Zen-inspired Cherry Blossoms - Conclusion of Spring 2023

Before setting out on my cross country Japan Cherry Blossom photography workshop tour, I was in a frenzy due to the cherry blossoms blooming two weeks early in the spring of 2023, which spelled disaster for the majority of the run of the mill tour companies,  with fixed itineraries on the beaten path, as the timing was all off.  I even had a client from Australia send me a cherry blossom forecast map stating the early bloom, and in the email, the client said, “Oh, it looks like we’re going to miss them.”  I replied, “I don’t think so, not in the highlands. There’s still snow there.”  Abut a week later, for medical or other undisclosed reasons, that client canceled the cherry blossoms workshop of a lifetime.  But to be honest, I was extremely concerned about the early bloom and our route, and I was questioning myself due to the aforementioned client, Tokyoites, and news reports about the early bloom.  Seeking guidance, I spoke to my Zen master Buddhist mentor.  He was very straightforward and frustrated with me, “You were and are a Zen master practitioner, so why are you concerned?”  It felt like he had taken a bamboo stick and smacked me on my head reaching my brain which inspired a premonition of the perfect cherry blossoms.  I was only conferring with him, that was my main purpose in bringing up the topic, but when he spoke his words of wisdom, I realized that participants and I would be able to experience ancient cherry blossom trees in the highlands of Central Japan, that I had never experienced in bloom because during their peak blossoming time, I am normally in Hokkaido.  Heartened by his counsel, I approached my 2023 cherry blossom photo tour with renewed determination because I realized I could share the beginner’s mindset experience, with the group I was leading on my cross country cherry blossom photography workshop.  The “beginners mindset” in Zen Buddhism we call ‘Shoshin,' having an attitude of openness and lack of preconceptions when approaching any study, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner in that subject would.  As a matter of fact, on the first evening as we were having dinner, I explained during the an inaugural toast that during this workshop, as everyone most likely knew or had heard that the sakura have been blooming two weeks early, so on this tour we’re going to be chasing the light and experiencing cherry blossom trees that I had never seen in bloom.  I added that some of the ancient ones are going to be 300-700 years old.  One participant commented, “ Wow,That’s honest,” and I had contacted colleagues along the route I had chosen, and they confirmed that the cherry blossoms were at 100% and that I had chosen my annual cross country cherry blossom route well.