Sacred Koyasan : A Pilgrimage to the Mountain Temple of Saint Kobo Daishi and the Great Sun Buddha

by Nicoloff, Philip L.

• ISBN13: 9780791472590
• ISBN10: 0791472590
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-11-08
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr

Summary

For more than one thousand years, the vast Buddhist monastery and temple complex on remote Mount Koya has been one of Japan's most important religious centers. Saint Kobo Daishi (also known as Kukai), founder of the esoteric Shingon school and one of the great figures of world Buddhism, consecrated the mountain for holy purposes in the early 800s. Buried on Koyasan, Kobo Daishi is said to be still alive, selflessly advocating for the salvation of all sentient beings.

Author Biography

Philip Nicoloff is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of New Hampshire.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. xv
Going to the Mountain	p. 1
The Celestial Railroad	p. 1
Outside the Fudo Entrance: The Women's Hall	p. 5
Staying at a Shukubo Temple	p. 15
Our Midday Arrival	p. 15
Evening	p. 20
"A Mind of Rapture": The Morning Sutra Service	p. 24
The Life and Legend of Kobo Daishi (Kukai)	p. 31
The Early Years	p. 33
To China's Ch'ang-an and Hui-kuo	p. 41
Conquest of the Japanese Capital	p. 45
The Founding of Koyasan	p. 58
Servant to Emperor and Nation	p. 61
Kukai's Theory of the Ten Stages	p. 67
The "Death" of Kukai	p. 70
Twelve Centuries on the Mountain	p. 75
Abbot Kangen Visits the Tomb (835-921)	p. 75
Joyo, Fujiwara Michinaga, and Ex-Emperor Shirakawa (921-1129)	p. 80
Koya-hijiri, the Rise of Pure Land Buddhism, and Kakuban (1073-1143)	p. 82
Kiyomori (1150-1186)	p. 86
The Kamakura Era (1185-1333)	p. 88
Under the Ashikaga Shogunate (1336-1573)	p. 92
Oda Nobunaga: Koyasan under Siege (1571-1582)	p. 95
Hideyoshi and Koyasan's Wood-Eating Saint (1582-1603)	p. 102
Under the Tokugawa (1603-1867)	p. 110
Meiji Persecution and the Buddhist Revival (1867 to the Present)	p. 113
Court of the Central Halls	p. 123
The Great Stupa: Daito	p. 124
The Golden Hall: Kondo	p. 131
Hall of the Portrait: Miedo	p. 148
Shrine of the Mountain Gods: Myojin-sha	p. 150
Some Other Sights of the Garan	p. 153
Three Mountain Institutions	p. 161
Kongobu-ji: Headquarters Temple of Koyasan Shingon-shu	p. 161
Daishi Kyokai Honbu: Headquarters of the Daishi Mission	p. 167
Reihokan: Museum of Sacred Treasures	p. 177
The Temple Town	p. 183
Educating a Shingon Priest	p. 191
The Student Years	p. 191
Advancing in Rank	p. 196
A Pilgrimage Through the Forest Cemetery	p. 201
First Bridge to the Middle Bridge	p. 202
The Middle Bridge	p. 209
On to the Third Bridge	p. 214
The Inner Temple and Kobo Daishi's Mausoleum	p. 217
The Halls before the Tamagawa	p. 217
The Jewel River and the Miroku Stone	p. 221
The Torodo: Lantern Hall	p. 224
The Gobyo: Kobo Daishi's Mausoleum	p. 229
Record of a Night's Vigil at the Gobyo	p. 231
The Morning Fire Offering	p. 238
Kobo Daishi's Birthday Celebration	p. 241
Celebrating Kobo Daishi's Nyujo and the "Changing of the Robe"	p. 249
Preparing the New Robe at Hoki-in	p. 249
The Solar Sho-mieku	p. 250
The Lunar Sho-mieku	p. 252
Addendum: Rituals of Shakyamuni's Birth and Death	p. 257
Annual Rituals for the Dead	p. 259
Bon: Mid-summer Visitation of the Dead	p. 259
Higan-e: Ceremony of the Other Shore	p. 264
Leaving the Holy Mountain	p. 267
Notes	p. 271
Glossary	p. 339
Sources Cited	p. 355
Index	p. 369
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.