Esoteric ceremony

Koyasan and kechien kanjo

結縁灌頂

The Koyasan Tourist Association put up a notice about kechien kanjo, scheduled for Oct 1 - 3, so I thought this might be time for me to write a bit about my experiences. Actually, the first time I went to Koyasan was to participate in the kechien kanjo. Koyasan Shingon Buddhism is a vajrayana esoteric Buddhism; kanjo ceremonies are a big part of it. 灌頂or 'kanjo,' is made up of two characters that mean 'sprinkle' and 'head' or 'peak.' In fact, there is a very tiny, symbolic amount of water sprinkled on the head during the ceremony--interesting parallel with baptism. In esoteric Buddhism, there are many of these water sprinkling ceremonies, called abhiseka in Sanskrit. For other ways to transliterate it, and for fairly reliable info about the Shingon ritual, Wikipedia is not bad:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abhisheka

The kechien part refers to forming a relationship with (a) Buddha. Fortunately, kechien kanjo is available to anyone who wants it. The only requirement is that you are doing it on your own intiative, and that you are a responsible adult. However, they don't even ask your name or anything.

Anyway, as a first-time visitor, just Koyasan itself was certainly impressive. There are other important Buddhist monuments in Kyoto, Nara and elsewhere. However, Koyasan is a pretty isolated community, and the whole town has some relation to Buddhism. There are no pachinko parlors, no Starbucks, no chain stores, no karaoke. Lots of shops selling altars, incense, rosaries and related stuff. Lots of workshops where artisans make such things. Not to mention, hundreds of temples, many of which welcome overnight visitors with splendid gardens, painted screens and fine vegetarian cuisine. So you really feel you are in a bit of a different world there.

The ceremony takes place in the Kondo or Golden Hall, where a statue of Yakushi Nyorai the Medicine Buddha is enshrined. However, I never saw that statue for two reasons. First, it is never displayed, the altar is always closed, because it is a hibutsu, a hidden Buddha never visible to the public. The second reason is, for the ceremony, the temple is lined with blackout curtains, so it is completely dark inside. The only light is from candles, so you can't see much of anything. Also, for much of the ceremony, you are blindfolded. So, step by step, you enter into the darkness. Completely blindfolded, you move about, guided by unseen monks. After the blindfold is removed, you have a one-on-one with a vajra master who helps you hold the kongosho, a vajrayana 'weapon.' This is where the practically unnoticeable water drop is sprinkled on. Next, you have a chance to offer incense to a whole pantheon of Buddhas and other deities. After all this, you emerge, blinking in the sunshine, seeing things in a new way, at least for a while.

Kechien kanjo for the Kongokai mandala is offered in October, and for the Taizokai in May. On the first day of the three-day period, before the kechien kanjo begins, there is a procession of priests, including the abbot of the head temple, wearing their robes of Heian period styling, with incense, shell trumpets, cymbals, with more accompaniment from the huge bell in the bell tower. A great photo op at the very least. After this procession, the priests conduct ceremonies in the Kondo that set things up ceremonially for the kechien kanjo.

I have added a short video of the procession. It was raining that day, so the procession was limited to the verandah under the eaves of the temple.

Another pic shows the Kondo from the side. It is a huge temple built in the traditional way, with no nails, just huge timbers fitted together. However, this building is from the nineteenth century, not so old. Koyasan is exposed on a mountain on a peninsula which gets lots of typhoons and other storms that come roaring up the Pacific coast. This means lots of lightning strikes, and lots of fires throughout Koyasan's history.

Nara Pilgrimage

World heritage sites

I was able to visit some temples, three in Nara and one in Kyoto, that date from the time of the earliest introduction of Buddhism into Japan. At that time, the location of the capital was shifted from time to time, for reasons such as geomancy, perceived threats or because of inauspicious accidents or disasters. Therefore, the seven major temples of Nara are pretty spread out over the area, and it is a challenge to see several at once. I wanted to see Horyuji, because it was one of the earliest ones, and Yakushiji, because I had seen two of the statues, Gakko Bosatsu and Nikko Bosatsu, when they were on display at the Tokyo National Museum. I added Toshodaiji to the list because it is within walking distance of Yakushiji. That was about the limit in terms of time (most of the temples close at 4:00 or 5:00 PM with entrance only until thirty minutes before closing, and also in terms of endurance, walking and seeing so much on such a hot day.

I jumped on the bullet train (shinkansen) in Tokyo around 7:00 AM, and got to Kyoto by around 9:00. It took another hour to get to Nara and then I took a bus to a different train station for a 12-minute ride to Horyuji station. I arrived there around 11:00 and checked the bus stop, but it was so hot I splurged on a taxi to the temple. The temple was founded early in the seventh century. The 'worship fee' is rather high, at ¥1000, but the images and buildings require museum-quality care, so it is reasonable. It is a lot cheaper than Disneyland, for example.

Yakushiji is not on the same train line as Horyuji, so I went to the bus stop to check on a bus. The next one was a 45-minute wait, so I headed to a noodle shop for a great, reasonably priced lunch of udon, rice, and vegetables. The bus to Yakushiji took about 30 or 40 minutes, but the bus stop was only about five minutes from the temple. Yakushiji was founded around 710, but was moved to the current location in 718 or so, because of one of the capital moves. The capital moved on again, and the temple today is in a very rural landscape of rice paddies and villages. This temple is the head temple of Japan's oldest Buddhist sect, Hosso.

It is only a short walk to Toshodaiji, the head temple of the Ritsu sect. The temple was established in 759 by Ganjin Wajo, who came from China to teach Ritsu to the Japanese. This temple is less splendid (it is not one of the 'big seven')--it has only one small pagoda, and the other buildings are fairly modest. But the objects of worship in the Kondo main hall include at least eight works designated as National Treasures (I didn't count them). It is a very quiet, green environment which seemed very ancient, and also relatively cool on such a hot day. The train station, Nishi no Kyo (western capital) seems to indicate a capital that has since moved. From there it was about an hour back to Kyoto.

The next day I headed for Toji, a temple in southern Kyoto, that was built around 794, when the capital was moved to Kyoto. There is a station called Toji, one stop from Kyoto on the Kintetsu line. Toji means 'east temple' and originally there was also a west temple (or maybe just plans for one); these were supposed to guard the southern approach to the city. However, Buddhism in Japan underwent a major shift when the monk Kukai, Kobo Daishi, returned from China, bringing Vajrayana Shingon Buddhism with him. The emperor was very impressed with Kukai, and entrusted Toji to him.

So I was happy that I could see four temples in just 1.5 days. I will put up more details on each temple in following posts.

The first pic shows the central garan of Horyuji, with the Kondo main hall and five-story pagoda. 'Kondo' means 'golden hall' perhaps it refers to the fact that Buddha statues are usually gilded. The second pic is the gate looking into the garan of Yakushiji. There are two three-story pagodas in this yard, but they have extra eaves on each story, so they look like they have six stories. The third pic is Toshodaiji, with the Kondo to the left, the Kodo (lecture hall) in the background, and a small tower, the Shariden next to a larger building that was originally monks' quarters.

'How-to' from a magazine

Ikkojin 一個人

Ikkojin is a monthly magazine about art, history and culture, with a slightly hipper, younger slant than the subjects might suggest. It is lavishly illustrated with great photos and dynamic layouts. The October 2011 issue features an introduction to Japanese temples. There is an article about the current exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum: 'Kukai and the art of esoteric Buddhism.' Another article surveys the head temples of 13 Buddhist sects. One sidebar is an outline of your basic temple visit--listing eight points, most of which I covered earlier in a much clumsier manner. You may find somewhat more detail if you look at older posts on this blog, but here is the magazine's outline (my translation, with additional comments by me in parentheses).

1. In front of the main gate (山門）put your hands together and bow (this is a way to mark off the start of your visit--'entering the zone' as it were. Of course, just going through the gate puts you into the zone physically; the gasho and bow are the psychological start).

2. At the ablution station (水屋）purify your hands and mouth.

3. Walk along the edge of the worshippers' path (参道）(I think walking along the edge is practical, to allow two-way traffic, and also to be more humble than to walk grandly in the middle of the path.)

4. Offer candles and/or incense. (I think the temples usually make a bit of profit on these, so it is a financial donation as well as being an offering from the heart.)

5. In front of the temple building, put some money in the box. (Usually one coin--I am usually feeling cheap, so I just put in ten yen. If I am feeling flush, I put in the first coin I take from my coin purse--it could be a 500-yen coin, worth more than five bucks these days. As I mentioned earlier, the amount is pretty much irrelevant, but probably it should be enough to make you feel good about it.)

6. Rattle the wani-guchi (鰐口）gong. (I didn't mention this earlier--it is a biscuit-shaped hollow gong with a slit opening halfway around the outer edge. The name means 'alligator mouth.' I didn't mention this earlier, because not all temples have them, and not many people use them--maybe the racket would disturb the calm temple atmosphere. I associate them more with shrines than temples, but that is just me.)

7. Place your hands together and offer a prayer. (At Pure Land temples, I have seen signs that say 'Don't make prayer requests.' We are protected by Buddha whether we request things or not.)

8. As you leave the precincts, turn toward the main hall and bow with hands together.

In the pictures, you can see a wani-guchi gong on the Hall of the Medicine Buddha--the red and white rope with the bead will sound the gong.

A water ablution station with a spout in the form of a double dragon. Water dragons support Buddhism even though, since they are not human, they cannot attain Buddhahood/enlightenment. However, a princely son of the dragon king was once netted by fishermen when he had assumed the form of a fish. Kuan Yin/Avalokitesvara persuaded the fishermen to return the fish to the sea, and the dragons have been grateful ever since.

The 'sando' worshippers' path at the temple Enyuji on a quiet day. The Hall of Sakyamuni could be six or seven hundred years old--at any rate, it is the oldest wooden building in the 23 central wards of Tokyo. There is a waniguchi hanging under the eave, above the donation box, but there is no rope for sounding it.

Here is a fantastic outline of Buddhism in verse form, by a modern Chinese master, translated by the great Shi Huifeng:Trackback-URL

More on temple visits

After entering the temple grounds, you can just look around and leave. However, there are a few more things you can do if you want to do a proper omairi. There is usually some kind of water facility for symbolic cleansing. Usually, it is some kind of pipe, often decorative, delivering water into a large basin. There are usually long-handled ladles on the rim of the basin. In places where crows or other birds are a problem, there may be some kind of mesh or other protective materials that you need to work around. Anyway, most of the explanations of the procedure suggest you take the ladle in your right hand. Take a dipperful from the basin and kind of swirl it as you pour the water on the ground near the base of the basin. (Be careful not to splash your neighbors if the situation happens to be crowded, like at Sensoji.) This is symbolically cleansing the ladle. Then, hold the ladle under the spout of the pipe to get the purest water. Pour a bit of water over your left hand, while you rub your fingers together. Shift the ladle to your left hand, and repeat the process, cleansing your right hand. Then shift the ladle back to your right hand. Pour a bit of the water in your left hand and bring your hand up to your mouth. Since it is only symbolic, it is not necessary to put the water in your mouth. * Some people take water directly in the mouth from the ladle. This is not recommended! * Then, take one more dip of the ordinary water and rinse your ladle before putting it back on the rim of the basin. I find this process is a way to express the desire to get closer to the world of Buddha. It is 'only' symbolic, but symbols are important. You may want to dry your hands and mouth with a handkerchief.

The next thing I do is check the incense situation. Large temples usually have a large incense burner in front of the main hall and in front of other important structures or statues, so you can check to see if there is a place to buy a bundle of incense. At Sensoji, you can get a bundle of incense for ¥100. There are hibachis with super-hot charcoal that will get your incense fired up. This is especially fun on a hot day! (Just kidding, but in winter, the heat is welcome!) Check to see that your bundle is completely ignited. If it is flaming, do not blow out the flames--it is better to wave you hand at the bundle to extinguish the flames. Then, being careful not to run into anyone, carry your bundle to the incense burner and place it upright in the ash bed. This can also be quite hot, so I try to do it as quickly and gracefully as possible. Then, face the main hall to acknowledge the Buddha inside. Some people will hold the incense in a gesture of offering before placing it in the burner--this is done more elaborately in other Asian countries, not so much in Japan. Visitors to Japanese temples like to believe that the smoke from the incense burner is good for them--they may pat the smoke onto a sore shoulder, or onto the head to hope for better performance on a school examination or something like that. This is one of those 'folk' traditions that are not really part of the doctrine, but there is little objection if people like to do that.

I haven't even gotten to the main part of the visit yet! But these preliminary procedures will make your temple visit more than just looking around as a sightseer. Some temples, like Sensoji, have lots of sightseers, so it is not such a big deal. But at a temple off the beaten path, it would be nice, and makes the locals feel a lot better, if you could add as much respectful behavior as possible.

My pix show the large incense caldron giving off a lot of smoke at the temple Zenkoji. Next, a water basin with a spout shaped like a dragon. The dragon is known as a supporter of Buddhism, and associated with Kannon/Kuan Yin. And another photo of single incense sticks in front of the main hall at Kenchoji in Kamakura.

Ancient temple in Nagano, Zenkoji

Zenkoji is certainly an important landmark. It was founded in the seventh century, before Buddhism divided into many sects. Currently, Jodo Shu (Pure Land) and Tendai priests run things there. I stepped into the main hall around noon, when a service was being conducted by Jodo priests, including recitation of the Nenbutsu chant to Amida. A lay volunteer approached me, speaking very good English, to explain some of the features of the temple. A bell rang, and he said 'You are very lucky, the curtain on the altar is opening.' I could see the curtain opening, but not much else. The curtain closed immediately. It is very dark, and the main image of the temple is a 'hibutsu' or secret Buddha, meaning that it is not displayed to the public. In this case, even the high priests have not seen it. It is in a backpack-type bag (for quick evacuation in case of a fire or something) inside two more box-like altars. So I may have seen the outer box or something. The statue is said to have come originally from India, by way of Korea. There was a feud or struggle of some kind, and in the kerfuffle, the statue was thrown into a canal. A man named Yoshimitsu was directed by some kind of vision to find the statue in the water. He retrieved the statue and established the temple, which uses the kanji for his name, pronounced in the Sino-Japanese way.

Another famous feature is the dark underground passage. My informant asked me to confirm and keep in mind the location of the altar. Then, he pointed out a stairway leading down into darkness. Keeping your right hand on the wall, you descend into the darkness, which represents death. Keeping on into the darkness, and remembering the location of the Buddha, you can find a door right beneath the altar. Because the Buddha is in the Pure Land, this door could be considered the door to paradise. There is a heavy old-fashioned lock that you can rattle and manipulate to express your desire to get there. Then, because you are not really dead, you ascend back into the world of light. There is a mirror conveniently placed so you can see if you changed in the process of symbolic rebirth.

My informant also recommended a visit to the three-story pagoda in the garden. The building is concrete, a bit of a disappointment, but it has many interesting things inside. Possibly most important, the Dalai Lama came to Zenkoji and made several offerings including a sand mandala. This mandala was made to be permanent--the video shows the monks using what looks like glue on the surface where the sand will be sprinkled. Zenkoji pulled out of the 2008 Summer Olympic torch relay in protest of China's Tibet policies. This may be one reason why the Dalai Lama came to visit. In addition, you can get close to some very old statues, and view explanations of some of the preservation and restoration processes. There are several old plaques which I didn't understand well--maybe offerings of some kind?-- and also a room where you can do 'shakyo' or sutra copying.

This temple is definitely worth a trip, if you are a hard-core Buddhist. It is fairly easy to get there from Tokyo, either on the Nagano shinkansen bullet train, built for the Nagano Olympics, or a highway bus.

Who knows how long my current series on visiting Japanese temples will continue? Anyway, by chance I had a great experience that gives me an excuse to move over to the 'tea' side of this blog! The other day, I took two visitors to see the famous Honmoku Sankeien garden. It was once the estate of a wealthy silk trader, a man who was interested in the tea ceremony and old architecture. So he made an impressive collection of tea pavilions, temples and villas to decorate his huge garden. It is now owned by a foundation and is open to the public for a fee. So, in preparing to enjoy all this, we stumbled on a rest pavilion that included a tea ceremony experience. The building was very modern, with big windows looking out on the greenery and a pond. A tea master, (who was a woman--it still kinda bothers me to use 'master' for a woman, but 'mistress' is completely wrong, so I will compromise and refer to her as 'Sensei.') There was a set up for 'nodate' style tea ceremony, normally served outside. There was a bright red umbrella and benches covered with red baize, the usual for nodate. I bought three tickets and we sat at the very front to watch our Sensei at her craft. There were nice sweets decorated with a scene of the garden's famous pond, boat and three-story pagoda, said to be specially made in Kyoto. As we finished our bitter foamy bowls of liquid jade, the room was mostly empty. So Sensei said 'Would you like to try?' She let each of us make another bowl of tea, doing her best to guide us through the elaborate procedure, dealing with our clumsy unfamiliarity. She was very friendly, although fairly scant English ability. She pointed out a calligraphy plaque mounted on the umbrella pole, with a very simple flower arrangement of white hydrangea. There was also a little picture of a bird painted on the plaque below the calligraphy. Sensei told us that it was common to see this bird, called a 'kawasemi,' around the ponds in the garden. I realized afterwards that in addition to doing the calligraphy, our Sensei probably painted the bird picture too. (By the way, kawasemi is a riverine bird that looks a bit like a kingfisher--translating the names of animals, plants and so on is a tricky business, so I won't even try!) I forgot to ask her name, but she told me that her tradition is 'Edo Senke' which means 'The Edo (=old name for Tokyo) branch of the Sen tradition.' 'Sen' is Sen no Rikyu, considered to be the founder of the tea ceremony.

The pix show a bowl of liquid jade, a small sweet (each person got two, but I ate one before I took the pic), and Zoe making tea.