Hasedera (長谷寺): Finding Time for Meditation
Visitors who leave behind the fatigue of everyday life to seek out Hasedera (長谷寺), a historic temple in Nara Prefecture, arrive carrying burdens of their own. As they catch their breath while climbing the temple’s 399-step covered stone stairway, the clear mountain air and the soft, rhythmic chanting of the monks gradually settle their busy minds.
Hasedera is more than a destination to admire from a distance. For more than a thousand years, it has been a sacred place of spiritual practice where countless visitors have prayed and cultivated their minds. Here is a practical guide to finding a true moment of meditation—an opportunity to face yourself fully—in the temple’s quiet embrace, away from the noise of the world.
1. Experience Hasedera at Its Heart: Join the Morning Service
The most profound and majestic meditation experience at Hasedera is undoubtedly the morning service (asagongyo). Every morning, before daylight or just as dawn begins to break, all the temple’s monks gather in the Main Hall—designated a National Treasure—to pray for peace in the world and the well-being of all living beings.
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| 🧘 MORNING SERVICE MEDITATION KEY POINTS |
| - Start time: 5 a.m. from April to September / 6 a.m. from October to March |
| - How to attend: Open to everyone without a reservation, from the stage or inside the Main Hall |
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- Sound-based auditory meditation: In the stillness of the mountain temple, the deep resonance of the temple drum and the powerful chanting of the monks reverberate in every direction, sending a shiver through your entire body. Even if you do not understand every word, try surrendering to the steady rhythm and resonance of the chanting. You may find your distracting thoughts fall away as you enter a remarkable state of deep absorption.
- Breath meditation in the dawn air: Focus on the rhythm of your breathing as you inhale and exhale the crisp, cool mountain air of early morning. Sit cross-legged on the wooden floor of the Main Hall’s stage and close your eyes. With only the monks’ voices and the sound of your own breath seeming to remain in the universe, you may encounter a profound sense of inner peace.
2. Clear Your Mind as You Walk: Walking Meditation on the Nobori-ro
Hasedera’s iconic covered passageway, the Nobori-ro (登廊), with its 399 stone steps, is an ideal setting for walking meditation. Rather than rushing up the steep stairs, breathless and distracted, slow your pace and focus entirely on the movement of your body.
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| 🧘 WALKING MEDITATION KEY POINTS |
| - Method: Match your breathing to each step and focus on the sensation under your feet |
| - Recommended time: Before 9 a.m. or after 4 p.m., when fewer visitors are present |
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- Focus on the sensation beneath your feet: Pay close attention to the smooth, worn surface of the stone steps, polished by the footsteps of countless pilgrims over hundreds of years. Inhale as your right foot lands and exhale as your left foot lands, directing your attention solely to the pressure and sensation beneath your feet.
- Filter out visual and auditory distractions: Keep your gaze fixed two or three metres ahead and avoid letting the surrounding scenery pull your attention away. Let the gentle movement of the lanterns beneath the eaves and the sound of your footsteps become your only background. Climbing one step at a time, you may find that your worries gradually disappear—and that, by the 399th step, you have arrived at a lighter version of yourself.
3. Settle into the Sounds of Nature: Reflective Meditation on the Main Hall Stage
After the morning service, or during the day, find a spot at one corner of the Main Hall’s stage and gaze out across the expansive, multicoloured mountain slopes. Simply sitting there can become a powerful form of visual meditation. This is the method I tried myself, and the setting is exceptionally well suited to meditation.
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| 🧘 REFLECTIVE MEDITATION KEY POINTS |
| - Method: Open-monitoring meditation, accepting the sounds of nature just as they are |
| - Recommended season: The summer wind-chime season or a quiet rainy day |
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- A harmony of wind and wind chimes: From early summer through the height of the season, hundreds of glass wind chimes hang along Hasedera’s corridors. Their clear, delicate tones drifting on the mountain breeze can be remarkably soothing and effective at easing stress. Lean against the railing, close your eyes, and allow yourself to experience—without judgment—the feel of the wind on your skin and the clear sounds arriving from every direction.
- Silent meditation on a rainy day: When rain falls, Hasedera becomes sheltered from outside noise, and the sound of water dropping from the tiled roofs seems to envelop the entire temple. Sit on the stage and listen to the rhythm of the rain. You may experience a cathartic sense that your inner anxieties and worries are being washed away with the water.
4. Immerse Yourself in a Temple Experience: Sutra and Buddha-Image Copying
If you are looking for a more active yet contemplative form of meditation, I highly recommend taking part in Hasedera’s regularly offered sutra copying (hand-copying Buddhist scriptures) or Buddha-image tracing (copying an image of the Buddha) experiences.
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| 🧘 SUTRA / BUDDHA-IMAGE COPYING MEDITATION KEY POINTS |
| - How to participate: Pay a small offering at the temple office and purchase a set |
| - Location: Designated seats inside a quiet temple hall on the grounds |
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- Strengthen your mind through your fingertips: Grind the ink, pick up a brush, and carefully trace, stroke by stroke, the Heart Sutra characters or the graceful outline of Kannon Bodhisattva showing through the thin paper. As you give your full attention to every character and every line, the surrounding noise seems to vanish, bringing you into a state of deep mindfulness.
- An offering upon completion: Once finished, you may offer your carefully completed sutra sheet to the temple, where it can be enshrined beneath a Buddhist statue. Leaving behind words containing your wishes and commitments can, in itself, provide a sense of spiritual comfort and inner strength.
💡 Gentle Analog Tips for Meditation Travelers at Hasedera
- Stay at a ryokan or minshuku near Hasedera: To attend the early-morning service comfortably and extend the afterglow of a deep meditation, spend the night at a traditional inn near Hasedera Station or in the temple’s entrance-town shopping district, known as the monzenmachi. Enjoy a night of sleep meditation amid the quiet of the rural village, then open the temple gates at dawn with a clear mind. The effect can be transformative.
- Wear comfortable, modest clothing: Choose loose clothing that does not constrict your waist or abdomen, allowing your breathing to remain easy and unforced. The wooden floors inside the temple can be cold depending on the season, so bring thick socks or an extra layer.
- Digital detox: As soon as you enter Hasedera’s meditation areas, switch your smartphone completely to silent mode or tuck it deep inside your bag. When you let go, for a moment, of the urge to capture the scenery through a lens, the true tranquillity of Hasedera can finally begin to settle into the lens of your mind.
