Hi ForestDweller,
(Would you mind to sign a human name to your posts, and to put a picture with a human face? It it helps us look eye-to-eye a bit).
You ask a very interesting question!
I grew up in the city. My family was not rich, although they managed to get me through school and we still had all the modern, Western comforts such as television, air conditioning (it was Florida, after all) and kitchen appliances, plus a car (although always 10 years old). I came to Japan with all my belongings in two suitcases, and lived for 20 years in a tiny tumbledown Tokyo apartment that most Americans would think of as being about the size of their living room ... so small that the washing machine was in the hall (still, we had one), no cars (just a rusty bicycle) ... something much like this with washer outside (this being Japan, nobody would steal it), and I would say the toilet and bath in the diagram are about actual size ...
It was lovely, it was home. I would not have changed a thing.
When our son was born, we thought of a place to raise the kids. We moved about an hour from Tokyo where house prices are down to earth, into a town which is in the Japanese countryside (yet the space program is here, and many of Japan's robot factories, so it is a great mix of the old and new). We bought a farm house, with a big Japanese garden, a farm field in the back (we even have an old pig house ... though no pigs) and a garage for my two cars (no trains run out here, and I plan to run those cars into the ground). There are trees and the elementary school is a 5 minute walk down the street. Unfortunately, my "two suitcases" have now morphed into more modern "junk" than I ever need, and I would need two big trucks to haul it out of here ... The washer and drier, now all computerized with microchips to get our socks and underwear perfectly crisp, is no longer outside. (Though, in all fairness, most of the "junk" seems to belong to my wife and kids, and I am wearing about the same socks and underwear as 10 years ago
).
It is lovely, it is home, it is high maintenance. I would not change a thing.
I like to say that I am not too attached to it though. These buildings, all old and made of wood, are constant maintenance (we just had some earthquake damage fixed last month, and termites did their thing). Should it fall down tomorrow, I really feel that I would both shed a tear ... yet let it go! (It came close during the great earthquake a few years ago, when the roof tiles fell like rain, the floor shook like a boat in a storm, and the nuclear meltdown sent us running ... with two suitcases ... to the other side of Japan). For those of us with some "stuff" and some money in the bank, we have to be really careful that we do try to maintain simplicity, are not overly attached and greedy, and truly live with the "if it weren't here, I wouldn't mind" attitude. I feel I have that attitude but, looking around my room, I know that I could live more simply than I do.I don't think we live in an opulent way (by modern Western standards), but I live like a king by the standards of ancient India, China or the 'Third World' and "stuff" seems to build up slowly with every trip to the store. I have a computer, an e-book reader, new blue jeans, a smart phone and flat screen tv in my electrically heated office, and it is a long long way from a grass hut in the mountains living on berries.
I would not change a thing. Our True Home is all around.
Here is a video of Treeleaf Tsukuba, made before we moved in and were thinking of buying the place (I made it to show family back home). An old style Japanese house with lovely wood. There is another video of the Japanese traditional carpenters building what is now the Zendo in the barn (I say "barn", but actually it was the building for the farmers to ready seeds and pack the vegetables). We have an outhouse too, although not much used.
I recently read that Thoreau was not quite so isolated at Walden as one would assume ...
One might live like Vimalakirti, the great Lay Bodhisattva ... but what one does with one's wealth and resources makes all the difference in the world:
One can live in the city, and be boundless in the heart. One can live as a hermit alone in the distant mountains, yet be a prisoner of one's mind. I think this is what Master Sekito's Grass Hermitage may Teach us ...
Gassho, Jundo
SatToday
(Would you mind to sign a human name to your posts, and to put a picture with a human face? It it helps us look eye-to-eye a bit).
You ask a very interesting question!
I grew up in the city. My family was not rich, although they managed to get me through school and we still had all the modern, Western comforts such as television, air conditioning (it was Florida, after all) and kitchen appliances, plus a car (although always 10 years old). I came to Japan with all my belongings in two suitcases, and lived for 20 years in a tiny tumbledown Tokyo apartment that most Americans would think of as being about the size of their living room ... so small that the washing machine was in the hall (still, we had one), no cars (just a rusty bicycle) ... something much like this with washer outside (this being Japan, nobody would steal it), and I would say the toilet and bath in the diagram are about actual size ...
It was lovely, it was home. I would not have changed a thing.
When our son was born, we thought of a place to raise the kids. We moved about an hour from Tokyo where house prices are down to earth, into a town which is in the Japanese countryside (yet the space program is here, and many of Japan's robot factories, so it is a great mix of the old and new). We bought a farm house, with a big Japanese garden, a farm field in the back (we even have an old pig house ... though no pigs) and a garage for my two cars (no trains run out here, and I plan to run those cars into the ground). There are trees and the elementary school is a 5 minute walk down the street. Unfortunately, my "two suitcases" have now morphed into more modern "junk" than I ever need, and I would need two big trucks to haul it out of here ... The washer and drier, now all computerized with microchips to get our socks and underwear perfectly crisp, is no longer outside. (Though, in all fairness, most of the "junk" seems to belong to my wife and kids, and I am wearing about the same socks and underwear as 10 years ago
). It is lovely, it is home, it is high maintenance. I would not change a thing.
I like to say that I am not too attached to it though. These buildings, all old and made of wood, are constant maintenance (we just had some earthquake damage fixed last month, and termites did their thing). Should it fall down tomorrow, I really feel that I would both shed a tear ... yet let it go! (It came close during the great earthquake a few years ago, when the roof tiles fell like rain, the floor shook like a boat in a storm, and the nuclear meltdown sent us running ... with two suitcases ... to the other side of Japan). For those of us with some "stuff" and some money in the bank, we have to be really careful that we do try to maintain simplicity, are not overly attached and greedy, and truly live with the "if it weren't here, I wouldn't mind" attitude. I feel I have that attitude but, looking around my room, I know that I could live more simply than I do.I don't think we live in an opulent way (by modern Western standards), but I live like a king by the standards of ancient India, China or the 'Third World' and "stuff" seems to build up slowly with every trip to the store. I have a computer, an e-book reader, new blue jeans, a smart phone and flat screen tv in my electrically heated office, and it is a long long way from a grass hut in the mountains living on berries.
I would not change a thing. Our True Home is all around.
Here is a video of Treeleaf Tsukuba, made before we moved in and were thinking of buying the place (I made it to show family back home). An old style Japanese house with lovely wood. There is another video of the Japanese traditional carpenters building what is now the Zendo in the barn (I say "barn", but actually it was the building for the farmers to ready seeds and pack the vegetables). We have an outhouse too, although not much used.
I recently read that Thoreau was not quite so isolated at Walden as one would assume ...
One might live like Vimalakirti, the great Lay Bodhisattva ... but what one does with one's wealth and resources makes all the difference in the world:
His wealth was inexhaustible for the purpose of sustaining the poor and the helpless. He observed a pure morality in order to protect the immoral. ... He had a son, a wife, and female attendants, yet always maintained continence. He appeared to be surrounded by servants, yet lived in solitude. He appeared to be adorned with ornaments, yet always was endowed with the auspicious signs and marks. ... He engaged in all sorts of businesses, yet had no interest in profit or possessions. ... He was honored as the businessman among businessmen because he demonstrated the priority of the Dharma. He was honored as the landlord among landlords because he renounced the aggressiveness of ownership. http://lirs.ru/lib/sutra/The_Vimalak...tson,1997.html
Gassho, Jundo
SatToday
We've spent countless hours and dollars making each house a home, only to have to leave it behind a short time later. We've learned to purge unnecessary items, not holding onto things is important because there is a limit to what we can move. 
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