#大慈寺

[niteshade925]

April 12, Xi'an, China, Daci'en Temple/大慈恩寺 and the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda/大雁塔 (Part 1 - Temple and Architecture):

Daci'en Temple is famous in popular culture mainly for one reason: the monk Xuanzang/玄奘, or the real person who inspired the character of Tang Sanzang/唐三藏 (sometimes translated as "Tripitaka") in the novel Journey to the West/西游记. Xuanzang was in charge of Daci'en Temple after he returned to China in 645 AD from his journey throughout Central Asia and India. More on him later.

The temple is also known for two more things, first is its importance to Chinese Buddhism, as the temple is considered the cradle of the Consciousness-Only School (weishizong/唯识宗) and the Dharma Characteristics School (faxiangzong/法相宗)(both are part of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism), and second is the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda (built in 652 AD while Xuanzang was in charge of the temple).

The temple has been rebuilt over the years, and the current temple (excluding the pagoda) was mainly built in 1466, during Ming dynasty, thus the current temple consists of Ming-era architecture:

Drum and bell towers within the temple

Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in the distance

More pictures of the architecture. I have to say it's better preserved here than in other places so far...

Coming up to the Mahavira Hall/大雄宝殿 of the temple

As mentioned in the previous posts on Qinglong Temple, I avoided taking pictures of the Buddha statues as this is considered disrespectful. But because it's just hard to avoid including them in pictures of the architecture, the statues may be partially visible sometimes.

Approaching the Tushita Hall/兜率

More pics of the architecture, note the pattern on the windows, called chuangling/窗棂. This particular one is a "three-crossing"/三交 pattern, the highest grade of chuangling.

There were two visiting monks taking pictures of this relief behind Mahavira Hall, so it's probably okay to snap a picture of it. The interesting thing is the bian'e/匾额 above it, which says 人天欢喜 (right to left: "human and heaven rejoice together"). Usually it's "heaven" before "human" (天人), but here it's clearly "human" before "heaven".

The Guanyin Hall/观音殿. Guanyin is the Chinese name for Avalokitesvara. The smaller red lanterns are where visiters hang their wishes from:

And finally the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, one of the landmarks of Xi'an. This pagoda was originally built to house all of the Buddhist texts and relics Xuanzang had brought back from India, and is the largest Tang-era brick pagoda remaining today. In Tang dynasty (618 - 907 AD), people who passed the imperial exams to become jinshi/进士 would tour around Chang'an on horseback with flowers in their hair and write poems before this pagoda, called "雁塔题名".

Before we entered the temple, I could hear a weird jingle-jangle from across the street, but it was only when we came up to the pagoda that I realized where the sound was coming from. There were bells hanging from every corner of every level of the pagoda, and they were pretty loud for their size.

Since it was pretty hot outside that day, to avoid possible heat stroke we didn't attempt to climb the pagoda (I don't think there's air conditioning inside considering that this pagoda is 1300+ years old.....). I think there were several important artifacts/relics inside? But I can find some pictures from online for part 3.

[nonono-zzz]

みらくらデート pic.twitter.com/DfAk25dkNI

— shamakho/沙マコ@C104月曜日東A60b (@shamakho_works)

July 19, 2024

[crazyfox-archives]

The sacred grounds of Kan’eiji Temple (寛永寺) in present-day Tokyo as seen in “The Illustrated Legends of Jigen Daishi” (慈眼大師縁起絵巻 “Jigen Daishi Engi Emaki”) of 1680, a handscroll narrating the biography of the Tendai monk Tenkai (天海) (1536-1643) by his disciple Inkai (胤海) and the artist Sumiyoshi Gukei (住吉具慶)

From the temple’s collection; image from the webpage for a special exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum in late 2021

[poddyshobbies]

コンプできるか？深すぎる篠栗霊場（11-2）85番・境内の外

第85番札所 祖聖大寺（そしょうだいじ）「郷ノ原観音」

「愛」の文字が掲げられた愛染堂から階段を下りました。下に駐車スペースがありますがちょい上にある駐車スペースの方がキャパがあります。

慈音ノ滝

↓ 駐車スペースから

お稲荷様

駐車スペースの左右にはお堂が並んでます。

なるほど、九大の箱崎キャンパスから遷されたから大学地蔵様。

本堂裏の馬頭観音菩薩様（ばとうさん）

2023.4.4 ~ つづく

[ttamari]

帰省途中に京都で一泊して夏の京都。 6/29: 伏見稲荷大社→石清水八幡宮 6/30: 八坂神社→知恩院→平安神宮→東山慈照寺(銀閣寺)→南禅寺→妙心寺 最強厄払い２トップ(石清水八幡宮と八坂神社）で茅の輪をくぐって夏越の大祓を請けたので今年後半は安心です。

[catdoll007]

所在地：愛知県江南市前飛保町寺町202

山号：日輪山院号遍照光院

宗旨：浄土宗

宗派：浄土宗西山派

本尊：阿弥陀三尊

創建年：元徳元年 (1329年)

開山：天真乗運

正式名：日輪山遍照光院曼陀羅寺

RECボタンを勝手に押してたらしい動画📹️

[kamanlo]

行吓 #大尾督 #12生肖家樂徑 再去 #慈山寺 https://www.instagram.com/p/CnJ7SyprZqEzyRQW0SG5kUk6ruLyGea6PE7bnc0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[nakamuratosiyuki]

成田山 久留米分院 明王寺 #風に吹かれて #久留米市の仏教寺院 #高さ62メートルの救世慈母大観音像 #地獄館怖すぎ (Kurume, Fukuoka) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cmk3WUDBGHT/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[watashinooinarisannisawaranaide]

昔、お寺に檀家外の老夫婦が来てな、お爺さんが「この寺にはシャッターが６枚ある。車を６台持ってるなんて生臭坊主だ！」とか言い出したんですよ。私が「いや、このシャッター、古い建物を解体した廃材が入ってるんですよ。開けますから見て下さい」って言ったら その爺さん、「いや、見たら悪口言えなくなるから開けるな」ってマジで抜かしたんですよ。マジで。 さすがにお婆さんもドン引きしてましたけど、ああいう事実なんかどうでも良くてただ悪口言いたいだけの老人を支持者にしてるんだろうなと思えば、発言が腑に落ちる候補者いますよね。 なんでそんな廃材がシャッターにあるんだって？戦争体験した人達は物持ち良かったんですよ。いつか何かに使えるかもしれないって。 そうか、こういう老人にとってデマだらけの政治屋は「悪口を言っていい免罪符をくれる神様」という構造なんだろうな。いや、全然、罪を免じられないかんな。勘違いすんなよマジで。

Xユーザーの大慈さん: 「昔、お寺に檀家外の老夫婦が来てな、お爺さんが「この寺にはシャッターが６枚ある。車を６台持ってるなんて生臭坊主だ！」とか言い出したんですよ。私が「いや、このシャッター、古い建物を解体した廃材が入ってるんですよ。開けますから見て下さい」って言ったら（つづく」 / X

[noticiasarquelogicasjaponesas]

Sean bienvenidos japonítasarqueológicos a una nueva entrega, en esta ocasión vengo a aclarar dudas sobre la diosa Amaterasu dicho esto comencemos. - Amaterasu aparece en los libros kojiki y Nihonshoki que son los más antiguos de Japón, dicha diosa simboliza el sol, la luz, la compasión y la verdad. Además Representa la casa real con la flor de crisantemo, también ha recibido otros nombres como: "Hirume" y "Mukatsuhime. Sus padres eran izanagi(dios creador de Japón) e izanami(diosa del infierno), izanagi al quedar contaminado de la tierra de Yomi fue a purificarse y al quitarse la ropa fueron naciendo los demás dioses y ella nació de su ojo izquierdo. Amaterasu gobernaba el Takamanohara y su hermano Susanoo era el dios del mar. - Amaterasu, estaba asustada por su hermano menor y decidió esconderse en una cueva profunda en Takamagahara llamada "Ama no Iwato" y bloqueó la entrada. Este es el famoso “Amaniwato no Kamigakure”, que el pueblo japonés sigue recreado como una de sus muchas tradiciones populares. - Como ya hablamos en otras publicaciones el sintohismo, es una religión autóctona de Japón que durante la era Meiji sería utilizada para clasificar lo japonés y de lo que no era japonés, los japoneses nunca dejaron el sintohismo de lado. La simbología de la bandera japonesa se remonta desde tiempos muy remotos. - La diosa Amaterasu tiene unos 5000 templos dedicados a ella y se llaman Shinmei Jinja. El templo se localiza dentro del santuario Ise Jingu, también conocido como (oise-san) y el templo se llama Kotai jingu. En la ciudad de Iwato en la prefectura Miyazaki se encuentra el santuario Amanoiwato donde se dice que Amaterasu fue establecida como deidad principal. Amaterasu lo podemos traducir como: Diosa del sol o como diosa solar. - 新作へようこそ、今回は天照大神の疑問を解き明かすということで、始めましょう。 - 日本最古の古事記や日本書紀に登場する天照大神は、太陽、光、慈悲、真実を象徴しています。また、菊の花で王家を表し、「ヒルメ」や「ムカツヒメ」などの別名も持っています。彼の両親はイザナギ（日本の創造神）とイザナミ（地獄の女神）でした。ヨミから大地を離れ、身を清めに行き、服を脱ぐと他の神々が生まれ、左目から生まれました。 アマテラスは高天原を治め、弟のスサノオは海の神でした。 - 弟を恐れたアマテラスは、高天原の深い洞窟「天の岩戸」に身を隠し、入口をふさいだ。これが有名な「天岩戸の神隠れ」で、日本人は多くの人気のある伝統の1つとして再現し続けています. - 他の出版物ですでに説明したように、神道は日本固有の宗教であり、明治時代に日本人とそうでないものを分類するために使用されましたが、日本人は決して神道を放棄しませんでした.日本の国旗のシンボルは、非常に遠い時代にまでさかのぼります。 - 天照大神を祀るお寺は約5,000あり、神明神社と呼ばれています。このお寺は伊勢神宮内にあり、通称「お伊勢さん」とも呼ばれ、皇体神宮と呼ばれています。宮崎県岩戸市には天照大神を主祭神とする天岩戸神社がある。アマテラスは、太陽の女神または太陽の女神として翻訳できます。 - Welcome to a new installment, this time I come to clarify doubts about the goddess Amaterasu, having said that, let's begin. - Amaterasu appears in the Kojiki and Nihonshoki books, which are the oldest in Japan, this goddess symbolizes the sun, light, compassion and truth. It also represents the royal house with the chrysanthemum flower, it has also received other names such as: "Hirume" and "Mukatsuhime. His parents were izanagi (creator god of Japan) and izanami (goddess of hell), izanagi when contaminated by the earth from Yomi she went to purify herself and when she took off her clothes the other gods were born and she was born from her left eye. Amaterasu ruled the Takamanohara and her brother Susanoo was the god of the sea. - Amaterasu, scared of her younger brother, hid in a deep cave in Takamagahara called "Ama no Iwato" and blocked the entrance. This is the famous "Amaniwato no Kamigakure", which the Japanese people continue to recreate as one of their many popular traditions. - As we have already discussed in other publications, Shintoism is an indigenous religion of Japan that during the Meiji era would be used to classify what is Japanese and what was not Japanese, the Japanese never abandoned Shintoism aside. The symbology of the Japanese flag dates back to very remote times. - The goddess Amaterasu has about 5,000 temples dedicated to her and they are called Shinmei Jinja. The temple is located inside the Ise Jingu shrine, also known as (oise-san) and the temple is called Kotai jingu. In the city of Iwato in Miyazaki Prefecture is the Amanoiwato Shrine where Amaterasu is said to have been established as the chief deity. Amaterasu we can translate it as: Goddess of the sun or as solar goddess.

[moja-co]

❖　昭和20年8月14日　❖ 白旗を上げた非武装の日本人数千名に、ソ連兵たちが銃弾をあびせ、戦車で引き殺した事件、『葛根廟大虐殺事件』があった日です。 一方的に条約を破り満州に侵攻してきたソ連兵は、日本人を戦車で引き殺したあと、銃剣でとどめをさし、2時間余りで千人以上を殺害。 9割が女子子供でした。 婦女子は暴行をされた後、乳房を切り落とされむごい方法で殺されました。 小屋に隠れていた婦女子には、朝まで強姦し続けた後、小屋に枯れ草を投げ入れ火を付け焼き殺しました。 自害するものもいる中、やっとの思いでかろうじて逃れた者は日本本土をめざし南下の途中、次に待っていたのは満洲人や支那人や朝鮮人の無慈悲な想像に耐え難い強姦暴行殺戮でした。 日本の地を踏むこと叶わず無惨に命を落としたのです。 その内の僅か数十人が残留孤児となりました。 本当に語り継がなければならないのは、 ウソで作られたK国がいう慰安婦問題でも、 C国がいう南京虐殺でもなく、 真実の『葛根廟大虐殺事件』の方なのです。 日本人が被害にあった事件は、全く教科書では教えないことが、最大の問題だと思います。 毎年8/14、東京目黒の五百羅漢寺で今日も供養が行われているそうです。

[niteshade925]

April 12, Xi'an, China, Daci'en Temple/大慈恩寺 and the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda/大雁塔 (Part 3 - History):

The entrance to the Xuanzang Memorial Hall:

Xuanzang/玄奘 (602 - 664 AD; birthname Chen Yi/陈祎) was a famous Chinese monk, scholar, and translator who journeyed throughout Central Asia and India to bring Buddhist sutras from India and translate them into Chinese. He was also the founder of the Consciousness-Only School/唯识宗 of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism.

A statue of Xuanzang in the memorial hall:

Xuanzang's 17-year journey from Chang'an (Xi'an) to India and back drawn out on a map. The route he took to India is in red, and the return route he took back to Chang'an is in green. On his way he traveled through many kingdoms in Central Asia and India, and he would later compile his experiences into the work known as Records of the Western Regions/《大唐西域记》. This work is still very important for historians and archaeologists studying Central Asian and Indian history, because it gives locations of important sites, such as the ruins of Nalanda monastery (phonetically translated as 那烂陀寺 in Chinese) in modern day Bihar. The Ming-era novel Journey to the West/《西游记》 was also very loosely based on this work; more specifically, the novel was based on folk tales about Xuanzang's travels, which was in turn loosely and partially based on Xuanzang's experiences recorded in this book.

(Metal?) wall murals and a giant wood relief depicting Xuanzang's early life and his journey to India and back (generally viewed in order from left to right since it's a continuous narrative):

Biography of the Tang Dynasty Buddhist Tripitaka Master Xuanzang of the Great Ci'en Temple/《大慈恩寺三藏法师传》 (alternatively translated simply as "The Life of Xuanzang"), written by Xuanzang's disciple Huili/慧立 in 688 AD.

An artifact not strictly related to Xuanzang: Ritual Confession of Mercy Temple/《慈悲道场忏法》, a Buddhist repentance work/忏文 written for Emperor Wu of Liang (464 - 549 AD) for the purpose of conducting a "ritual of transcendence" (called 超度; I could not find an English translation for this so this is my own translation) for the emperor's deceased wife. This particular version was printed in Ming dynasty in 1608.

Ceiling of the memorial hall, decorated with Sanskrit characters:

The second exhibition hall also has wall murals and a giant wood relief, this time depicting Xuanzang's life after returning to China:

Xuanzang has stated that the purpose of his journey was to bring back Buddhist sutras in their original Sanskrit, so that the integrity of the original texts may be better preserved in future translations and a more faithful interpretation of the sutras may be achieved. When he returned from India in 645 AD, he brought back with him 657 Buddhist texts in Sanskrit, and with support from Emperor Taizong of Tang, he proceeded to translate these texts into Chinese with his team of translators.

Daci'en Temple still preserves less than 20 leaves of the original palm leaf manuscript/贝叶经 brought to China by Xuanzang. I didn't get to see these artifacts myself, but just for reference, here are some potato quality pictures I've found online:

Below is a part of a (Ming-era? Not sure) printed copy of the Mahā-prajñāpāramitā Sūtra (《大般若经》 or 《大般若波罗蜜多经》 in Chinese), which was translated into the Chinese text seen here by Xuanzang and his team:

Part of Complete Translations by Master Xuanzang/《玄奘法师译撰全集》:

A view of the exhibited part of the collection of works that were either by Xuanzang or written about Xuanzang. Being an aspiring translator myself and knowing that these were works connected to a great translator who lived 1300+ years ago, there is just a feeling of awe here that can't be described properly in words...

There's also the twin steles associated with Xuanzang at the foot of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda. The stele on the west (below left) was written from right to left, composed by Emperor Taizong of Tang Li Shimin/唐太宗 李世民, while the stele on the east (below right) was written from left to right, and was composed by Emperor Gaozong of Tang Li Zhi/唐高宗 李治 (the two emperors are father and son). The calligraphy for both steles was provided by Chancellor Chu Suiliang/中书令 褚遂良. Both steles gave an account of Xuanzang's life and praised him for his achievements, and both were erected in 653 AD. Since I didn't go into the pagoda, I didn't see these two steles (I believe one of them isn't at the pagoda anymore? It might be at Beilin Museum now), so here are pictures of the ink rubbings from Open Museum (open in new tab to view the full image):

And finally, some fun souvenirs from the gift shop! These are tiny incense pellet holders topped with the twelve zodiac animals

A funny greeting card that translates to "And We miss you too" (朕 is a first person pronoun used exclusively by emperors to refer to themselves; today many people use 朕 to jokingly refer to themselves)

[nonono-zzz]

🩷💜🤍#蓮ノ空美術部 pic.twitter.com/hwCTGutHBS

— もそ (@expect66)

September 1, 2024

[coji0117]

2024.08.14

諏訪大社、慈雲寺

[norisunorin]

三重県　志摩市　大慈寺 Japan Mie Shima Dijiji

[journeytothewestresearch]

Peng Doesn't Like Farts

Fans of Lego Monkie Kid, as many of you may already know, Peng is based on an ancient monster king appearing in chapters 74 to 77 of  Journey to the West (Xiyouji, 西遊記, 1592). In the end of his arc, he is trapped above the Buddha's throne and submits to Buddhism. But you may not know that this very same character appears in a later novel, The Complete Vernacular Biography of Yue Fei (Shuo Yue quanzhuan, 說岳全傳, 1684 CE; a.k.a. The Story of Yue Fei). Peng is exiled from paradise for ... and I'm not joking ... killing a stellar spirit for farting during the Buddha's sermon.

Chapter one of Yue Fei's biography reads:

Let’s talk about the Buddha Tathagata at the Great Thunderclap Monastery in the Western Paradise. One day, he sat on a nine-level lotus throne, and the Four Great Bodhisattvas, the Eight Great Vajra Warriors, the five hundred Arhats, the three thousand Heavenly Kings, nuns and monks, male and female attendants, all of the heavenly sages who protect the Dharma, gathered to listen to his lecture on the Lotus Sutra. His words were like flowers and precious jewels raining from the heavens. But, at that time, a star-spirit, the Maiden Earth Bat, who had been listening to the lecture from beneath the lotus throne, couldn’t bear it any longer and unexpectedly let out a stinky fart. The Buddha was a great, merciful lord, so he didn’t mind even the slightest bit. But don’t sympathize with the Dharma protector above his head, the “Great Peng, the Golden-Winged King of Illumination,” whose eyes shone with golden light and whose back was a scene of auspiciousness. He became angry when he saw the nasty, filthy Maiden Earth Bat, and so he unfurled both his wings and dropped down to kill the spirit by pecking her on the head. The light-point of her soul shot out of the Great Thunderclap Monastery and went to the Lands of the East (China) in the world below to find a mother and reincarnate. She was reborn as a daughter of the Wang clan. She would later marry the Song Prime minister Qin Hui (1091-1155) and come to cruelly kill the righteous (i.e. Yue Fei) as a means to get revenge against today’s enemy. We will talk about this later. Let’s return to the Buddha, who saw what happened with his all-seeing eyes and exclaimed, “Good! Good! It turns out that this is an episode of karma (cause and effect).” Then he called the Great Peng bird to come closer and shouted, “You evil creature! You already took refuge in my teachings. How can you not follow the five precepts by daring to commit such a horrible crime? I don’t need you here; you will descend to the mortal world to pay off your (karmic) debt and wait until you have fulfilled your work. Once that is completed, only then will I allow you to return to the mountain to achieve the right fruit (Buddhist merit).” The Great Peng complied with the decree, flying out of the Great Thunderclap Monastery directly to the Lands of the East to be reincarnated. We will stop here (translation by me). 且說西方極樂世界大雷音寺我佛如來，一日端坐九品蓮臺，旁列著四大菩薩、八大金剛、五百羅漢、三千偈諦、比丘尼、比丘僧、優婆夷、優婆塞，共諸天護法聖眾，齊聽講說妙法真經。正說得天花亂墜、寶雨繽紛之際，不期有一位星官，乃是女土蝠，偶在蓮臺之下聽講，一時忍不住，撒出一個臭屁來。我佛原是個大慈大悲之主，毫不在意。不道惱了佛頂上頭一位護法神祗，名為大鵬金翅明王，眼射金光，背呈祥瑞，見那女土蝠污穢不潔，不覺大怒，展開雙翅落下來，望著女土蝠頭上，這一嘴就啄死了。那女土蝠一點靈光射出雷音寺，徑往東土認母投胎，在下界王門為女，後來嫁與秦檜為妻，殘害忠良，以報今日之讎。此是後話，按下不提。 且說佛爺將慧眼一觀，口稱：「善哉，善哉！原來有此一段因果。」即喚大鵬鳥近前，喝道：「你這孽畜！既歸我教，怎不皈依五戒，輒敢如此行兇？我這裡用你不著，今將你降落紅塵，償還冤債，直待功成行滿，方許你歸山，再成正果。」大鵬鳥遵了法旨，飛出雷音寺，徑來東土投胎不表。