The history and relevance of Japan’s most visited Buddhist temple

Examining the Tale of Heike

Exploring Japanese “Otsu-e” folk painting

One of the most visited sites in Kyoto, by Japanese tourists as well as by foreigners, is the temple Ryoan-ji in the northwestern part of the city. Its dry garden is the most famous and probably the f

There is a painting in the Freer Gallery of Art’s current exhibition, Zen, Tea, and Chinese Art in Medieval Japan, that beautifully symbolizes the remarkable cultural exchange and synthesis that

Furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto   The old pond a frog jumps in kerplunk    Matsuo Basho’s (1644–94) haiku—that mind-altering frog vanishing into an ancient pond—has become so deeply sc

“Fluttering Merrily” by Otagaki Rengetsu, Japan, 1840s–50s, calligraphy and painting in ink on paper mounted as a hanging scroll; Private Collection, Switzerland             

Sangeeta Bansal Ph.D, a researcher and writer, is also the founder of a non-profit called Mindside, which aims to make the benefits of mindfulness meditation available to all. Mindside offers an eight