As I was looking in my closet for a backpack tonight, I found a bag with important documents in it. I also found my Japanese diary from 1992, when I traveled alone to Japan as a 22 year-old. I had started traveling alone at age 18 when I went to Quebec, Canada, New York City, Florida and down the East Coast. The reasons I was traveling alone were kind of strange for an 18 year-old, but in many ways, I suppose I was fairly advanced for my age.
In Japan I met a Buddhist monk. Here's the excerpt from the journal of my 22 year-old self:
Stardate: June 22, 1992
It is later in the evening and I have no idea what time it is because I don't own a watch, but judging by the sky, it must be about 8 pm. I met a very interesting man today, his name is Horatio. He is Spanish but lives in California and is a monk at the largest Buddhist monastery in the USA. We played a little game today, a psychological test and it seems as though he knows my mind better than anyone I've met thus far.
He began by asking us (another gaijin was there, a dry, stiff young man) this question:
Imagine you are walking through a forest and you see an inanimate object (must be non-living). What do you see?
Before he mentioned the word, 'inanimate', I thought of a snake, but I had to change this thought, so I answered,
a machine.
The other guy answered,
a burnt tree stump.
Then he asked us to describe what we saw. I said that the machine had a hard surface, was silver and was about the size of the room in which we were.
He then asked,
What is the machine used for? Does it have a purpose?
I answered that it has no purpose.
He then said that he gives us a key and we described its shape and color. My key was made of brass. After this, he told us that a huge bear approached us. Horatio asked us,
What do you do?
I said I would use the key to unlock my machine, turn it on, flip the switch named "sprout wings" and fly away from the forest.
The next question:
You see a body of water. Describe the color, size, and its motion or lack of motion.
I said I see water all around me, that I am surrounded by it and it is very clear. There are lots of creatures here: sea cows, dolphins, whales, lizards, crabs.
He then asked,
What does the water look like? Is it moving?
I said that it is still, there is no movement.
At the end of the session, he began analyzing our answers. The other man had not used his imagination, all of his answers had come from past memories. I, had used my imagination, and so he began describing the present condition of my life. He said that I had talents, but that I have no purpose. I am trying many things and I have many interests, but I feel displaced, purposeless. He then told me that my sex life was non-existent. He said I was pitiful and that still water indicates a stagnant sexual life.
He said people with a healthy, active sex life usually describe a waterfall or a river when they answered the question about the body of water.
Oh, the embarrassment, the sheer horror of someone knowing my lack of sexual experience. It was yet another crisis, but yet a positive one. Painful, yes, but also constructive.
We talked about many things (Horatio and I), and I still can't decide if he is real or not. I think he has a Lolita complex because he is always talking about young, beautiful girls. He is a rather corpulent man and I can tell he loves sensual things because of the way he holds his hands and his facial expressions. He also was telling me about an International Buddhist Temple near Hiroshima. I cannot believe what he told me.
.....to be continued..
Here's part 2: https://steemit.com/buddhism/@stellabelle/i-met-a-buddhist-monk-when-i-was-22-part-2