My journey

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File: 1418601296579.jpg (52.12 KB, 762x768, 127:128, zen.jpg)

My journey Walking Zen 12/14/14 (Sun) 23:54:56 No.461

Hello everyone

I have something I'd like to share with you all, not just for myself, but also for you guys. Hopefully someone will get something out of this.

I'll begin this by telling something about myself. I am a 22 year old male, and I have since the age of 17 been a buddhist of the rinzai zen sect. Pretty much my whole life I have been looking for some kind of meaning, something I can do.. Normal jobs don't appeal much to me, just working, getting a loan to buy a house and basically ending up as a slave just to live out a "normal" life seems all so pointless to me.

It was around the age of 19 I started thinking to myself that I could get something meaninful out of my life by going down the road of buddhism. But how could I do this seriously? If I were to tell someone I want to become a monk, then I would most certainly get laughed at just like every other teenager thinking the same.

Then, about a year ago I came up with something I could do, something to prove how serious I am taking this. It isn't just something I'm doing to prove something for everyone else, but it is also something that will help me grow as a person, and most importanly as a buddhist. I am talking about an old school pilgrimage.

For every passing week since I started to think about it, my will to do it has only grown stronger with each passing day, and not long ago I made up my mind to stop thinking about it, and just do it. I still have a lot of planning left do to, so the departure is still a good 6 months away I'd say. At the very least.

Some basic details about the trip:
I want to "cheat" a bit and start around germany (I'm Scandinavian) and have it end in Japan.

I am a bit unsure on where the route will end up going, while I'd love to go through Turkey and the middle east, I must say I am a bit sceptical with everything going on down there. So I'm thinking about opting for a route that might be a bit more safe.

I will be working and saving up money for the trip, just incase something goes horribly wrong or I chicken out and have to go back home with my tail between my legs. But I'm going to try to save as much as possible, and live mostly on donations if possible.

I have been taking this very seriously, so I have been training a lot the last year, hiking alone in the mountains and living as simply and isolated as possible. Among other things.

While I am giving myself the pleasure of being a bit optimistic about this, I also know everything could go horribly wrong. Me ending up dead in a ditch somewhere being one of the better outcomes I can think of. But whatever happens happens, hopefully my karma will be good and see me through this. (Kinda ironic, as then it wouldn't matter if I went through ISIS controlled areas or not)

I don't know if there is much else to say, I feel like everything I just wrote is a big mess. I have wanted to tell someone about this for a long time now, and there is so much I want to say, but I'm worried I'll just say too much and nothing will make any sense.

But if anyone has come this far I'd like to thank you for sticking with it, and I'm open for questions/feedback/criticism, if anyone wants to talk/chat with me I'm also open for that. Just add a reply saying so and we'll come up with something.

- Walking zen

Walking Zen 12/19/14 (Fri) 12:20:24 No.463

After going through this board I have a weird feeling that tells me I could've found a better place to post this, but no matter.

Since I have already started I might aswell just finish it.

After looking a lot at visa requirements outside the EU and talking with a few embassies I have decided to change my plans a little bit.

Instead of walking through europe and asia to get to japan, I figured it would be easier to fly to india and go from there. That would make it a lot easier thinking about the visa requirements, and would make the trip more convenient as it would make it a lot easier to visit different buddhist sites throughout india and China on the way.

In addition to that I have been thinking about broadning my own horizons and would like to visit some christian sites beforehand. What I'd like to see it the vatican, maybe a trip to normandie, greece and constantinople/istanbul.

So I have a question, are there any places you guys would recommend I go see?

- Walking Zen

Anonymous 12/20/14 (Sat) 01:16:07 No.464

>>463
Rome / The Vatican, Istanbul, Jerusalem, etc.

Walking Zen 12/20/14 (Sat) 22:59:42 No.465

>>464
That's some of the places I had in mind, but I'd also be interested in seeing some less known places. If nothing shows up here I'll just google it, but I thought it was worth asking.

The only place you mentioned, that I'm not sure if I'm going to visit, is Jerusalem. It doesn't require a visa, but the problem is that I'd have to go through Syria. And that doesn't seem like the most stable place on earth right now. I would most likely have to end up moving through areas controlled by different forces.

At this point I pretty much have the EU under control, with regards to visa and all that shit. Greece will be the second last place, and when I'm done there I'll get a visa for Turkey online, once there I'll start working on a visa for india (min 4 days before arrival) then I can pick it up when I fly there.

Then all I have left is pretty much China, where I'll have to arrange something with the embassy so that I will be able to obtain a visa on arrival there too. After that Japan is left, but that is visa free for up to 90 days.

Once I have all of that settled I will start looking into which route to take, and plan all of that. Which places to visit and such. I also have to take into consideration local laws on different matters such as begging. Like in Denmark where apparently "Begging or letting a member of your household under 18 beg is illegal after being cautioned by the police and punishable with prison until 6 month" according to wiki.

But it's looking up so far, and I can't wait to really get this going.

- Walking Zen

Anonymous 12/21/14 (Sun) 21:26:34 No.466

>>465
Syria? Why not through Israel?
Anyway, good luck on your travels!

Walking Zen 12/21/14 (Sun) 23:25:32 No.467

>>466
Since I'm planning on doing most of the trip by foot I would most likely end up having to go through Syria/Lebanon to get to Israel from Turkey. That's where my only issue lies with going to Jerusalem.

I'm still quite a bit away from finishing up my plans, so I will look into alternative ways of getting there. But if flying is my only option I will most likely drop it, for now atleast.

And thanks :)

- Walking Zen

Walking Zen 12/25/14 (Thu) 18:06:33 No.470

Just thought I'd let everyone know that it will most likely be a little while until any good updates arrive now.

I've just barely started working on different holy sites around europe I want to visit, and after that I'll map out the whole route. I'm doing all this while I'm working on moving back home to live with my brother, so I can save up a bit extra money. (And not having to worry about leaving everything behind and causing a mess for the people I'm currently renting from)

But yeah, I'll probably post back in a few weeks with something substantial, instead of small updates just spamming this board.

- Walking Zen

Walking Zen Anonymous 01/31/15 (Sat) 22:25:52 No.534

>>470

i suck dick mmmm

- Walking Zen

Walking Zen 02/01/15 (Sun) 22:13:57 No.535

>>534
Got me there m8, how am I going to keep on living with this out there.

Things are progressing nicely aswell, and a lot faster than I originally planned. Instead of this summer, or a few months, I will be leaving in about one month. Give/take a few days.

I have gotten a lot of basic equipment like a backpack, small tent, sleeping bag/mat to lie on and some clothes. Plus a few other basic things to keep with me.

I also won't plan every last thing about the trip anymore. I feel like it kinda ruins the point of the whole thing. Instead I'll start it by flying to Hamburg, and going on from there. How long I am going to stay in different cities/countries will depend alot on what I'm feeling like.

And when I'm done with europe I will head to india, and go a lot deeper into buddhism in general and hopefully stay at a few different temples before moving on to China to do the same. The end goal is still ending up in Japan if I get that far, and staying there for however long is needed.

I just want to mention that I am really bad at taking what I have in my head and putting it into words without making myself sound like a retard. Which I noticed pretty well when I read through some of my earlier posts. But it is what it is and I'll just keep it retarded, rather than changing it.

As a last note I've been thinking about posting a picture of myself before/when I leave. But I'm not sure yet.

- Walking Zen

Walking Zen 03/14/15 (Sat) 12:05:07 No.553

Continuing these posts seem rather pointless at this time, so I will end this with saying my departure will start at 0800 on wednesday.

I also have to admit my heart skips a beat everytime I think about how close it is and the reality of it all. But at this point I am determined to go all the way.

With that said I won't make any new updates here, but I do keep checking in. So if anything is posted I will most likely reply.