Shrines – Following your feet

Vajra – the thunderbolt

The term vajra is a Sanskrit word that is usually defined as “diamond” or “thunderbolt.” It also defines a kind of battle club that achieved its name through its reputation for hardness and invincibility. A diamond is spotlessly pure and indestructible. The Sanskrit word means “unbreakable or impregnable, being durable and eternal”. As such, the word vajra…

Buddhapada – footprints of Buddha

The footprints of the Buddha (Buddhapada) are one of the early representations of the Buddha. The Buddhapada are highly revered in all Buddhist countries, and symbolise symbolize the Buddha’s presence, as they are believed to be the imprints where the Buddha actually touched the ground. At the same time, the Buddhapada signify the Buddha’s absence,…

Godai – the five elements of Japanese culture

The word godai combines the kanji for five (go) and great (dai), the name for one of the fundamental concepts in Japanese culture, the five elements: earth, water, fire, wind and void. The gorintou is the three-dimensional representation of the five elemnents, perhaps best described as a stack of geometric forms: at the bottom the square representing earth; above…

Fudo Myoo – the immovable wisdom king

Myo-o is the Japanese term for Sanskrit “Vidyaraja,” a group of warlike and wrathful deities known in English as the Mantra Kings, the Wisdom Kings, or the Knowledge Kings. Myo-o statues appear ferocious and menacing, with threatening postures and faces designed to subdue evil and frighten unbelievers into accepting Buddhist law. They represent the wisdom of…

Nõkyõchõ – the stamp book

Anybody that followed me on my trip to Japan in 2018 where I visited 88 temples in Shikoku, is aware that at each temple I collected a stamp in my stamp book or Nõkyõchõ. For 300 yen, I queued up at the temple office and received 3 stamps and Japanese caligraphy. Whilst collecting them, I…

Nio – benevolent kings

The Niō are a pair of protectors who commonly stand guard outside the temple gate at Japanese Buddhist temples, one on either side of the entrance. The open-mouth version is commonly placed to the right of the temple, the closed-mouth version to the left. In Japan, the gate itself is often called the Niō-mon (literally…

Shrine etiquette

Just as at Temples, there are a number of steps to follow when visiting a Shrine. The first thing one meets when visiting a Shrine is the Torri gate – the boundary of the shine’s consecrated grounds. The proper procedure is to bow slightly just before passing under the torii gate, and enter through either…