Inside the gate

Temples serve various needs in Japanese society, and there are many ways they do this. The stereotype Japanese temple concentrates on selling expensive funerals and cemetery plots. It's true that Buddhism has been pretty much the 'go to' for funerary needs since the early days. One interesting thing about Buddhism in Japan is that it denied the supposed 'pollution' of death that existed in native religion. So that sounds good to me. On the other hand, the image of Buddhism in Japan was such that a satirical movie was made about greedy funeral directors and Buddhist priests, and clumsy family members. However, in my experience, Buddhist priests are very compassionate, flexible and comforting. Anyway, it is true that lots of temples basically exist to take care of the funerary needs of their congregation. These temples mostly do not allow tourists. I met a Zen priest in Hokkaido that spent most of every day going around to homes to conduct memorial ceremonies--in Japan, these are not finished with just the funeral ceremony. There are ceremonies for 7 days after death, 49 days, one year, three years, seven years and on and on. Not everyone does all of these, but there were enough in Hokkaido for my friend to be pretty busy with just that. So in the most extreme case, this kind of temple won't even open its gate. Still, some people will come there and put their hands together (gassho 合掌）in front of the gate. However, many of these temples open their gates, and anyone is free to walk in quietly and do a gassho in front of the main hall and any Buddhist images that may be visible (and put a coin in the box, of course). Beyond that, you may be able to peek inside a sanctuary, either through a glass panel or through the slightly opened door. It may be possible to remove your shoes and step inside in some cases. If by chance you should have a conversation with anyone there, avoid terms like sightseeing, I just wanna see it, and so on. Please use 'o mairi shimasu' （お参りします）which indicates worship. Indeed there are temples which welcome sightseers (and their money) but for the sake of form, it is better to use 'haiken' 拝見 a more polite form of the verb 'to see.' In fact the first kanji of haiken means 'to worship,' suggesting that seeing the Buddha is important, and also that polite language in Japanese has ties to Buddhism.

At the other end of the spectrum are temples like Sensoji in Asakusa. It has no congregation and no cemetery, therefore none of the income support from those sources. However, great crowds are always there, and you can walk into the main sanctuary with your shoes on. The donation box is roughly the size of a flatbed truck. On New Year's Day, I shuffled slowly in a huge crowd for an hour or more to get into the main hall for Hatsu Mode 初詣, the first visit of the new year.

Here are some pix: a very quiet neighborhood temple, and Sensoji on New Year's Day.

Temple gate

For a long time, I was a bit shy about walking into a temple--do you have to be a member? Will somebody ask me what I am doing? All kinds of questions. Now that I am a bit more used to it, I thought I would write about some of my experiences. How does one visit a temple? A good place to start is the gate of the temple. Most temples have traditional roofed gates--now that I think of it, Tsuki Hongwanji has a more ordinary gate with no roof. But the traditional gate is called the sanmon 山門 meaning 'mountain gate.' Every temple is considered to be a mountain, regardless of its actual geographical situation, so the gate to the temple is the mountain gate. The pictures show the famous Kaminari Mon or 'Thunder Gate' of the temple Sensoji in Asakusa, and the two guardian figures in the gate of the temple Enyuji in Meguro. The gate has an important symbolic function. In fact, the one in Asakusa never closes, and you can enter the temple area easily without going through it. But going through the gate symbolizes one's intent or desire to visit the temple for Buddhistic purposes. Actually, lots of sightseers go through temple gates as well, but if you are interested in Buddhism, going through the gate can enhance your experience. The temple grounds are a kind of mandala, which is demarcated from the mundane world. Most often, gates have guardian figures that are supposed to keep anything evil from coming in. Kaminari Mon is famous for its two statues, the god of wind and the god of thunder. The god of thunder is surrounded by drums, and the god of wind is portrayed with a kind of cape or something blowing dynamically in the wind. Most temples have more generic guardians, but one thing in common is that one has an open mouth, the other a closed one. The open mouth is said to be saying AH and the closed mouth is saying UN. These sounds symbolize complete protection since they are the beginning and end sounds of a syllabary 'alphabet.' Also, the first sound a coming from our mouths when we are born is AH (or maybe Wah!) and as our last breath leaves us, we say UN. So, as you go through the gate, be sure to check out the guardians--they are usually very dynamic sculptures, and also you can reflect on the protective aspects of Buddhist iconography.

A better view of temple music

I found this video through a friend. It is a video introduction of Housenji, a Jodo Shinshu temple in Osaka that also has a gagaku group. At around 3:30 you can see a group of priests playing the instruments, much more clearly than you can in my video!　

The YouTube channel where this came from has several similar videos. The title of the series means 'A Walk in Osaka' and features Jodo Shinshu temples in Osaka. These are 'real' videos--that is, with editing and everything!

http://youtu.be/AXQZGchwGr4

Music at the temple

In for a penny, in for a pound. I confess--I also took some videos at Tsukiji Hongwanji. In addition to the pipe organ, the temple sometimes has music supplied by musicians of the genre known as gagaku 雅楽, a very ancient tradition imported from the Asian mainland in the tenth century or so. One of the oldest orchestral traditions in the world. The performance at the temple was more in the line of a chamber ensemble of two instruments--the hichiriki 篳篥 a double reed horn similar to an oboe, but it kind of squawks like a goose, and the shou 笙, a reed instrument that might be called a mouth organ, but much different in shape from a harmonica. The reeds, with graduated pipe resonators, are mounted on a round wind box into which the player blows. There are holes that the player covers with fingers to produce the sound. Like a harmonica, it is sounded on both inhale and exhale. Maybe with the right tuning, you might be able to play blues on it. In traditional music, it sounds to me like it came from outer space.　Pix attached, borrowed from unrelated websites--thanks!

A walk around Tsukiji pt II

Another landmark in the area is Tsukiji Hongwanji, which is a branch temple of the famous Jodo Shinshu (know also as Shin Buddhism) temple, Nishi Honganji in Kyoto.

http://www.tsukijihongwanji.jp/tsukiji/index_e.html

This building is also post WWII, and is neo-Indian, although the interior of the main hall is traditional Japanese style, although done in concrete and other non-flammable materials. Another distinctive feature of the temple is its pipe organ. Not a very ambitious one, but worth it for the novelty, I think. At an English-language service there one time, I had my first experience of congregational Buddhist hymn-singing accompanied by the organ. However, the other day, I was in for a shock--the altar area of the main hall has been walled off for reconstruction. The posted construction plan started March 1, so it seems to be unrelated to the earthquake. They set up a temporary sanctuary in another wing of the building, also very beautiful in a simpler way. As I sat there, drifting in and out of a meditative state, a priest led people in for consecration of Buddhist images they had purchased, with a bit of bell-ringing and sutra chanting and a short Dharma talk. One time, I sneaked some pictures in the main hall, showing the elaborate altar--felt a little bit guilty, although there is nothing posted there about photos, but I didn't ask anybody either. But I am glad I have them--I wonder if the new altar will be different.

A walk around Tsukiji pt I

I took a walk around the Tsukiji area the other day. It is famous for the fish market, where tourists can go to watch the tuna auctions, smoking, touching the fish, getting in the way of forklifts, etc. The area is also known for a couple of other things. One is St. Luke's Hospital, one of the earliest modern hospitals in Japan.

http://www.luke.or.jp/eng/index.html

It was started by a missionary who was from Rome, Georgia (USA, I am guessing here), but the website doesn't specify what kind of missionary, which branch of Christianity. One can only hope he was from the one true religion--you know, the Western Branch of American Reformed Presbo-Lutheranism! Haha! I stole that joke from the Simpsons--thanks, people! But seriously, I have been here more than 30 years, and never once went to the hospital--meaning, I never had a serious health problem, never needed English-language health services, etc. Which is a good thing, but I found a very nice neo-gothic chapel that is certainly worth a visit. It is in the oldest existing building, which looks like it dates from after WWII. Most neo-gothic architecture in Japan is wood, but this is stone, with stone vaults and everything. There is also a nice organ, from the late 1990s, I hope I can catch a concert there sometime. I didn't have my camera that day, so check the website for pix.

Is Japan a Buddhist country?

There seems to be lots of confusion on this point. Part of it is the social meaning of religion, maybe a slightly different definition. Or, say, exclusivity. It is true that the Japanese will most often turn to a Buddhist temple for funerary needs. For weddings they might go to a Christian (or faux Christian) church or a 'shinto' shrine of native gods. So maybe it is fair to say most Japanese are not *exclusively* Buddhist, but even many Buddhist clergy accept this and do not find it strange. It is also fair to say that not many Japanese Buddhists go to the temple once a week, sing hymns, make a monetary offering, listen to a sermon and then come back for the same thing the next week. For one thing, Buddhist temples were around before the seven-day week in Japan! The Japanese sense of order requires a decimal system wherever possible, so a 30-day month was conveniently divided into three ten-day periods. It is still common for temples to have regular services at ten-day intervals, for example on the eighth, the eighteenth and the 28th. But even weekly or monthly temple attendance is probably low on the list of priorities for most lay Buddhists. The services might feature sutra recitations and a sermon (法話 'houwa' in Japanese, corresponds to 'Dharma talk'). There are some temples that actually have congregational hymn singing, but most of them don't, I think. Even more than attending services, for most people the most important thing is to drop a coin in the box even if you are just passing through the neighborhood temple grounds on your way somewhere else. The polite thing to do is pause in front of a temple or statue, put your hands together (合掌 'gasshou') with a bit of a bow, and drop a coin in the box, which is placed out in front for your convenience. The value of the coin seems to be completely irrelevant. Maybe lots of people are cheap like me, putting in the smallest coins except on special occasions--something people never talk about! LOL I have never heard of anyone stealing from these offering boxes--some security efforts are made, but they are minimal. Either thieves don't want to mess with small denominations of coins, or maybe they are Buddhist in the sense of knowing it is extra wrong to steal from a temple.

That being said, if you keep your eyes open, you can see signs of Buddhism everywhere. Major roads in Tokyo that have been highways since the old days still have many old statues of Jizo, the protector of travelers, still lovingly tended with fresh flowers, offerings of water or sake, and red caps and bibs. Even the business areas filled with office buildings have small temples tucked away here and there. Once you are aware of such things, you can feel a fairly steady Buddhistic 'hum' as you travel around the country.

a hidden treasure

I just came across a forgotten stash of high-quality oolong tea from a long-ago trip to Taiwan. I don't know how old it is, but it still tastes pretty good! For good quality tea, the Chinese way of brewing requires a fairly small teapot (急須 kyuusu in Japanese) that is filled around halfway with dry leaves. The first pouring is discarded, as it is thought to wash away any dust or impurities. Then, the tea can be used ten or more times. The leaves get pretty crowded as they aborb the hot water. Rather than expanding fully and releasing the flavor all at once, the tight conditions cause the flavor to come out little by little, thus several pourings are possible. The high-quality product from Taiwan is different from the ordinary oolong tea you might find in a bottle or teabag. The best grades have a color very similar to Japanese green tea. There is a rich herbal aroma, with a subtle sweetness that lingers. That is one reason to *not* add sugar to this kind of tea. I will try to get some pics going here soon.