Shōrin-ji Temple

Beautiful temple. When we visited there was lots of umbrellas decorating it. I’m not sure if this is normal but it really made the temple look even more spectacular. I recommend while in Gion, Kyoto to visit it

Small temple with nice gardens in the Tofokuji complex. Offering zazen (sitting meditation) sessions overseen by a Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk.

I think 700 yen is a bit much for a small temple like this. I was genuinely confused when i reached the end of the garden after only a few steps, for some reason i expected it to be bigger? The flowers and umbrellas are cute, but I unfortunately don’t recommend this temple.

The temple and it's territory itself is beautiful and zen, the meditation session was a bit underwhelming: 10 min focus, 5 min break, 15 min focus. No singing bowls, mantras, or anything like that. Just sitting in silence among other people. The cool element: you can get into a 🙏 pose and the monk observing the crowd will smash you with a paddle-looking bat on your back to get you back to focus. Some people overused it like a free massage and got over 5 hits:) No translation of monk speech but they gave me a printout which delivered the gist in English. Bathroom available on the site.

Went in for a zen meditation session. It was a wonderful experience. I was in my happy place; away from stress and worries. Was then offered a sweet pastry with tea.

I went here with a guide (Magical Trip company in Kyoto) to do a meditation session. I’m not religious or spiritual but it was worth it to experience something of the Buddhist teachings. I imagine it’d be lovely in autumn when the leaves change colour. Worth a visit if you have a few spare hours in Kyoto and want to do something a bit off the path. Suggest going with a guide as the monk does not speak in English at all during the sessions. From there we walked to the famous Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine (the one with all the orange poles) so if you want to make a day of it and you’re fit enough to walk a fair way it’s a good day out if the weather is kind.

Went to the Shorinji temple for the zazen meditation. The meditation was in japanese only but they have English instructions if needed. The meditation was good and the temple lovely

Great experience, peaceful place to come for those in search of serenity. Very kind Monk, highly recommended.