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KU student takes pilgrimage to Japan's Buddhist temples
Holly Kramer, Staff Writer
Walking 800 miles around a small Japanese island helped Eric Zautner, 25, Overland Park, learn about Buddhism.
Zautner, a University of Kansas student, learned about the Shikoku pilgrimage while surfing the Net. “When I get bored, I just go online and try to learn new things,” Zautner said. “I went from there. Basically, when I find something I want to study, I go out and try to learn everything that I can and kind of become obsessed with it.”
Shikoku is the smallest of Japan’s four main islands. Shikoku pilgrims visit 88 sacred temples around the island. About 100,000 to 200,000 people travel the pilgrimage annually and about 2,000 people walk.
The course usually takes about 50 to 60 days to complete on foot but Zautner finished in 40.
Walkers need mental and physical training. Zautner said he got much of his at KU.
“I would walk up and down hills at KU,” Zautner said. “I would try to walk and bike as much as possible while trying to carry as much weight as possible with extra textbooks and stuff. I also went to the gym for weight training.”
Zautner said he just needed to brush up on his language skills after taking two years of Japanese classes at Johnson County Community College.
“I’m not fluent but I’m still above basic survival skills and being there forced me to learn more,” Zautner said.
Kobo-Daishi, a Japanese monk and scholar, founded the Shingon school of Buddhism and started the pilgrimage. There are many stories about the journey’s ancient roots.
“There’s fact and myth,” Zautner said. “The actual pilgrimage with the temples and paths is about 400 or 500 years old but it goes back 1,200 years. Each site or temple has its own story and each was said to be founded by Daishi.”
Zautner started his journey Oct. 2 and finished Nov. 10.
Signs direct pilgrims to each temple. Some people take the pilgrimage backward for good luck, but Zautner said he took the original, clockwise route to avoid confusion.
The pilgrimage leads people around the periphery of the island. Travelers find themselves walking through forests and busy streets.
“The path can be anywhere,” Zautner said. “It can be where there is no path at all – like on the side of a mountain or dirt roads – all the way to walking down the sides of a big highway.”
Zautner said he stopped at restaurants or convenience stores along the way. At night, he stayed in youth hostels or bed and breakfasts.
Weight loss became a concern, Zautner said.
“I noticed at the beginning I was losing so much weight, and I like to eat Japanese food but it’s too light to keep my weight on so I would try to eat one Japanese meal a day and a lot of snacks throughout the day,” Zautner said. “There were a lot of vending machines and convenience stores. I went through hundreds of cans of juice and water.”
Walking took a toll on Zautner’s body.
“The first two weeks, my feet really hurt,” he said. “At one point, I had blisters on all my toes, but then after that point, they toughened up and I could walk without being tired. By the end, my feet didn’t feel bad. It took awhile for everything to stop hurting. I found the best way to cure it is to keep walking.”
Zautner said he does not practice Buddhism but the pilgrimage offered a journey of discovery within him and of a different culture.
“Some people do this because someone in their family died or for their religion,” Zautner said. “Lots of people do it for the challenge; you don’t have to be devout. I wanted a challenge at this time in my life, and I felt that basically, ‘Why not?’
“I had been interested in that culture for years. It’s the best way to experience the culture the way it was before the cities. If you want to see a more traditional part, it is the best way. I learned that I tend to jump from one thing to another and don’t finish things, so I wanted to do the same thing day after day even though it was tough.”
Zautner said he met kind people along the way.
“People want to help you because they believe by helping you they are participating in the pilgrimage,” Zautner said. “It ranged from food to advice, and resting at someone’s place. They would give me mandarin oranges. I got so many of those. They would just rush them out to me.”
Zautner said he traveled for a while with a woman who took him to her parents’ house and gave him gifts.
“They thought having a foreigner at their house was so neat,” Zautner said. “They couldn’t believe it.”
To document the trip, Zautner said he bought a book with pictures of each temple and priests or people at the temple signed the book.
Each temple had certain types of buildings, Zautner said.
“There is a main gate, a place to wash your hands, a place to pray,” Zautner said. “I would light candles and incense. I would go to each of the buildings and stand in silence because I’m not Buddhist. They don’t really care what you are; you don’t have to be part of their faith or anything. You can do as much as you want.”
Zautner brought about $6,000, but only spent about $4,500.
His mother, Marie, said she had worries when she first found out about the journey.
“I was quite apprehensive when he first told me that he wanted to do this,” Marie said. “It sounded very dangerous. He showed me information online and in books that he had studied and I knew that he was determined to have this experience and nothing was going to stop him. He had saved up money and was prepared to take a semester off from his studies at KU in Lawrence.”
Marie said she prayed for Eric to return home safely.
Zautner, who returns to school next month, said his pilgrimage benefited his family.
“It was good for them, too,” Zautner said. “I wanted to show them I was serious about something I wanted to do and enrich their lives because it’s something that most people here have never heard about.”
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Walking 800 miles around a small Japanese island helped Eric Zautner, 25, Overland Park, learn about Buddhism.
Zautner, a University of Kansas student, learned about the Shikoku pilgrimage while surfing the Net. “When I get bored, I just go online and try to learn new things,” Zautner said. “I went from there. Basically, when I find something I want to study, I go out and try to learn everything that I can and kind of become obsessed with it.”
Shikoku is the smallest of Japan’s four main islands. Shikoku pilgrims visit 88 sacred temples around the island. About 100,000 to 200,000 people travel the pilgrimage annually and about 2,000 people walk.
The course usually takes about 50 to 60 days to complete on foot but Zautner finished in 40.
Walkers need mental and physical training. Zautner said he got much of his at KU.
“I would walk up and down hills at KU,” Zautner said. “I would try to walk and bike as much as possible while trying to carry as much weight as possible with extra textbooks and stuff. I also went to the gym for weight training.”
Zautner said he just needed to brush up on his language skills after taking two years of Japanese classes at Johnson County Community College.
“I’m not fluent but I’m still above basic survival skills and being there forced me to learn more,” Zautner said.
Kobo-Daishi, a Japanese monk and scholar, founded the Shingon school of Buddhism and started the pilgrimage. There are many stories about the journey’s ancient roots.
“There’s fact and myth,” Zautner said. “The actual pilgrimage with the temples and paths is about 400 or 500 years old but it goes back 1,200 years. Each site or temple has its own story and each was said to be founded by Daishi.”
Zautner started his journey Oct. 2 and finished Nov. 10.
Signs direct pilgrims to each temple. Some people take the pilgrimage backward for good luck, but Zautner said he took the original, clockwise route to avoid confusion.
The pilgrimage leads people around the periphery of the island. Travelers find themselves walking through forests and busy streets.
“The path can be anywhere,” Zautner said. “It can be where there is no path at all – like on the side of a mountain or dirt roads – all the way to walking down the sides of a big highway.”
Zautner said he stopped at restaurants or convenience stores along the way. At night, he stayed in youth hostels or bed and breakfasts.
Weight loss became a concern, Zautner said.
“I noticed at the beginning I was losing so much weight, and I like to eat Japanese food but it’s too light to keep my weight on so I would try to eat one Japanese meal a day and a lot of snacks throughout the day,” Zautner said. “There were a lot of vending machines and convenience stores. I went through hundreds of cans of juice and water.”
Walking took a toll on Zautner’s body.
“The first two weeks, my feet really hurt,” he said. “At one point, I had blisters on all my toes, but then after that point, they toughened up and I could walk without being tired. By the end, my feet didn’t feel bad. It took awhile for everything to stop hurting. I found the best way to cure it is to keep walking.”
Zautner said he does not practice Buddhism but the pilgrimage offered a journey of discovery within him and of a different culture.
“Some people do this because someone in their family died or for their religion,” Zautner said. “Lots of people do it for the challenge; you don’t have to be devout. I wanted a challenge at this time in my life, and I felt that basically, ‘Why not?’
“I had been interested in that culture for years. It’s the best way to experience the culture the way it was before the cities. If you want to see a more traditional part, it is the best way. I learned that I tend to jump from one thing to another and don’t finish things, so I wanted to do the same thing day after day even though it was tough.”
Zautner said he met kind people along the way.
“People want to help you because they believe by helping you they are participating in the pilgrimage,” Zautner said. “It ranged from food to advice, and resting at someone’s place. They would give me mandarin oranges. I got so many of those. They would just rush them out to me.”
Zautner said he traveled for a while with a woman who took him to her parents’ house and gave him gifts.
“They thought having a foreigner at their house was so neat,” Zautner said. “They couldn’t believe it.”
To document the trip, Zautner said he bought a book with pictures of each temple and priests or people at the temple signed the book.
Each temple had certain types of buildings, Zautner said.
“There is a main gate, a place to wash your hands, a place to pray,” Zautner said. “I would light candles and incense. I would go to each of the buildings and stand in silence because I’m not Buddhist. They don’t really care what you are; you don’t have to be part of their faith or anything. You can do as much as you want.”
Zautner brought about $6,000, but only spent about $4,500.
His mother, Marie, said she had worries when she first found out about the journey.
“I was quite apprehensive when he first told me that he wanted to do this,” Marie said. “It sounded very dangerous. He showed me information online and in books that he had studied and I knew that he was determined to have this experience and nothing was going to stop him. He had saved up money and was prepared to take a semester off from his studies at KU in Lawrence.”
Marie said she prayed for Eric to return home safely.
Zautner, who returns to school next month, said his pilgrimage benefited his family.
“It was good for them, too,” Zautner said. “I wanted to show them I was serious about something I wanted to do and enrich their lives because it’s something that most people here have never heard about.”