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.