Todaiji

Already pitifully behind!

So next we took a day trip to Nara, to see Todaiji (a Buddhist temple much known for its giant buddha), learn how to make Sumi ink, and hike up to the Fushimi Inari Shrine (apparently the #1 ranked Shinto shrine in Japan). I think I can maybe only manage to talk about Todaiji today, I'm pretty beat. Todaiji represents the Kegon sect of  Buddhism, which is a kind of esoteric Buddhism holding that only certain people can possess and transfer the secrets of enlightenment. We actually got to meet a the head abbot of the temple, which was pretty neat. He gave us a little talk about the temple, then showed us around. We even got special permission to go onto the platform where the giant Buddha is located (we had to remove our shoes for that). It was very worth seeing, as you will understand shortly:

 On the train to Nara, we noticed that paper ads hung down from little clasps on the ceiling. We estimated that such things would be ripped down within in the hour in New York.

 In Nara, the big attraction were the deer. This is not as strange as it might initially sound--the "sika" are  sacred in Shintoism because of a myth where a kami is said to ride on the back of a deer....I think? Here, maybe another case of religious syncretism, since the deer's main hangout was a Buddhist temple. In any case, the deer are protected within the temple grounds and they live off the grass and shrubbery that grow within. In the winter, people come to feed them, and they have apparently grown quite fond of Beethoven since the 5th symphony is frequently used as the dinner bell.

 You can make the deer bow to you by lifting the deer food up then bringing it down quickly once more. It's the thing to do. But careful--they're kind of aggressive. Jess actually got bitten by one!

 This is one of the guardian statues of the main gate to the temple.

 Me in front of the temple. It's a little difficult to see from this angle, but see the small roofed protrusion from the 1st level roof? There are a set of double doors that it houses. The doors are opened only a couple of times a year for special holidays to reveal the giant Kannon's face. Kannon is the Buddha that's housed in this temple. She's the goddess of mercy, more commonly known by her Chinese name, Guanyin.

 Following the head abbot to the temple for a tour. Take a look at the lines of the stone path. The central green line represents India, the birthplace of Buddhism. The next set of lines represents China, then Korea. The largest part of the path represents Japan. This path thus represents the spread of Buddhism from India to Japan.

 The giant Buddha inside. Just to give you an idea of how huge this is, a person cannot fit his or her arms around one of the Buddha's fingers. See the square sections of the roof? Each one of those sections is 8 tatami mats large.

They've carved out a hole in this column to match the size of the Buddha's nostril. Word is, those who pass through gain entrance to heaven! And also, tourists love it.

Thinking about what I saw here at Todaiji, I may have to retract some of the comments I made comparing Chinese and Buddhist temples the other day. This temple definitely had more of the elements I am more familiar with in a Buddhist temple, like the elaborate gold statues and the giant incense urns before the the altar. Maybe it had something to do with the sect of Buddhism? Daitokuji was Zen Buddhism, while this was Kegon Buddhism. Additionally, this temple was built in a much different period than either Daitokuji or the Higashi temple (those were both built during the warring states period, I believe). The original temple was erected about 1000 years ago, and rebuilt a couple of times due to damage. I think I might have to dig up my old textbooks on Asian arts to solve this aesthetic mystery....