Day 49 - The Road To Enlightenment - Walking The Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage - Higashi Maizuru To Tango Yura And A Dream I had, Japan

Day 49 - The Road To Enlightenment - Walking The Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage - Higashi Maizuru To Tango Yura, Japan

Last night we had dinner in our hotel, and noticed that the dining room had ten other couples, also having dinner.

With a closed onsen, and only a twenty room capacity, we wondered what was the appeal for so many people to stay at this hotel during these restricted times.
There is no doubt in our minds that it is the excellent chef who helps to fill the hotel.

If the onsen and the swimming pool were open, one could argue that it is the spacious ocean view rooms and the quality hot springs that draw guests during a lockdown.
But without them, it is only the talented chef and the super high quality of seafood ingredients that he uses.

We even saw people who were not staying at the hotel coming to dine at the restaurant.

Gourmet traveling is very common all around the world.
Like many others, Jules and I used to travel regularly to Europe and Asia, and while there, we stayed in rural country inns that had Michelin rated chefs preparing gourmet meals.

Now, as pilgrims with backpacks filled with only the bare minimums, it is a real treat to come upon this place, especially when so many hotels are closed around Japan.

But dining on gourmet French and Italian food every breakfast and dinner, makes me feel a little like Napoleon or Louis XIV, who were known for their daily feasts.

The hotel‘s chef has an amazing talent for food, and every dish that he sends out from the kitchen is creative and perfectly made.

Every day we get a new menu written in English, and every meal has seven courses.
Luckily none of the dishes are very large.
We feel extremely grateful to be able to enjoy these ancient Roman style feasts, during a global lockdown.
But to be honest, I have also felt a bit guilty and wished everyone could enjoy life like we are.

The waiters serving our food wear three piece suits, and are super professional.
They replace our silverware after each dish, even if we did not use it, pay careful attention to our water glasses and make sure to keep them filled, and clear every dish to keep our dining space clean and neat.
When I think about some of the restaurants we have at home in Vail and Aspen in Colorado, none of them offer this quality of service, yet they charge so much more than this restaurant.

We ate our breakfast early, in order to catch the morning train to Higashi Maizuru to continue our walk.
This is a rural part of Japan with very infrequent train service.
The next train after the 9:15 morning train is at 12:30pm, which is too late for us to start walking and still return in time for our scheduled dinner.

The walk was along a long river that turns into a wide harbor and finally opens into the sea.
We saw a very good wind surfer who surfed back and forth in the harbor.
It looked like he was not expecting to fall, as he was wearing a cool straw hat and was even able to balance standing up when he stopped his windsurfing board without moving.

Considering how strong the wind was, he had really mastered the wind.
The strong wind and current were well below his skill level, and we cheered him on silently in our hearts.

There were no cafés at which to take a break during our walk, so we stopped for a tea break at a small roadside park that had a bench.

The rice fields along our way were already flooded with water, and some were being planted today.
Everyone uses a rice planting cultivator, but we also saw a farmer planting some of the rice plants by hand, filling in the spaces that he had missed with his cultivator.

We could tell which fields were planted by hand and which by a cultivator.
The ones planted by hand had big foot prints in the mud between the rows of rice seedlings, and they were also not as straight as the ones that the cultivators did.

By the end of the day, we had made our way through a commercial area to the train station to take the train back to our hotel.
We saw a police car and my heart skipped a beat, as if we were doing something wrong, just by walking the streets, attracting too much attention with our Western faces and Western hats.

I had to remind myself that the lockdown in Japan is NOT mandatory, but just a request, and anyway it will be lifted very soon.

That night I dreamt that I was a flying warrior princess, slaying with my lightsaber dark energy beings who were floating over the earth and taking shape in front of me.

I had a feeling that I was not alone in my fight against this dark energy, which symbolizes the ignorance and fear that are currently holding prisoner, the minds of the children of earth.

Then my princess robes were transformed into a flowing white robe and suddenly I was a teacher.
These are the thoughts that I transmitted:

Beloved children of the earth,
Please know that you are star-born.
You are light beings,
Unbound and forever free.

Your being and your essence are pure energy vibration.
You are NOT bound to the world of duality.
You are pure and holy as you were created.
You are love and you are loved.

All this is true, not just for your soul, but for the totality of you.
The body that you imagine you are attached to,
Is just an energetic vibrational field that radiates around you.
It is constantly reforming, based on the ideas and beliefs you hold.

It is possible, or you can say it is NECESSARY for you to regenerate your body and make it young again.

It is important that you become healthy again,
For by holding thoughts of love, light and endless possibilities, you remove fear-based ideas from your heart, and thus allow the energy you call your body, to vibrate with the light.

Your goal here on earth, is to embody the light being that you are.
This means that by practicing forgiveness,
Practicing love and laughter,
By practicing gentleness and becoming tender,
You become young again.

Eternal Youth is not a fantasy.
It is truly possible for you to be so full of light,
That every cell of your body is regenerated and is infused with light.

There is no secret youth-generating potion,
No fountain of eternal youth for you to seek.
It is your birthright to be vibrantly young for as long as you wish to be.

Energy or light cannot age or decay.
Your body is pure energy and light
It can only appear to be aged, but this must be corrected.

When you hold no anger, no fear, no fear-based ideas and no grievances, you hold no blockages inside you.

Blockages are what manifest dis-ease in the body.
The removal of anger and fear will allow the light to correct all errors in your mind, and to heal your body.

Please allow your body to become infused with the light, as you let nothing but thoughts of light enter your mind.
Affirm to yourself:

“My mind holds ONLY what I think with God.
Heaven is another world which I can see, when I release the world from all I think it is.
It is impossible to see two opposite worlds, for seeing is believing, and I wish to see a better world.”

Know that your journey here is incomplete,
Until you live fully in the light.
This is what enlightenment is.

Enlightenment is the manifestation of light in all aspects of your being.
It is the illumination of your mind, so no darkness can ever enter it again.

Beloved children of the Light, you walk the earth in seeming solitude, believing you are vulnerable to viruses and misfortune, not knowing of your glory and your powers.
Seek to know yourselves.
For it will make you joyous beyond your wildest dreams....

With love and endless prayers for the return of gentleness to the heart of people....
Tali and Jules

Daily stats:
Steps walked - 28,612
21 km. walked
Active walking time - 5 hours
Total walking time today - 6 hours.
Total walking distance on the Saigoku to date - 862.5 km

Temple Visited:
None