Evangelism in Kyoto

Religion seems to have little importance in modern Japanese life, the majority of Japanese people are not very religious, but that does not mean that there are not those who would like to change that. I think most Japanese people living in the large cities and definitely the expat community would have no problem recognising the two cyclists above. Their helmets, white shirts and black trousers, show them to be American Mormons. I have never knowingly met a Japanese Mormon, but on many occasions been stopped by American Mormons. They speak politely and dress politely, but for me that is where the politeness finishes. They seem to have no care for Japan's Buddhist and Shinto traditions or history. They are here only to convert people, to change people and to indoctrinate. They often attract people by giving free English lessons. But basically I feel sorry for them, these young people have travelled thousands of miles to a completely different culture, but miss out on the vibrant and colourful experiences that could enrich their lives.

Jehovah's Witnesses are much more common in Japan than Mormons, and all I have met are Japanese. To be honest when I was a young man living in Birmingham, I used to enjoy arguing with Jehovah's Witnesses. But one day I realised these discussions only made their beliefs stronger and mine stronger.  This was making me not question my own beliefs, just justify them, it was stopping me from spiritually growing. I believe to inwardly look at your own spirituality critically, finding both the good and the bad, is far better than challenging another persons religious beliefs.  I do not know how many Jehovah's witnesses there are in Japan, but I seem to be visited just as often as I was in England.

A homegrown evangelical religion is Soka Gakai 創価学会、 originally a lay group connected to Nichiren Buddhism, that developed into a new evangelical Buddhist movement. It's charismatic leader Daisaku Ikeda says they now have 12 million members in 192 countries. For a number of years I lived close to their Kansai region meeting house. I was often politely asked to come to their meetings and politely asked to read their literature.

Politeness and friendliness, seem to be the tools of the evangelist, but to my way of thinking it is only a smoke screen. in reality they are extremely rude people with no care for others beliefs. When I was about twenty, I searched for a Wiccan coven in my hometown.  I expected to be taken in with open arms, but the High Priest of the coven, rather gruffly said " you are too young, you do not know enough, learn about other religions and get some experience in life". Not very polite, but priceless spiritual advice.

Dragonflies

 

Natsu no tomo, ike no ue ni, tonde iru

 

Summer's friend, above the pond, flying

 

I love it when the dragonflies arrive, I cannot get enough of their beautiful dance above the water. Their time is late summer and early autumn. Simultaneously telling us to enjoy the last days of Summer, while at the same time reminding us of Autumn's coolness and beauty, which is just around the corner. Truly amazing and beautiful creatures.



竹生島： Chikubu Island a Sacred Place for the Goddess Benzaiten

This week I  had some time to make a small pilgrimage to 竹生島　Chikubu Island.  It is a small Island in Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake. The island is a sacred place for the goddess 弁財天　Benzaiten, a goddess of flow: the flow of water, the flow of money and the flow of music. She originally comes from India, but has a number of special places here in Japan, Chikubu Island being one.  I tried to make this pilgrimage in the early spring, but on arrival at the dock found that the ferry had been cancelled because of high winds. The weather could not have been more different this time, scorching hot and high humidity. By the time I had walked from Nagahama station to the ferry, I was dripping with sweat. But after only a few minutes of the ferries mechanical cool air and soulless glass windows, I escaped to the open deck, well before the ferry departed. But as the ferry sailed I was rewarded with a fresh breeze that cooled me down

The first few minutes of the journey were like many other boat rides I have taken in the past, I was visited my the memory of my Father. When I was a child we would ride the Isle of Man ferry and he would tell me about his time at sea as a sailor in the Royal Navy during WW2, something he rarely talked about on land.  But after a few minutes a new visitor came.

 

 

 

It was a hornet, and to be honest I am scared of hornets. I often take pictures of insects and have taken many of bees, but I avoid hornets.  Inside the ferry there were a lot of people, but on the small deck there was only me and a young couple. My first instinct was to warn the couple of the danger, but they were so unaware of the hornet and they were engrossed in taking each others pictures, they seemed to so happy. I decided not to tell them, unless the hornet approached them, I did not want to spoil there happiness.  So I took a deep breath and started to take pictures of the hornet. It was patient with me for a minute or two, but then flew off, back to land.

 

On arriving at the Island the first thing I had to do was climb the first of two very tall stone stairways. At the top I was hot and sweaty again, but I was met by another little friend.

 

 

 

A beautiful tonbo, dragonfly. This beautiful creature was most definitely not camera shy. Wanting to rest a little before climbing the second stairway I walked across to  唐門 Karamon the entrance to the temple that is the home of an image of Benzaiten. I did not intend to enter at that time, on my way back down I would do that.  Standing in the entrance way was a beautiful young woman, she made me remember the first time I climbed Glastonbury Tor in England.  Climbing that magickal hill I also saw a beautiful young woman, this one with an equally beautiful dog. This beautiful woman seemed to have been sitting there for a thousand years. To me she seemed like the embodiment of the goddess Isis. Likewise this beautiful young woman on the island, at least to me, was at that time the embodiment of Benzaiten. Part of me wanted to talk to her, but I knew this would break a spell that I did not want to break. So feeling blessed I walked away.

 

唐門

 

Walking back towards the the stairway I came across my third little friend of the day.

 

 





I noticed this little lizard basking in the sun. He was so cool I wanted to point him out to someone. Nearby there was an older couple, I was about to speak, when I noticed the older man was explaining something about an old tree and the woman seemed very interested. So I kept quiet and enjoyed my visit with the lizard.

I climbed up to 弁財天堂　Benzaitendou, here in the main hall was a man selling talismans and such like. I had my only conversation on the island with this man. He was very pleased to know that my reason to come to the island was because of Benzaiten. He went out of his way to help me enjoy my experience on the Island. From here I went back down to Karamon and made my way through the sacred buildings until I found the image of Benzaiten (picture at the top of this post).  My second visit with her of the day.

On the small stern deck of the ferry going back to Nagahama, watching the island disappear into the distance, once more I felt the presence of Benzaiten.  She is a goddess of music, listening to music is a spiritual thing I believe. Listening in general is spiritual, even listening to things with out voices can teach you something.  Of course talking is important, but often listening is more so.

Light of eye and soft of touch, speak you little, listen much

 

竹生島

 

A rabbit , an old man and the moon

 

My great friend and long suffering Japanese teacher, Naomi, was recently inspired by the manga of Osamu Tezuka to make a lesson for me. She took a story from his "Buddha" series and re-wrote it in modern Japanese for me to read. It is a traditional story and maybe the origin of Japanese peoples belief that you can see the image of a rabbit on the surface of the moon.  Below I have written the story in my own words in English. The Japanese version is by Naomi Littletree (typed by me, so there might be some errors). At the bottom there is a You Tube link to see Osamu Tezuka's original artwork for the story.

A long time ago an old man went on a journey by himself.  The old man walked very very slowly and for a very long time did not eat anything. Day after day while walking, he was looking for something to eat.  One day finally the old man collapsed. A bear, a fox and a rabbit all saw this happen and decided to search for food for the old man. At the river the bear found fish for the old man. The fox found fruit. The rabbit searched as hard as he could to find food for the old man, but could not find any. The bear and fox became very angry with the rabbit. The rabbit asked the old man to make a fire and even though the old man did not know why the rabbit wanted a fire, he lit a fire.  But when the fire became big, suddenly the rabbit jumped into the flames. The surprised old man quickly went to help the rabbit and pulled him out of the fire, but it was too late, the rabbit was dead. The rabbit could not find food for the old man, so gave himself as food.  The bear and fox were ashamed of the anger they had shown the rabbit and the old man loudly cried. They were all deeply moved by the actions of the rabbit. The old man held the rabbit's body up to the heavens and the soul of the dead rabbit went to the centre of the full moon.

昔むかし、一人の旅の老人がいました。老人は、ゆっくりゆっくりと歩いていました。老人は、長い間、何も食べていませんでした。毎日毎日、食べ物を探しながら、歩いていました。ある日、とうとう、老人は倒れてしまいました。それを、見つけたクマ、キツネ、そしてウサギは、老人のために、食べ物を探しに行きました。クマは、川で魚を見つけました。キツネは果物を見つけました。　ウサギは一生懸命、食べ物を探しましたが、何も見つけることが出来ませんでした。クマとキツネは、ウサギを怒りました。ウサギは老人に、たき火を作ってください、頼みました。老人は、ウサギが何がしたいのか、分かりませんでしたが、たき火を作りました。 火が大きくなってきた時、突然ウサギは、たき火の中に、飛び込みました。びっくりした老人は、火の中から、ウサギを助けましたが、ウサギはもう死んでいました。　ウサギは食べる物が見つけられなかったので、老人に、自分を食べてもらおう、と考えたのです。ウサギを怒ったクマとキツネは、とても恥ずかしくなりました。老人は、大きな声で、泣きました。そしてウサギの優しい心に、老人とクマとキツネは、とてもとても感動しました。老人は、天に向かって、ウサギをあげると、ウサギの魂は、満月の中へ入って行きました。

Osamu Tezuka's original artwork.

Moon over Kyoto

 

 

Follow the link below to a great post about rabbits on "The Wiccan Life" blog.

 

http://thewiccalife.blogspot.jp/2014/05/rabbits-in-mythology-story-behind-moon.html

Full Moon, Typhoon

 

Some things have special atmospheres: full moons invigorate me and motivate me, but the atmosphere of typhoons slow me down and I seem not to want to do anything.  But over the last two days I have had a strange mixture of both. A typhoon has been passing over Japan, just at the same time as the arrival of the full moon. I felt profound  emotions to create things, but a very strong need to procrastinate. I felt very frustrated with myself. But as soon as the typhoon passed, that procrastination evaporated, I grabbed my camera bag and went out to capture some images. It is still pretty cloudy, so probably I will not see the full moon tonight, but I can feel her bright creative presence.



七夕： Tanabata, Kyoto's Star Festival of the Seventh Night

The Tanabata Star festival is held in many places in Japan. It is held on the seventh day of the seventh month. Many places use the modern calendar, so hold it in July. But others, including Kyoto, use the older lunar calendar, so it is held in August. It is based around a myth originating from China, about two deities separated by the milky way, who can only meet once a year.

The story goes, Orihime 織姫 the weaving princess, who was the daughter of Tentei 天帝 the sky god. spent her days weaving the most beautiful and elegant cloth by the banks of the river Amanogawa 天の川 (the milky way, lit. heavenly river).  She was pleased to make her father happy making such beautiful cloth, but she was lonely. Feeling sorry for his daughter's loneliness, Tentei brought Hikoboshi 彦星 (the cow herder star) across the Amanogawa to meet his daughter. They fell in love at first sight and were quickly married. But Orihime stopped weaving and Hikoboshi forgot his cows, the cows ran around heaven to the annoyance of Tentei. He got so angry that he sent Hikoboshi back across the Amanogawa and forbade the couple to meet.  But Tentei's heart softened because of Orihime's tears and he allowed the couple to meet one day a year, if the princess worked hard at her weaving. 

On the seventh day of the seventh month the couple were to meet, but they found there was no bridge to cross. But the sadness of Orihimes's tears brought a group of magpies, they created a bridge with their bodies for the couple to meet in the middle. From then on every year the magpies come, unless it is a rainy day, then the sad couple have to wait another year.

南禅寺の蓮： Nanzenji Temple's Lotus

All lotuses have a spiritual meaning in Buddhism, but the pink lotus is for Buddhists the most spiritually important. Although I am not a Buddhist, I love visiting these beautiful flowers and can deeply feel their spiritual gift.

 

 

A fully open lotus flower is said to represent a fully spiritually open person.

 

 

 

An opening flower shows a person starting along their spiritual path and the closed flower shows someone who is so far spiritually closed.

 

 

 

The big beautiful leaves collect water and in the mornings this water looks so clear, fresh and cool. For me all the elements are present and potent. The plants growing both out of the ground and through water. The pink fire of the flowers and the breeze through the leaves and flowers. The lotuses are best viewed early in the morning; they will leave you spiritually refreshed and that wonderful feeling will last the whole day through.

 

 

 

あきのすけの夢: The Dream of Akinosuke: A Japanese folk tale

Akinosuke was a farmer in feudal Japan. One day while eating with friends he fell asleep under an ancient cedar tree. When he awoke all his friends had gone, but a royal procession was coming towards him. He was informed that it belonged to the king of Tokoga (a dream world) and the King had summoned Akinosuke to the royal court. At the palace Akinosuke was taken to the king and to his amazement the King announced that the royal Princess would immediately become Akinosuke's bride.

 

Soon after they were sent as Governors to a small beautiful island. They lived an enchanted idyllic life for seven years, each year Akinosuke's wife bore him a beautiful new child. But suddenly Akinosuke's wonderful wife died. He was heartbroken and grief stricken. He held a solemn, yet beautiful funeral for her and built a mausoleum in her honour.

 

Soon after he was re-called to the royal court, leaving his children in safe hands he boarded a small boat and departed from the island. From the sea all of a sudden to Akinosuke's shock and horror the island disappeared. Just as suddenly he found himself back under the cedar tree with his friends. His friends explained that he had only been napping for a few minutes, but something strange had happened. As he had fallen asleep a yellow butterfly had seemed to fly from his mouth. The butterfly had been captured by an ant and taken under the cedar tree. On Akinosuke's wakening, the yellow butterfly re-appeared.

 

His friends speculated that the butterfly was Akinosuke's soul, so they decided to investigate the old cedar tree. At it's base they found a big colony of ants and just a little off a smaller colony. Akinosuke noticed a small stone in the middle of the smaller colony.  To his eyes this stone resembled the dreams mausoleum, he could not help but lift the stone. Under the stone was a tiny clay coffin with the body of a female ant lying peacefully in it.

 

A Lammas Haiku

太陽ね、稲よく育つ、夏犠牲

 

Taiyou ne, ine yoku sodatsu, natsu gisei

 

The Sun, the rice grows well, summer sacrifice