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A trip to Kyoto
_BeautifulSpringtime
Veteran
Hi everyone,
Just spent the weekend in Kyoto and visted many temples and shrines.
It was wonderful to see both Shinto and Buddhist places of worship/reflection on the same sites and coexisting peaceful. I remarked to my girlfriend that you definately don't see anything like that in the UK!
Our international sangha was in my mind during the visit. I hoped that you could all join me one day! In one way or another...
Just spent the weekend in Kyoto and visted many temples and shrines.
It was wonderful to see both Shinto and Buddhist places of worship/reflection on the same sites and coexisting peaceful. I remarked to my girlfriend that you definately don't see anything like that in the UK!
Our international sangha was in my mind during the visit. I hoped that you could all join me one day! In one way or another...
0
Comments
Oh, I would so love to visit it!
The picture is absolutely wonderful!:bigclap:
HH
Yep, it does look amazing!
I think beebuddy and I have a similar question: is that first pic of Toji temple?
I really loved Toji. What an amazing set of Vajrayana statues they have there forming a three dimensional Mandala. Did you see that?
More pictures! More stories!
::
But...
The pool around that one hotel you posted? The water was pretty dirty. Don't they ever clean their pools?
-bf
I always feel like adding...
"For Hitler..."
VWP,
Yes it is Toji temple. I was amazed by all the Vajrayana statues and the influences of Indian and Japanese art being combined.
The highlight for me was the little lady who signed my temple book - a true calligrapher!
Mata ne!
Thank you for the kind response. Whereabouts in Japan are you? I`m way down in Kagoshima.
I lived in Hiroshima for a year and took some tiny mobile phone pictures of a Shingon fire-walking ceremony in honour of Fudo-myo-o at Miyajima. They`re so small I`m not sure they are worth the bother of posting.
Please post them, I'd be interested in seeing them even if they're small. :thumbsup:
You will join me in singing and dancing the Fuhrer's favourite tune:
"Der Guten Tag Hop-Clop"! All right, key of E?
Yes, please post them. I would be very interested.
VWP,
I'm currently living in Shizuoka City, Shizuoka prefecture.
Please post your pictures of the fire-walking ceremony - I'm sure we'd all love to see them regardless of their size.
Gasho,
Dave
I haven`t checked back here for a while. Glad people might be interested in seeing the images. It will take me some time to get them up as they are still in my mobile phone`s memory.
Shingon is the name of the Japanese form of Vajrayana. Shingon is the Japanese translation of the Chinese word for "mantra" and literally means "true word". Vajrayana was transmited to Japan from China by the monk Kukai, known also as Kobo Daishi, even before it was established in Tibet. Kobo Daishi is regarded by Shingon Buddhists as having reached Buddhahood and his body is believed by some still to be in a state of samadhi on Mt. Koya, where the head temple of Shingon-shu Esoteric Buddhism is located.
The fire walking ceremony is in honor of Fudo-myo-o, regarded as a fully enlightend wrathful manifestation of one of the Buddhas, perhaps Mahavairocana. Fudo-myo-o (Acalanatha, the Immovable one) sits on a rock enveloped in flame.
Logs were carefully stacked up and covered with evergreen branches. The abbot spoke to the crowd, and mentioned Tibet several times, I don`t exactly know why. Yellow-garbed monks blowing conch-shells moved in circles about the fire while mantras where chanted to the beating of a drum and the clang of metal rattles. The coals were carefully raked and invocations were pronounced by the abbot. The abbot was the first one to go through. Then other monks followed and finally the crowd of lay followers.
I was just few feet away from the proceedings. When the abbot walked through he raised his feet high and stamped and proceeded neither quickly nor slowly. I could see clearly that beneath the black surface red-hot coals were burning. A Tibetan monk was standing next to me observing the rite. By the time the lay people passed though, a path had been beaten though the coals and most people walked through without really coming into contact with the embers.
I explored some parts of the temple during the later stages of the ceremony when various people were walking through. I found that in the principal hall there was a special room dedicated to Tibetan Buddhism and there were a couple of lamas there making a sand-mandala. Daisho-in is a very beautiful temple and I recommend a visit to anyone in the vicinity of Hiroshima.
When I get down there I'll be sure to have a look around.
Many thanks for posting the pictures!
I thought I'd go and sit in the woods being that they are generally cooler than the town (it's 30 degrees today!) only to find that once I stopped walking there was a platoon of mosquitoes ready for a feast! They weren't little ones either - they were bigger than bees! Needless to say I didn't practise meditation but swiftly got moving again!