Toji, a Temple of the Mystical World – Part 1

I often go to Toji Temple because I like the atmosphere there. The first thing you will see as you are coming close to the temple is an old wooden pagoda. People in Kyoto think about it as a symbol of the city. That old pagoda is there as if it were telling us a long history of the city.

When you arrive at the big south gate, it guides you as an entrance to a mystical world and you will be impressed by two magnificent halls that form a straight line with the gate.

The first hall that you see is the main hall, where the Buddha of healing and Bodhisattvas of the Sun and the Moon, attendants of the Buddha of healing, are inside. The other hall is the lecture hall, which has old Buddhist statues that represent the Buddhist universe to show you the world of enlightenment.

Let me tell you more about Toji Temple’s story.

Toji Temple was founded about 1,200 years ago to protect and pray for the prosperity of Kyoto, when it became the capital. Kyoto was the capital of Japan for 1,100 years from the late 8th century to the mid-19th century. The capital of Japan means where the emperor lives. A few decades after the temple was founded, the emperor entrusted it to a respected monk named Kukai. He studied esoteric Buddhism in China and later he spread the Shingon sect of esoteric Buddhism in Japan.

Originally, esoteric Buddhism started in the 7th century in India and was later introduced to China. Kukai studied it in China in the 9th century and learned it directly from an esoteric master there. Esoteric means secretive and esoteric Buddhism is a secret teaching that has a deep concept that can’t be explained with only words and books. Even though the idea of esoteric Buddhism was so difficult and complicated, Kukai acquired it. After he came back to Japan, he spread it here and prayed for peoples’ happiness, peace and the country’s prosperity.

In esoteric Buddhism, the Cosmic Buddha is the main Buddha and is the center of the Buddhist universe. That is, everything starts and ends with the Cosmic Buddha. When you visit the temple, you can see the Cosmic Buddha and other amazing Buddhist statues and experience the Buddhist world in the lecture hall. Different from other sects of Buddhism in Japan, Shingon esoteric Buddhism focuses on chanting mystical words in Sanskrit, correct hand gestures, and feeling the Cosmic Buddha, so that Shingon monks can unite with the Cosmic Buddha.

Also, Toji has a beautiful pagoda which is the tallest wooden pagoda in Japan.

In my next post, I’ll talk about that and the flea market.