Friday: Eikando - A surprise in the Pure Land
After Honen-in we continued down the philosopher's walk right to the end, and Eikando, the first Pure Land temple I've visited. Pure Land Buddhism is an "other power" path. In Japan they say there are two kinds of Buddhist ways - tariki, other power; and jiriki, self power. Pure Land Buddhists do a lot of chanting to Amida Buddha, and believe they are saved by the power of their devotion to Amida, the Infinate Light Buddha. Some of you will remember the excellent lectures the Pure Land scholar Dr. Mark Unno gave at our place that he called "The Crooked Path."
Wes has a special feeling for this temple, since he took his daughter here when she was very young, and was received warmly by the monks he met. I was greeted warmly by the woman who ran the little gift shop - she told me the fruit on the tree outside the shop was a Buddha's Hand Orange, which is a thing - you can look it up. She said it's Buddha's hand, reaching out to help me. It really does look like a hand, though it doesn't exactly feel like one.
They didn't allow photos inside the Buddha and Dharma halls, which is a pity because they were amazingly high church, and very, very golden - gold leaf everywhere. Here's the outside of one of the halls:
In the holy of holies in Eikando is an Amida Buddha statue that's unusual: He's looking over his shoulder. The founder of this temple brought a statue back to Kyoto from Edo I think, and one freezing morning he was meditating and the statue came to life, turned away from him, and looking over his shoulder said, "Follow me." No photo rule was in effect again, so here's an image from the internet. It's a really handsome and strange Buddha figure:
Speaking of miracles, a minor one happened on the way out. As we were leaving, walking past the garden I showed you above, I overheard a woman who was not understanding what the grey-robed monks next to her were saying. I helped her out: "He's saying 'Korean' - they're Korean monks." So we got to talking and it turns out these guys all know my good friends Chon-mun Sunim and Hyun-mun Sunim. Chon-mun gave us our beautiful Bodhidharma painting. One of the three monks spoke English, said he's great friends with Hyun-mun Sunim, and had very kind words about both my friends - said they were really great practitioners, one of only a few Westerners who have done the real Korean training. I was so happy to meet these guys! They were on vacation for 2 days, just to get away from the city, and randomly chose a temple or two to visit.
I didn't get the woman's name but these guys are Sansung, Jingak, and Jio.
Wes has a special feeling for this temple, since he took his daughter here when she was very young, and was received warmly by the monks he met. I was greeted warmly by the woman who ran the little gift shop - she told me the fruit on the tree outside the shop was a Buddha's Hand Orange, which is a thing - you can look it up. She said it's Buddha's hand, reaching out to help me. It really does look like a hand, though it doesn't exactly feel like one.
They didn't allow photos inside the Buddha and Dharma halls, which is a pity because they were amazingly high church, and very, very golden - gold leaf everywhere. Here's the outside of one of the halls:
And a view from above. I can't get enough of these roofs for some reason.
A lovely little garden:
Did I mention I'd like to have one of these bells one day? This one is smaller than the last one, only about 2 feet tall. Yes, there was a note next to it that read "For ringing at ceremonies only."
In the holy of holies in Eikando is an Amida Buddha statue that's unusual: He's looking over his shoulder. The founder of this temple brought a statue back to Kyoto from Edo I think, and one freezing morning he was meditating and the statue came to life, turned away from him, and looking over his shoulder said, "Follow me." No photo rule was in effect again, so here's an image from the internet. It's a really handsome and strange Buddha figure:
Speaking of miracles, a minor one happened on the way out. As we were leaving, walking past the garden I showed you above, I overheard a woman who was not understanding what the grey-robed monks next to her were saying. I helped her out: "He's saying 'Korean' - they're Korean monks." So we got to talking and it turns out these guys all know my good friends Chon-mun Sunim and Hyun-mun Sunim. Chon-mun gave us our beautiful Bodhidharma painting. One of the three monks spoke English, said he's great friends with Hyun-mun Sunim, and had very kind words about both my friends - said they were really great practitioners, one of only a few Westerners who have done the real Korean training. I was so happy to meet these guys! They were on vacation for 2 days, just to get away from the city, and randomly chose a temple or two to visit.
I didn't get the woman's name but these guys are Sansung, Jingak, and Jio.
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