The never ending practicing place, Oku-no-in -Koya-san ( 3 )

Oku-no-in is the most popular place in Koya-san, and the most precious place for all of the priests of Koya-san as well. Oku-no-in is Kukai’s mausoleum, who had entered nirvana (death of a saint) approximately twelve centuries ago, and a big cemetery where multitudinous souls of historically great men who are sleeping.

Koya-san is a secret and kind of sexual place


Oku-no-in has a lot of stone statues of “Jizo” and “Kannon” and innumerable mossy gravestones along with countless big cedars. In addition the one long lined cobblestone path between the entrance and Kukai’s mausoleum and the surrounding deep silence with the aforementioned things transport you to another world in a good way. A dark cemetery with moss-covered gravestones is weird in general, and a good cemetery with a saintly atmosphere is hard to come by. Besides, walking along the cobblestone path and seeing various statues and gravestones make you have a special mysterious time.


Recently the night tour of Oku-no-in is getting popular, especially for foreign travelers. Different from the day time, lights of stone lanterns are added in the dark night, it is just a wonderland.

Extraordinary experiences in a “syukubo” – Koya-San (2)


Kukai’s Mausoleum

Kukai’s Mausoleum has a special saintly air. The air with something extraordinary is similar to Ise Shrine, I think.

Priests have prayed to the soul of Kukai, have guarded the soul and have served food to the soul for twelve centuries without interruption. It may be difficult to sense the air immediately as soon as you visit the Mausoleum, but if you stand or sit still quietly for a while you might be able to sense it. I assured it when I saw a foreign adult male traveler who had kept concentrating his senses to the air in front of the Mausoleum.

Fire works of Buddhism, “goma-gyo “


Goma-gyo is the significant fire-works in Koya-san. It is held for people who want to be peace. The fire of goma-gyo stands for the wisdom of Buddha. Not only does the fire burn people’s evil passion to nothing, but the fire makes a priest practice. The temperature in front of the fire of goma-gyo is over 300 degree Celsius. A practicing priest has to be in the sprit of emptiness in his mind. It is how to introduce the energy of the universe.

The process of goma-gyo is simple. People write their desires or hopes on wooden sticks. A practicing priest throws wooden sticks with the written desires or hopes of people. Once the wooden sticks are burned in the fire, people’s desires or hopes plunge into the air by the priest’s praying.

Goma-gyo is held every morning at the Mausoleum, and you can see it. Moreover if you write you’re a desire or a hope on a stick, your desire or hope is plunged by the fire of the wisdom.

When you pray in front of a statue of Buddha in Koya-san, before praying you can take a little incense powder in your fingers and rub it into your hands. This is the original custom at Koya-san, the aroma of incense is near the smell of Chinese medicine. Although the aroma is so, you may feel that something saintly is added by the profound air.

Kukai, The Practice of Buddhist

So far, I wrote three times about Koya-san. I hope you may find some wonderful points of Koya-san.

Finally I want to write about Kukai and his thinking. He is the supreme hero and the superman of Buddhism for Japanese people. He is so great that Japanese people know little about him because he was too bright.

Before entering Koya-san Kukai had worked hard for the peace of Japan and had worked eagerly for people. The emperor at the time hoped he had been near him. However recognizing he was closed to the end of his life, he wanted strongly to establish Koya-san.

Why did he resolve koya-san was the last place of his life?

Koya-san is far from Kyoto and the distance between them shows the meaning of the establishment, which is for the practices of Mikkyo staying away from the troublesome things in this world. And the nature of Koya-san is very severe, especially in winter (when heavy snow covers deeply). Kukai might have thought it was necessary to be in a severe environment for the practice. He must have been a never ending practicing Buddhist even after becoming the great Buddhist, and he chose the severe circumstances.

Japanese Buddhism

Why is it necessary to be in severe conditions for the practice? The answer may be not only one. And when you think why, you may enter the room of Buddhism without recognizing it. I think a hint of why is throughout positive thinking. It is important to look at the practice not from the negative side but from the contrasting side, for example, “a failure is a seed for success”. To be able to definitely say yes is that Buddhism never promise that your cost of endeavors equals your success in a more or less common sense. Practicing of Buddhism never promise priest’s success for Buddhist but promises his heart will grow.

Until this moment you read the mentioned sentences may maintain why. Buddhism in Japan always has two ways. The goal of one way of each of the priests of Buddhism is for his enlightenment. And the goal of the other way is peace of a society and people’s happiness simultaneously. Moreover all of the priests have to walk forward on two ways spontaneously. Although it is probably transcendental to think, a realm where you can transcend common thought may be the land of possibility of enlightenment.

Although you may be able to understand the rational thoughts, it might be not easy to grasp the essence of the practice. One side of growing of the heart is strength of the heart. For Buddhism ego is the cause of suffering and the symbol of weakness. Priests have to put off their ego in order to put big ego on their hearts. Big ego is peace and salvation of people. They have been practicing for that. Possibly, some foreign travelers who visit Koya-san may intuitively know that.


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