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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Karuta competitions by the 100 Poems

Image
I saw on TV news that many young foreigners competed karuta competitions by the 100 Poems. I was surprised at that, as well as I was interested why they played karuta competitions and why they knew how to play. Because karuta competitions are so difficult that the number of those who play the game isn’t large even in Japan. Eventually, I never have played karuta competitions. Incidentally, the 100 Poems, “hyakunin-issyu” in Japanese, are familiar with Japanese People. Japanese people in most cases learn the 100 Poems in their junior high-schools or high-schools, and they sometimes play a game of competing accuracy and quickness with several people that players grab a card written with the only second phrases of a poem from cards on tatami listening to full phrases of a poem. Of course I learned the 100 Poems in my junior high school and sometimes played the game, but I was a weak player of karuta games. Karuta competitions are a severer sport than the game above, so the sport dema
Read more

Warikan Custom In Japan

Image
Culture in a country is the result made by the specific customs based on the thoughts of the people, if it is true, to try to look out for the specific custom of a country where you visit is a joyful challenge during your traveling time. When I visited foreign countries I experienced the different customs from Japan and I was happy to know it. Many anthropologists say that Japanese culture is especially different from cultures of other countries. Then foreigners visiting Japan will feel pleasure by finding out the different customs from their countries. Warikan is the one specific Japanese custom. Warikan is to split the bill among members who ate dishes and drank in restaurants and it is generally a popular custom in Japan. I have a foreign friend who has been in Japan from Australia and I sometimes have drinking parties with him. He knows Japanese customs but perhaps his true sense depends on western customs. At paying the bill when I suggested “sloping warikan” to him as a mat
Read more

Satsuma-biwa music

Image
Hiromi Hakozaki, who is a Satsuma-biwa player, played biwa music at the machiya of Onishi-tune-shoten and explained how biwa instruments became its present form. I want to write about one of Japan’s specific sound instruments according to her explanation. Before my explanation I want to mention my impression after listening to her play, I said to her in this way. “The sounds of Satsuma-biwa is calm in terms that it allows a human physiological phenomenon like that blood pressure will be peaceful, but is very deep in terms that it lets the human spirit vibrate strongly.” Biwa v.s. Lute Biwa(Japanese lute) came far from Persia in the 8th century via The Silk Road. The picture above is an ancient Persian lute instrument(front and back) which is stored as a national treasure in Syosoin next to Todaiji or Kasuga Shrine in Nara City from the 8th century. There is an opinion that the lute in Syosoin is the original biwa(lute). And the long history for thirteen centuries in Japan tra
Read more