Tosyo-daiji Temple: The Symbol of the fortitude

In the west district of Nara City, which was called “Nishi-no-kyo”(the west-side capital of Heijo-kyo) , is an old temple which was built approximately 12 centuries ago. It is Tosyo-daiji Temple, which has the atmosphere of the T’ang dynasty　(China 618-917). If you come into it, you will feel something solemn in the air immediately. And it is always kept neat and it isn’t filled with visitors.

Tosyo-daiji Temple is near Yakushiji Temple, which I wrote about as a beautiful temple previously, but Tosyo-daiji Temple is sacred rather than beautiful.

Big roofs and thick wooden pillars of the temple buildings impress visitors with their solemness. In addition, great Buddhist statues, some of which are the national treasures of Japan, are energetic. Nonetheless, in my opinion, it might be that the greatest reason of the sacred atmosphere is based on the consecutively eternal daily actions by the priests in this temple since the 8th century. What they have kept is the thoughts of the precepts of Buddhism and the achievements by the founder of this temple, Ganjin the Supreme.

Ganjin

Ganjin, who was born in China in the T’ang Dynasty period, brought the precepts of Buddhism to Japan for the first time. And yet, more importantly, he had his incredibly unusual fortitude.






At that time, Japan in the Nara period (710-794) was the developing time of a new united nation. The governors in the Emperor’s court demanded the laws of T’ang Dynasty as the governing rules and expected Buddhism as the super power which supported the Emperor’s court. Despite of the expectation of the Emperor’s court the realm of Buddhism at that time was poor because of the weak conditions by only a few sutra of Buddhism and was a mess because a lot of fleeing people from firms pretended to be priests of Buddhism. The governors needed a strong Buddhist who could give Japanese priests the genuine precepts.

The story of the fortitude voyage of Ganjin

The sea between Japan and China was very dangerous at that time, when navigation was poor and ships with no engines were weak and small, the voyage between Japan and China was a once-in-a-lifetime event which imposed voyagers to say final farewell to their families.

Two ambassadors from Japan looked for a great precept priest of Buddhism who would consent to a voyage to Japan. In 743 they met Ganjin, who was the greatest precept priest, surrounded by his many disciples. They solicited his help to send a suitable person to Japan. After hearing the Japanese ambassadors’ entreaty, He said; “I heard that Japan has endeavored to spread Buddhism for 200 years and to save people, and the former king gave one thousand Chinese priests expensive clothes and sent a message of spreading Buddhism from hand to hand.” And then he told his disciples that consenting to their appeal was for the law of Buddhism, and asked them who would consent to travel to Japan. However nobody said any word and silence descended on them. Eventually, an upper level disciple said to Ganjin; “I heard that Japan is far away from China and there isn’t one in a hundred chances for voyagers to reach Japan. It’s difficult to be born as a human, moreover to be born as a Chinese. In addition, we don’t want to leave you, our majesty.”

In touch with his disciples’ response he put his strong intention to them; ”to spread the law of Buddhism to places where Buddhism doesn’t flourish sufficiently is the greatest mission for the Buddhist. Refusing to this appeal of Japan by regretting your lives runs counter to the spirit of Buddhism. If you refuse this appeal I will go to Japan.”






Irrespective of the difficulty of the voyage between China and Japan, the law of Buddhism was the highest goal for him to achieve. As for him, the law of Buddhism was his hope and his duty. By touching with the master’s strong intention all disciples obeyed his intention.






Their voyage to Japan failed five times. Many priests died in the five voyages and a lot of sutra and treasures of Buddhism were lost in the sea. In these difficulties, one of the two Japanese ambassadors died in China. Even worse, Ganjin lost his sight due to these hardships. Nevertheless, the intention of Ganjin never weakened.






In 753 when 10 years passed from the time when Ganjin had this intention for the first time, Ganjin and some of his disciples with the one Japanese ambassador succeeded in the voyage to Japan by a Japanese ship.

The achievements of Ganjin

His achievements were great. Buddhism in Japan since his arrival had achieved normalization. And it threw the chance of the birth of the next two great Japanese Buddhists, Saicho and Kukai. Nonetheless, his precept thoughts were made light of by the Japanese Buddhism posterity. However his fortitude never vanished, I think.






The way of the samurai says that the way of the samurai is to look out of the mind to consent to die. This discipline can be made recourse to Ganjin’s fortitude. The way of the samurai was generated in the Kamakura period (1185-1333). And the story of the fortitude voyage by Ganjin was depicted in the picture painting story during the Kamakura period. I think these two events weren’t by chance.






The way of the samurai, one of a lot of Japanese spirituality, stems from the fortitude of Ganjin, who thought not to regret his life for the law of Buddhism. It is sort of strange that I said, in that there was somebody stronger than Ganjin, I found out that no one even pursuing for a different cause as strong as him. So when I visit Tosyo-daiji Temple and recall the story of Ganjin, I have no choice but to respect China.