Re-scheduled

Ian finally got official permission to go on the trip. For this year's portion of the Henro Pilgrimage, we will leave on Sunday, March 1st, and return on Monday, March 23. Because we will be traveling on a Sunday, the train schedules are a bit different. We will arrive at the bus stop near Temple #1 about an hour later than under the previous plan, about 4 p.m. This means that, because check-in at Temple #2 is five at the latest, we will have to go straight to Temple #2, waiting until Monday morning to buy our outfits.

We will be able to walk for 21 days, so we will probably end up somewhere between one third and one half of the way around the Henro. We have decided to take things as they come and not try to meet any particular schedule. There are many bangai temples, not listed among the 88 that make up the official Henro, and Shinto shrines, sowe will make side trips if we find out that a particular shrine or bangai temple is worth seeing. This means that we can not make any predictions about where we might be at any particular time.

All this is very much in keeping with the Henro Pilgrimage and the Heart Sutra. We should just be in the moment and take things as they come without any desires or wants of our own.