Today I spent the day climbing Mt. Haguro with my friend, who is actually my student who I have been teaching for I think more than five years now. He is doing a project where he has to introduce where he lives, and he reached out to me and asked to learn about Yamabushi.

So naturally we went up Haguro. One thing I really wanted to show him, that I want everyone to know actually, is that the mountains will always be there.

For Yamabushi, mountains and nature have a special meaning, and that comes about through worship of the Kami and Buddha of the mountains. This for me is showing appreciation to nature for giving us everything.

Knowing that you can always go to the mountains, whenever you need to, that is a great reassurance, and I wish for everyone to remember this. The mountains are both unforgiving and forgiving at the same time. All you need to do, is surrender to them.

So, I told my student this exact phrase; Shonai will always be there, the mountains will always be there.