Social Plane Pilgrimage

The Social Plane involves the idea of how the pilgrimage is viewed from particular social groups . Traders and innkeepers are going to view the pilgrimage much different than the actual pilgrim themselves. It also provides a collective idea of the pilgrimage through race, gender, age, and social economic status, as well as takes note of who is paying to maintain the pilgrimage.

The monks that Brian met while on his pilgrimage in Japan, view the pilgrimage much differently than Brian did. While Brian was there to gain the experience, the monks were there to make the pilgrimage. All four of them dedicated their lives to running the temples and present pilgrims with special ceremonies in which make their journey more sacred. While the second

Throughout the entire email we experience the Ego Plane, as the story is being told through the eyes of Brian himself verses another group of people. As he begins telling the story of the monks he encountered and the ceremony he experienced with his friends and one of these monks, we begin to see the social aspect of the pilgrimage, as the monks change the lives and view the pilgrimage differently than pilgrims traveling. He starts off his E-mail by discussing the Cultural Plane aspect of the pilgrimage and how thousands of people each year travel from Japan in chances of seeing Kobo Daishi himself who is said to be alive on the mountain in constant meditation waiting for Siddhartha to return . He mentions the Physical Plane of the pilgrimage when he discusses the cemetery that he walked over a kilometer through after getting dropped off by a bus (2 hour ride). He also mentioned not having transportation to get to a spring bath (too far of a walk), so they went for a walk around the countryside instead . While the Physical Plane was not explained detail for detail and we did not get a full understanding on what made this pilgrimage difficult or easy to endure, we received a general understanding that could have been elaborated more with the right information. While not all of the planes are described in great detail like above, the Meta plane gives a broad description of all of them at the point in which they intersect. Although all of these planes are different, they all connect together and could not make the pilgrimage possible without one and