi translated.

I had been looking forward to this meeting for a year and a half. Suhara Koun Osho is a Zen priest from the Engaku-Ji temple in Kamakura, Japan, and is also a kyudo master. Tanouye Roshi had met him the year before and had invited him to come to Chozen-Ji to help establish a kyudo school there. This was the end of his second visit to Chozen-Ji; he was scheduled to return to Japan in four days. I had timed my trip to meet and train with him in Hawaii. I hoped that this introduction would make it possible to study with him in Japan later in the year. In fact, I had already arranged a job in Japan so that I would be able to support myself while training with him.