Stone carving at Temple 42.
I discovered an ohenro friend at the hostel in Uwajima City last night. We recognized each other immediately. It’s like that sometimes. You meet someone one day and don’t see them for days more or even weeks, then run into them in the most unexpected way. What did Rick say? Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world…
Being brave is an opportunity that hands itself to us everyday.
When you’re doing anything new or bold like walking on a pilgrimage, you and your mind can be your worst enemy. Yes, the battlefield is in the mind. A life-altering decision will be made: someone or something will not survive. When the battle is over, if we are left on the field, how do we value that?
Fears grow in strength when we close our eyes. The only thing we “see” is nothing, darkness and a few tiny floating dots of light. When we open our eyes, we conclude that we found nothing.
We return to the circumstances, the thing, or the person – the primary source of our fear – for help to conquer it. They won’t.
So we close our eyes again, this time accepting that there is nothing we can do – and – we don’t even want to see what happens.
But those floating dots get bigger and stronger, agitating our brain cells, our heart, and our soul urging us to join the battle.
Open your eyes.
What do you see now?
I see nothing to fear in inner space.
– Yeshe Tsogyal
Start embracing the uncertainty in front of you.
Walk with me.
The temple is in sight. Closer…
… closer.
42 Butsumoko-ji
Temple of Buddha’s Tree
Finally… the gate.
The main hall is graced with the statue of Kannon Bosatsu in front. People come to cure illness and pray for dead pets. I hope that my ohenro friend from Kyoto found peace for himself and his beloved pet here.
Thatched roofs are common in Japan. The roof of this bell tower is unusually thick.
Not a 5K
Occasionally, I meet people who are brave beyond imagination. Here is one, an energetic ohenro who is running, not walking, the Shikoku 88 trail – all one thousand two hundred kilometers. If that is not an example of asceticism, I don’t know what is! I am always impressed by people who have the will to add an extra layer of effort to an already enormous undertaking.
I met two ohenro already that are doing this. One is a young man from Taiwan who was not only running but doing it backwards from temple 88 to temple 1. The other is a young woman running the Shikoku pilgrimage route from temple 1 to temple 88. I am overwhelmingly in awe. It’s definitely not a 5K race!
Simply walking this route is not the easiest. I appreciate the great effort and stamina required to run it. The only thing that I can say is blessings and good luck to them all.
Let’s walk on to the next temple.
43 Meiseki-ji
Temple of the Brilliant Stone
The temple fell into disrepair, not for the first time, during the Kamakura period (1185-1333). Minamoto no Yoritomo, a famous samurai, sponsored the repair of the buildings. Since then it has been venerated by samurai.
Couple’s Fir
This is a pair of large sugi trees linked with a shimenawa. They are called couple’s fir or Married Sugi. Shimenawa are lengths of laid rice straw or hemp rope used for ritual purification in the Shinto religion on trees, statues, buildings, cave openings, and anything needing spiritual protection.
As tied, the trees cannot be cut down and thus, are inviolable. Blessings and prayers for couples and marriages are made in front of the trees.
See you next time.
Baadaye
Shirley J ♥️
Listen: Open Our Eyes by Earth, Wind, and Fire
This and several posts this summer will chronicle my pilgrimage in Japan where I walked the 1200 kilometer-long Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage. Read my announcement here.
T42-43