Sacred Flames  I moved to Japan primarily because I was interested in Buddhism. At college in Kansas City I encountered and practiced occasionally with some meditation groups, and though I was fascinated by the aesthetics of Zen could never seem to hammer down a good meditation routine. On the other hand, I found myself almost weekly in a section of the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in which a Chinese temple hall is fully reconstructed around one of the world's most well-known

Konji-ji's Saito Goma fire ceremony The Gyoja Mondo , or “Practitioner Questions and Answers,” are performed at the start of Saito Goma fire rituals. Now as in the past, these rituals are performed by Shugen practitioners as a way of sharing the merits cultivated in the mountains with communities. In the past, any authentic initiate of Shugendo was welcome to participate, as their presence was believed to enhance the potency of the ritual. As a free lunch and a share of the