Showing posts with label Engaku-ji. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Engaku-ji. Show all posts
February 24, 2025
Roubai (winter sweet) flowers: Engaku-ji
Earlier than any of the spring flowers, the small golden flowers of Robai are innocently blooming to welcome the new spring in the chilly air.
Before my finding these flowers, they let me notice their graceful opening by their faint and pleasant scent in the first south wind and gently announce the secret arrival of the delightful spring.
December 18, 2024
Autumnal tints: Engaku-ji
In front of the imperial envoy gate decorated with exquisite wooden carvings, the old cherry tree, which was in full bloom the last spring, has lost their leaves completely and is quietly ready for surviving the harsh winter.
In the declining sun of the early winter, the autumnal leaves of the maple tree are vibrantly presenting their vivid flaming colors to the full before their gradual falling, as if to emit the blazing radiance of the sinking sun in the evening sky.
The seasons always continue changing rapidly like our fleeting lives. The living things around me have begun to quiet down and prepare for the coming grim winter as always.
Insects and birds are secretly disappearing somewhere to protect themselves from the severe winter. Trees and plants are shedding their leaves for passing the long cold season and are patiently waiting for their regrowth in the next spring.
Autumnal tints: Engaku-ji
In Japan, the scarlet maple leaves in autumn and the pale pink cherry blossoms in spring have long fascinated people with their striking splendor and transitoriness since the period called the Heian (794-1185).
They have been traditionally respected as the most essential aesthetic subjects of "Mono no aware," which is Japanese inherent feeling of sadness or pathos about our fleeting world.
Autumnal leaves and cherry blossoms have been historically presented in various Japanese classical literature and fine arts and crafts.
In traditional Japanese expression, the vivid beauty of autumn leaves can be compared to the silk fabric “Nishiki” (brocade). Nishiki is a general term for brilliant silk fabrics in which the ground color and pattern are woven together with various colored threads.
In the glow of the autumn afternoon, the colorful leaves of Momiji (maple tree) are sparkling radiantly as if to try to crown their last glory.
Autumnal tints: Engaku-ji
A blaze of autumn leaves is covering the approach to the modest wooden gate leading to the Shariden (reliquary hall, National Treasure) and the Zen Dojo (training hall) of this old Zen temple. This gate is always closed not to allow outsiders to interfere with the quiet practice in the Zen Dojo.
The handwriting on the left wood plate hung on this gate reads "We advocate the Rinzai Roku." The Rinzai Roku is a collection of words by Rinzai Gigen (?-867), the founder of the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism.
It has long been regarded as the most important scripture of the Rinzai sect and has been read as an essential model for Zen practitioners.
Rinzai asserted the principle of "Furyu-monji," which is the notion that the status of enlightenment cannot be expressed in characters or discourses. In addition to this, he emphasized "Shishi-sosho," that is, the teachings and the way of Buddhism must handed down intuitively from a teacher to a disciple without words or letters in a mind-to-mind way by the use of "Koan" or "Zen mondo (Zen riddle)."
The the handwriting on right wood plate reads "the Dojo (training hall) dedicated to the Rinzai school."
The small black wood plate says that the strictest Zen practice called "Rohatsu Sessin" is currently being carried out in the Zen Dojo.
"Rohatsu Sesshin" is a Zazen practice held in memory of the Sakyamuni Buddha's enlightenment on the eighth day of December.
”Rohatsu” refers to the month of December and the eighth day of this month, and “Sesshin” means “to gather the mind”. In many Zen Dojo, it take places from the first day to the morning of the eighth day of December and is considered to be the most demanding period of training.
During Rohatsu Sesshin, the doors of the Zen hall are all closed and trainee monks must concentrate on Zazen meditation. A 45-minutes Zazen session and a 10-minutes sutra practice are repeated throughout the day and night.
Autumnal tints: Engaku-ji
Like a magnificent canopy for a Buddha hall, the brilliant cinnabar leaves of autumn are solemnly decorating the small shrine dedicated to a wooden statue of Sho Kannon Bosatsu (Avalokitesvara-bodhisattva).
Sho Kannon is one of the Avalokitesvara-bodhisattvas and saves the distressed people who are lost on the road to hell. He is always watching those people to surely save them in the blink of an eye at the voice of a call for help.
When saving the afflicted, this "Sho Kannon" transforms into various forms, such as the Avalokitesvara Kannon (Thousand-armed Avalokitesvara), the Eleven-faced Kannon (Eleven-faced Avalokitesvara), the 33-faced Kannon (Thirty-three-faced Avalokitesvara) and so on, according to the types of salvation. To distinguish it from these transformed Avalokitesvaras, this archetypal deity is called "Sho Kannon" (Sacred Avalokitesvara).
With a heart of great wisdom and compassion, this Sho Kannon seems to be gazing calmly at the shining autumnal leaves that will soon fall and melt into the earth. He knows that all things are in a state of flux through the endless circle of birth, death and rebirth.
February 5, 2024
Ume (japanese apricot) : Engaku-ji
If plants and trees possess their minds, then their blooming may secretly imply their silent joy of being alive and breeding in the turning of the seasons.
As if to unveil the sign of coming spring, numerous snow-white Ume flowers are brightly blooming on the gnarled branches of the long-lived mossy tree which has quietly endured the harsh cold of winter.
Before long, these graceful flowers will scatter and disappear one after another. The new green leaves of this tree will come out quickly all together to erase the memory of these lost flowers.
Kobai (rose plum) : Engaku-ji
According to the teaching of Buddha, any emotion based on our five senses always causes empty, fleeting illusions. Our attachment to it must be carefully restrained to obtain the true path to the spiritual awakening.
All seasonal flowers are so beautiful and mystical that they stir my mind profoundly every time I find them.
Most especially, in an almost colorless garden under the gray winter sky, the rosy flowers of Kobai always move me deeply. I have a great feeling of joy as if I had witnessed the gentle smiles of the innocent children who have just arrived from somewhere in the vast universe.
This momentary delusion brings a precious delight and then disappears in an instance as my passing daydream about those flowers.
December 3, 2023
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