Earth Store Bodhisattva (or Jizo Bosatsu in Japanese) Introduction

(21)Meyami Jizo, Kyoto

The small temples of Kyoto are great when you happen to stumble upon them, but usually they are not places to seek out on purpose. Meyami Jizo is different to me - I have often visited this small temple on Shijo-dori in Kyoto close to Gion with family and friends, and today I wanted to see it again. I now came in the afternoon, while in the past most visits had been made in the evening and that is the better time. When all lamps are lit the whole has a sort of romantic radiance which it lacked in the cool light of the afternoon.

[Meyami Jizo Temple, Kyoto. Photo Ad Blankestijn]

Officially, the temple is called Chugenji and there is a legend behind its founding. In 1228, the Kamo River was overflowing because of incessant heavy rains. Seta Takamine, the official charged with controlling the river, was able to prevent a larger flood thanks to a divine message from the Bodhisattva Jizo. To express his gratitude, he therefore enshrined a seated statue of Jizo here at a spot close to the river and named it Ameyami Jizo or Rain Stopping Jizo - that was the origin of Chugenji.

There is also a theory that the temple was called Ameyami Jizo because people used to take shelter from the rain here - the temple after all stands on the eastern bank of the Kamo River, outside the city proper, and travelers may have been caught by showers in what then was open land.

Anyway, in later times, when the city had grown and it was not necessary anymore to stop the rains or take shelter in the fields, the temple managed to remain in the hearts of the people by a simple but ingenious linguistic shift. Ameyami became Meyami, which has nothing to do with rains anymore but everything with eye disease (me is eye en yami is an illness). So our rain stopping Jizo became the Bodhisattva Who Heals Eye Complaints, a not insignificant task in a premodern society and even of importance today. And of course it was not only a matter of linguistics, people really believed prayers addressed to the Jizo were effective in healing their eye compaints and undoubtedly many stories of miraculous recoveries were passed on from mouth to mouth.

The main hall is occupied by a large, seated Jizo statue, dating from the Muromachi period, so it is younger than the original presumably installed here by Seta Takamine. Note the bald monk’s head and the staff he carries as all Jizo statues. The temple also owns a great Thousand-armed Kannon statue in a room on your right when you stand in front of the Jizo hall. Further at the back, also to the right, you will find a jolly fat Daikoku.

[Small Jizo statue in Meyami Jizo Temple, Kyoto. Photo Ad Blankestijn]

The land of death is easily entered in the dreams of medieval Japan. The following is a typical example:

There was a Buddhist priest named Chiin Kano who failed to keep the precepts and was only interested in worldly affairs. On the side of the road leading up to his temple there was a tower enshrined with an old neglected statue of the bodhisattva Jizo. Occasionally the priest would remove his hood and bow to the statue as he passed by.

After he died, his master said, "That priest was always breaking the precepts. He was so bad he's surely gone to hell," but the master still felt sorry for him.

Shortly thereafter, some people from the temple noticed that the statue of Jizo had disappeared from the tower and thought that the statue might have been taken out for repair.

One night the master had a dream: A priest appeared and said, "Jizo has gone to hell with priest Chiin Kano in order to help him." The master then asked why Bodhisattva Jizo had gone to accompany such a bad priest. The priest in the dream replied, "Because Chiin Kano bowed to Jizo sometimes when he passed by the tower." Upon awakening, the master went to the tower to check for himself and saw that the statue of Jizo was actually gone

After a while he had another dream in which he went to the tower and found Jizo standing there. He asked why Jizo had reappeared, and a voice said, "Jizo has returned from hell, where he had gone to help Chiin Kano. The fire has burned his feet." Upon awakening, the master hurried to the tower and saw that Jizo's feet had actually been charred. He was deeply moved, and tears flowed down his face.

After hearing this story, many went to worship the statue of Jizo in the tower.

Jizo went to hell and returned to this world with actual evidence of his journey. The circumstances surrounding his disappearance were all related in dreams. The USM contains numerous stories in which not only bodhisattvas but ordinary humans also go to and return from the land of death, and a large number of these involve dreams. Whether such stories are "real" is not our concern. What is important is that through them we can learn about the kind of cosmos the people of that period lived in.

(from Dreams, Myths, and Fairy Tales in Japan by Hayao Kawai)

Some historians cast a doubt if the Temple was really erected in 1250, because founding priest Soden (?-1309) passed away nearly 60 years after the Temple's foundation. The Temple believes it was. Originally located near the Zaimokuza beach, it was destroyed by the earthquake coupled with tsunami wave in 1703, and forced to move to the present site. Inside the main hall are magnificent twelve statues enthroned on the alter in the shape of letter U.

1. 
   First 7th day after the funeral-------------Shinko-o
   
2. 
   Second 7th (14th) day after the funeral-----Shoko-o
   
3. 
   Third 7th (21st) day after the funeral-------Sotai-o {soh-tie-o}
   
4. 
   Fourth 7th (28th) day after the funeral------Gokan-o
   
5. 
   Fifth 7th (35th) day after the funeral--------Enma Daio {en-mah dye-o}, or Yama in Sanskrit
   
6. 
   Sixth 7th (42nd) day after the funeral-------Henjo-o
   
7. 
   Seventh 7th (49th) day after the funeral----Taizan-o {tie-zan-o}
   
8. 
   100th day after the funeral---------------Byodo-o
   
9. 
   First Anniversary-----------------------Toshi-o {toh-she-o}
   
10. 
    Second Anniversary---------------------Godo-tenrin-o
    

Jizo Bosatsu is believed to save those souls that are suffering in each world. A group of six stone-statues of Jizo can often be found in Kamakura. They are called 'Six Jizo' and each Jizo is assigned to one of the Six Stages to save those wandering souls. Jizo Bosatsu is also referred to as the guardian deity of children. Babies including stillborns and fetuses are also destined to go to the netherworld and have to face the trial. When they try to wade the River Sanzu which lies between Shinko-o and Shoko-o, they are too small to cross the River. They pile up stones by themselves with their little hands but to no avail as devils come out of nowhere and destroy piled-up stones not to let them get over. If their parents have faith in Jizo Bosatsu, however, Jizo will appear before the babies and help them wade the River safely guarding against the devils. Jizo statues usually carry a staff called shakujo in their right hands and it is used, says the folklore, for fathoming the river. Hearing this horrible story, parents who lost their babies would be unable to remain indifferent. Imagining their little babies wandering at the riverbed unable to wade, those parents feel they have to do something for their dead children. Statuettes found in some temples, Hasedera for example, are the ones dedicated by those parents in sorrow.

(Note: Some temples, though a handful of them, take advantage of this folkloric belief, and send messages to the traumatized parents saying that their lost children will continue to be agonized and never be saved unless they soothe children's souls by building statuettes and offer religious services. As a result, those parents are forced to buy expensive statuettes and pay an exorbitant fee for the services.)


That's the outline of the Juo and Jizo concept. Through this teaching, priests tried to persuade people, the young in particular, to do right things while they are alive. Background of this concept is punishing the bad and rewarding the right. Poetic justice. In today's technology-oriented society, however, few people believe the world after death. In early 1999, The Times of London reported on an England football coach who was quoted as having said "Disabled people were paying for sins committed in previous lives", and he was fired because of this comment. If such thoughts exists in the Christian society even today, then, why not the life after death?

Statues:
With their faces possessing dreadful and scowling expressions, those statues intimidate worshipers. On the U-shape altar of the hall 12 wooden statues, mostly sedentary, are placed. Unless otherwise specified, all statues were made during the Edo Period (1603-1868). The number of right-hand diagram denotes each statue noted above. Number 5 is, for example, the statue of Enma-Daio installed right in the center. Its headgears and costumes somehow look like Chinese, reflecting Taoism influence.

On the far left of the left altar is a sedentary statue of Jizo Bosatsu (B). With shaved head and having a stick in his right hand and a treasure ball called Hoju in his left, this is a typical statue of Jizo. The gentle and amiable aspect makes a sharp contrast with the Ten Kings. With its gracefulness, he makes excuse for the defendants at the time of trials before the Ten Kings and help mitigate the punishment. Hence the name of "Excuse Jizo". It is the Eighth of the Twenty-Four Kamakura Jizo Pilgrimage. (A) denotes the statue of Datsueba and (C) the founding priest.

The Temple gives us a rare chance to look into the statues real close like displays in a museum. Though the statues are not the objects of art but the object of worship, visitors may be allowed to take a close look at and appreciate them after worshiping in proper manner.

Other than those statues, the Temple owns statues of a pair of Gushojin {goo-show-gin} and shoko-o, which are carved during the Kamakura Period (1185-1333) and are kept at the Kamakura Museum as ICAs. With respect to Gushojin, once a baby was born, the deity is believed to immediately stay with the baby and keeps all the records on his or her performances until their death. One Gushojin writes down only good behaviors while the others note sinful ones. In the first trial by Shinko-o on the first seventh day after death, the Gushojin reports to Shinko-o on all of the performance of the dead. The 100 centimeters tall statue of Shoko-o is an excellent one fashioned in 1251 by Koyu {koh-yoo}, a local sculptor.

Did you know? Jizo Stone statues of Jizo (Ksitigarbha) are seen all over the country. some are housed in beautiful temples, some in little huts, and others are found standing by the country roadsides. They are one of the most popular kinds of statues that has become so characteristic of country life.

A Jizo-bosatsu helps relieve people who are suffering from distress.

Fortune-telling Jizo:

Hikeshi-Jizo:

Migawari-Jizo:

Tauye-Jizo:

The names of Buddhist temples (tera or o-tera) usually end in the suffixes "-ji" or "-in" (To-ji, Jako-in), but occasionally "-dera" (Oka-dera). Shinto shrines (jinja) end in "-jinja" (Yasaka Jinja), or for larger shrines "-jingu" or just "-gu" (Meiji Jingu, Kitano Tenman-gu), and occasionally "-taisha" (Sumiyoshi Taisha). The word miya is the same character as -gu (large shrine) and is commonly used in place names, but is pronounced gu in the names of actual shrines.

Many of the stone Jizos are very old and look it, with all detail worn away from the rounded stone. People on religious pilgrimages -- or just on their way to a shrine -- will stop to say a prayer and leave a little offering (a coin, candle, fruit, or flower) at every little Jizo they pass. Jizos are often clothed in red bibs, often dozens and dozens of them, which are also commonly left as offerings. In Japanese Buddhism, Jizo is regarded as a savior of children and protector of travelers. Roadside statues of Jizo are found throughout Japan.

A story I found about of a particular Jizo is given below:

"When I got back from our three-day school trip, I re-read "Angry Jizo." It is a story about the atomic bomb in Hiroshima.

 A brilliant flash painted the town white. It was as if the sun had fallen before his very eyes. People wearing scorched and tattered shirts fled past the fallen Jizo, dragging their feet on the ground. When the fires finally died down, the city of Hiroshima had become a vast field of burnt-out ruins, without houses or schools or office buildings or trees or flowers. A badly burned little girl collapsed face down in front of the stone Jizo. Her entire back was bright red, as if draped with a blanket of red peonies. "Mo-m-my, water. I want some water," the girl said, looking at the stone Jizo. "Some water, please, water."

Before this, the stone Jizo had been known as "Smiling Jizo," but at this point, tears fell from his angry eyes. Mr. Uchida and all the other survivors shed tears just like this stone Jizo. For the sake of all those who died, they have joined the movement to ban the bomb and they call for the abolition of all nuclear weapons. It's something they feel they just have to do."


(from http://artbyoju.com/jizotext.html)

(25) Kogan-ji

		The Kogan-ji main gate is slightly recessed from a row of shops on a street thronging with temple visitors.
	Throngs of women are always coming and going at the front gate of the Soto Zen temple Kogan-ji, famous for its main image, a statue of the Barb-extracting Kshitigarbha (Togé-nuki Jizo). Because the crowds are like the flocks of young people who enliven the Tokyo Harajuku district, the temple neighborhood is known as Old-Ladies’ Harajuku. As this indicates, a constant stream of elderly people visits the temple, which was founded in 1596. Relocated after two disastrous fires in the Edo period (1603—1868), in 1891, it was rebuilt in its present location in the Sugamo district, Tokyo.
		People pour water over the statue of the Sacred Kannon then towel the appropriate parts of the statue to cure ailments in corresponding parts of their own bodies.
	Several stories of miraculous cures are associated with the temple and its popularly revered main image. For instance, in the early 18th century, a certain husband who prayed before the Jizo image dreamed that his mortally ill wife would recover if he made talismans and dedicated them to 10,000 Jizo statues. In another story, a woman who had ingested a broken needle was saved from death when she swallowed a Jizo talisman. The name Barb-extracting Jizo arose from such stories.

The headless stone statue of Jizo, or Kubinashi-Jizo, is enshrined on a hill with an elevation of 65m., located at the south foot of Mt.Yatsuo, Deguchi Cho, Fuchu City in Hirosima Pref. It is about 20 Km_ northwest of Fukuyama of Station on the Sanyo Line, JR, or about 1,500m north of Fuchu Station on the Fukuen Line, JR.

It is neither known when this stone statue, which measures 35 X 20 X 11(cm), was first enshrined, nor whom it represents. Nevertheless, it is considered to be fairly old. According to an old man of the town, it was seen standing beside a farm road 80 m. south of the present position at the beginning of Showa Era (1926-1989), and it was already without head at the time.

It is likely that during the construction work to Widen the city roads in the 45th Year Of Showa(1970), this statue was pushed up with other stones onto the 30 m. high hill, and deeply buried.

On the dawn of May 18, in the 52nd year of Showa(1977), the Jizo appeared in the dream of a religious man of Shin-machi, Fuchu City. The man received an oracle saying, "I am buried in the plowed field on the hill. If you unearth me and enshrine, I will answer the prayers." This dream came true. The Jizo was found and enshrined, and many prayers were answered. Later a new site for precinct was procured and the Jizo was transferred here on May 16 in the 54th year of Showa (1979).

The visions of the Jizo that appeared in the dreams of the religious man, as well as others later, describe the figure as handsome and strong, yet possessing 8 delicate face.

Many instances of worshipers who were cured of head aches, pains in the waists, legs and other parts of the body have been reported. The tale of the Jizo's favor has spread widely by word of mouth, and devotees are coming from all parts of the country in great numbers now.

Not only did the Jizo cure all manner of diseases, but offered counsel on matters of children, business, study, and human relations.

HOW TO PRAY

1. 
   Burn a candle or incense sticks provided in the shrine.
   
2. 
   Chant the following Jizo sutra, two or three times;
   "On-ka-ka-ka-bi-san-ma-ei-sowa-ka"
   
3. 
   Express wishes which you want to be heard, to the Jizo.
   

Two kinds of experiences are reported by worshipers whose prayers are heard. One is that worshipers feel relieved of the pain on the spots and the other is that they temporarily fell in worse condition suddenly but soon recover, In case devotees can not personally visit the shine and pray, a member of family may come and pray in their behalf.

The Jizo Festival is held at 9 AM on the 18th of every month with a large attendance.

KUBINASHI JIZO BOSATSU