Surrounded by sound of conch, a gong and a clink-stick, a joint prayer was started by both Seiryuji's chief monk and 60
believers dressed in an old Japanese robe and marching in a Buddhism style. A shrine of St. Ottilien was filled with local
believers and the ceremony went on among many believers from both the St. Ottilien and Seiryuji.
Although there is a difference in both a place to live and a religion to practice, each of the believers has gained a
wonderful experience and shared an emotion.
From the local people who have seen the Japanese prayer for the first time and became very interested in Buddhism,
the robes and Buddhist tools, many questions have flown after the ceremony.
In Old days, there was a blind woman named Odditia. Since there was a story that the woman was baptized and her eyes
became visible, she had been enshrined in a Benedictine church.
The beginning of St. Ottilien monastery (Erzabtei St. Ottilien) is when a founder of the monastery has bought the church
out in 1884. Odditia has been regarded as one of saints in Christianity and even now she is enshrined in a small chapel in
the monastery.
Erzabtei St, Ottilien has annexes in about 30 countries in the world. There are a school, a furniture shop, a livestock
shed, a fire station and a train station inside the monastery and one small village is formed. About 100 monks are living
at those places practicing“praying and labor” under a teaching of Benedictus.
