This video from Great Big Story on YouTube introduces Gyosen Asakura, a monk and chief priest of a Buddhist temple. Initially he rejected the expectation that he would carry on the family tradition of heading the temple and pursued his interest in music, becoming a DJ and lighting technician. As he progressed, he realized that his passion for music wasn’t as at odds with the Buddhist religion as he originally thought.

If you think you can’t make it to Fukui to bear witness to one of his trancey sets, you can dance your way to enlightenment while browsing Gyosen Asakura’s YouTube channel.

Because of dwindling numbers of worshippers at temples in Japan, monks have gotten very creative in promoting their religion and shaking up people's image of monks, like this bar owned and staffed by Buddhist monks who also play in their own monk rock band.

Gyosen Asakura's story of using his passions and talents to promote the temple is inspiring and it looks like he serves up one of the most creative religious services in Japan.