Through the nose of the Buddha you will achieve enlightenment
Thursday, November 23rd was Thanksgiving/Labour Day in Japan (...no relation to the North American "Labour Day" or "Thanksgiving" holidays). I had been invited to celebrate the day by taking a trip to Nara, with a man named Hideshi Yamamoto (Hide) and his family.
I met Hide at a welcome party that was put together to celebrate the arrival of new international teachers in the Ise-Shima area. I happened to sit beside Hide and he happened to speak English. What a wonderful coincidence! It was at this time that Hide invited me to go to Nara, a prefecture which acted as the ancient capital of Japan from 710 AD to 784 AD.
On the morning of the 23rd Hide arrived early in the morning with his wife, Chiho, his sister-in-law, Mari, and his nephews Kai and Sei. The ride to Nara took a few hours, so we used the time to become better acquainted as we winded our way through multicoloured mountain ranges. During autumn the mountains are truly majestic. They reveal a history that is hidden by the summer. During the summer everything is green. But autumn distinguishes the deciduous from the coniferous, the evergreen from the flaming orange, red and yellow. It allows you trace an age old history, in which two races of tree coexist in harmony. As one recedes, the other advances. The model civilization...hidden in the mountains of Japan.
When we arrived in Nara we began a six hour walking course that takes visitors to some of the most significant remnants of the ancient capital. First we walked through Nara park, which is full of sacred deer. Adherents of the Shinto religion believed that the deer were the sacred messengers of the gods of Kasuga shrine, which is located in Nara. The descendants of these sacred messengers seamlessly mingle with the town folk of Nara as the citizens have cared for them and afforded them a special status for centuries.
The next stop on our tour was Todaiji Temple. This temple is the largest wooden building in the world. Hopefully you can get an impression of the size from this photo. You can see how colossal the building is in relation to the people standing in front of it.
The temple and Buddha statue were built between 745 and 751 AD. Prior to that time, the people of Japan had suffered many disasters and epidemics. In response to these devastating events, Emperor Shomu enacted a law which held that all people should build a Buddha for their homes in order to protect them and bring them luck. In accordance with this law, Emperor Shomu commissioned 2,180,000 workers to build the 53 foot high Buddha (so the legend goes).
Entering the temple was an overwhelming experience. It was as though you had walked through the massive doors into the distant past, to a time of unparalleled extravagance and grandeur.
The giant Buddha
A golden Buddha flanking the large Buddha statue
Perspective...
What follows is a photo depicting a young girl preparing to squeeze through a small hole one of the support beams in the temple. It is identical in size to the nostril hole on the giant Buddha statue.
Many parents were encouraging their children to wiggle through, as it is said that anyone who can fit through the hole will find enlightenment. As we watched the children push their way through Hide and Chiho convinced me to try as well. I thought, "I'll be a good sport and give everyone a good show." I mean, who doesn't enjoy watching a foreigner make a fool of himself. Plus, Hide and his family had driven me all the way to Nara, at very least I could give them a laugh in return.
As I approached the hole I tried to size it up. I estimated that my shoulders would be too broad, so all that I would simply have to get in as far as my shoulders. Basically I would just stick my head and arms into the hole, prove that I was clearly not suitable for enlightenment and then resign back to my hosts.
By now I should know that plans are most often laid over the foundation of ideal circumstances, while reality is not. I put my head and arms into the hole, at which point my shoulders naturally angled so that they cleared the boundaries of the hole on a diagonal. "Can't turn back now Chris, you're already in." I reached forward and grabbed a hold of the wood on the opposite side of the support beam, pulling myself as far as I could into the hole. Then I ran into an unforeseen problem. I had exhausted all potential handholds and now had no way to pull myself further. My legs were constricted because they were in the hole and there was nothing for me to push off of. I was stuck. In the middle of a Buddhist temple on a busy national holiday, I laid helplessly on my stomach wearing the temple itself as a belt. As I tried to kick my way through, panic set in. Should I admit that I was stuck and ask for help? Or should I continue to flail indefinitely?
At that moment everything faded out of awareness and I focused on the problem at hand. I used my hands to angle my body upwards so that my legs could make contact with the ground and then pushed off. This movement dislodged my body, allowing me to pull myself the rest of the way through. Although I regained my freedom, the jury is still out on the enlightenment part. At least I'm now enlightened enough to avoid small holes in temple support beams!
The remainder of the day was spent walking around the UNESCO heritage sites surrounding Todaiji Temple. Here are some of the sites that we stopped at:
Kai and Sei ringing a bell for good luck at one of the shrines
Fall colours
More fall colours
I didn't realize that this deer stuck its tongue out at me until I looked at the picture later. I guess after you're sacred for a few centuries you don't have to follow social conventions anymore
Life cycle: A tree growing out of a tree
Me in front of the five story pagoda
Rows of Laterns
Hide and Chiho being harassed by the deer
A strange looking tree
The boys eating deer food...
I met Hide at a welcome party that was put together to celebrate the arrival of new international teachers in the Ise-Shima area. I happened to sit beside Hide and he happened to speak English. What a wonderful coincidence! It was at this time that Hide invited me to go to Nara, a prefecture which acted as the ancient capital of Japan from 710 AD to 784 AD.
On the morning of the 23rd Hide arrived early in the morning with his wife, Chiho, his sister-in-law, Mari, and his nephews Kai and Sei. The ride to Nara took a few hours, so we used the time to become better acquainted as we winded our way through multicoloured mountain ranges. During autumn the mountains are truly majestic. They reveal a history that is hidden by the summer. During the summer everything is green. But autumn distinguishes the deciduous from the coniferous, the evergreen from the flaming orange, red and yellow. It allows you trace an age old history, in which two races of tree coexist in harmony. As one recedes, the other advances. The model civilization...hidden in the mountains of Japan.
When we arrived in Nara we began a six hour walking course that takes visitors to some of the most significant remnants of the ancient capital. First we walked through Nara park, which is full of sacred deer. Adherents of the Shinto religion believed that the deer were the sacred messengers of the gods of Kasuga shrine, which is located in Nara. The descendants of these sacred messengers seamlessly mingle with the town folk of Nara as the citizens have cared for them and afforded them a special status for centuries.
The next stop on our tour was Todaiji Temple. This temple is the largest wooden building in the world. Hopefully you can get an impression of the size from this photo. You can see how colossal the building is in relation to the people standing in front of it.
The temple and Buddha statue were built between 745 and 751 AD. Prior to that time, the people of Japan had suffered many disasters and epidemics. In response to these devastating events, Emperor Shomu enacted a law which held that all people should build a Buddha for their homes in order to protect them and bring them luck. In accordance with this law, Emperor Shomu commissioned 2,180,000 workers to build the 53 foot high Buddha (so the legend goes).
Entering the temple was an overwhelming experience. It was as though you had walked through the massive doors into the distant past, to a time of unparalleled extravagance and grandeur.
The giant Buddha
A golden Buddha flanking the large Buddha statue
Perspective...
What follows is a photo depicting a young girl preparing to squeeze through a small hole one of the support beams in the temple. It is identical in size to the nostril hole on the giant Buddha statue.
Many parents were encouraging their children to wiggle through, as it is said that anyone who can fit through the hole will find enlightenment. As we watched the children push their way through Hide and Chiho convinced me to try as well. I thought, "I'll be a good sport and give everyone a good show." I mean, who doesn't enjoy watching a foreigner make a fool of himself. Plus, Hide and his family had driven me all the way to Nara, at very least I could give them a laugh in return.
As I approached the hole I tried to size it up. I estimated that my shoulders would be too broad, so all that I would simply have to get in as far as my shoulders. Basically I would just stick my head and arms into the hole, prove that I was clearly not suitable for enlightenment and then resign back to my hosts.
By now I should know that plans are most often laid over the foundation of ideal circumstances, while reality is not. I put my head and arms into the hole, at which point my shoulders naturally angled so that they cleared the boundaries of the hole on a diagonal. "Can't turn back now Chris, you're already in." I reached forward and grabbed a hold of the wood on the opposite side of the support beam, pulling myself as far as I could into the hole. Then I ran into an unforeseen problem. I had exhausted all potential handholds and now had no way to pull myself further. My legs were constricted because they were in the hole and there was nothing for me to push off of. I was stuck. In the middle of a Buddhist temple on a busy national holiday, I laid helplessly on my stomach wearing the temple itself as a belt. As I tried to kick my way through, panic set in. Should I admit that I was stuck and ask for help? Or should I continue to flail indefinitely?
At that moment everything faded out of awareness and I focused on the problem at hand. I used my hands to angle my body upwards so that my legs could make contact with the ground and then pushed off. This movement dislodged my body, allowing me to pull myself the rest of the way through. Although I regained my freedom, the jury is still out on the enlightenment part. At least I'm now enlightened enough to avoid small holes in temple support beams!
The remainder of the day was spent walking around the UNESCO heritage sites surrounding Todaiji Temple. Here are some of the sites that we stopped at:
Kai and Sei ringing a bell for good luck at one of the shrines
Fall colours
More fall colours
I didn't realize that this deer stuck its tongue out at me until I looked at the picture later. I guess after you're sacred for a few centuries you don't have to follow social conventions anymore
Life cycle: A tree growing out of a tree
Me in front of the five story pagoda
Rows of Laterns
Hide and Chiho being harassed by the deer
A strange looking tree
The boys eating deer food...
posted by Christopher Janca at 6:30 a.m.
1 Comments:
You are the only grown person I know who wouldn't be phased by a request to squeeze through a Buddha nostril... haha, I love that your friend managed to capture your moment of panic.
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