My new friend Suki (a British lass married to a Japanese professor) took me to our local Temple. It was located on Mount Kabutoyama the mountain in our backyard. The mountain is believed to be ‘a mountain of god’ by Buddhist worshipers. Until the modern era it was a mix of Shinto belief and Buddhist worship. The main object of worship is a statue of Nyoiri which depicts Buddha after he retired into religious service so he is sitting on a lotus petal in robes with a halo around his head.
There were various little local shrines along the road leading up to it and a beautiful wooden, ornately carved gateway at the bottom of the staircase. I looked up. There were a lot of stairs to climb to get to the main temple.
At the first tier there was a lotus pond with amazingly large leaves and seed pods reaching for the bright orange archway above. To the right was a section with about 50 small Buddha statues intermixed with some larger depictions. All the small statues were wearing faded red bibs. As I understand it, the bibs are to protect Buddha from getting soiled by the offerings that people leave for him.
My eyes were drawn to a black, giant statue of a bodhisattva named Kannon holding a baby looking over them all. The temple is supposedly named after her. Kannon (which is her Japanese name) is more commonly known as GuanYin the Chinese Goddess of Mercy and Compassion. She is the mother-goddess, patron of mothers and children and a fertility goddess with the power to grant children and relieve suffering. I was told that many of the offerings are from mothers who have either lost babies and are asking for mercy or are requesting to get pregnant. The flower and water offerings around Kannon were many and it pulled at my heart-strings. I couldn’t believe that this powerful female was represented at my local temple. What a coincidence that she was a different incarnation of Bridget the merciful who I was feeling more and more of a spiritual pull towards lately.
After finishing the climb our view over Osaka was incredible. There was a small roofed area with water and cups for the ritual cleansing of hands and mouth, a small pagoda that contained a large bell that vibrated such a base tone as to shift one completely and then the main pagoda for worshiping the deity.
At the main pagoda’s entrance were two Komainu or Korea Dogs as the Japanese call them. These lion-dogs with magical powers are guards acting as talismans, usually depicted as one opened mouth for the sound Ah the beginning, and one with mouth closed for the sound Mmm for the end. These are based on their Sanscrit (Indian) beginnings. The ones at this temple showed female Yin with her paw on her pup and male Yang with a ball and both have their mouths open. I will have to find out what the significance of that is. Beyond them was a beautiful, large, carved wooden bowl for accepting monetary donations. Inside the pagoda was Nyoiri surrounded by gold and offerings of fruit, one pyramid of apples and one of oranges. The smell of incense was intoxicating.
On the edge of the cliff with the amazing view sat a little house where people could kneel and pray to a Buddha statue.
There are trails leading further up the mountain that I will have to go back and explore one day although it is already a good hike just to get to the temple. It will all be even more gorgeous when it cools down and the leaves change colour.
No comments:
Post a Comment