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Sensei's Notes |
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| Saturday, May 15, 2004 :
Well, the first Christian came to my blog tonight and spammed me with Jesus. It had to happen. Sometimes, when I listen to them it seems like they are totally from another planet. How could so many people be living 2,000 years ago in their minds? Doesn't the 21st century have anything to offer them? I love their logic: God really loves you and has prepared a place for you in heaven, with no strings attached, but if you spurn his offer he will drop-kick you down the slide that goes to hell, where you will be tortured for eternity. Man, that's love. Nobody could ask for more than that. Or how about "Eternal Life" after you die? Whoa, let me think this one over, pal... Shugendo - The term means way of practicing or mastering magico-ascetic powers. Practice takes place in the mountains. Yamabushi a common term for practitioners. Means one who makes the mountains his home. Originally all on mountains, celibate. Overtime married, lived at temples at foot of mountains. Went on retreat into the mountains. (Times change and we have to change with them.) Mountain worship in Japan Sangaku shinko. Not the worship of mountains but religious practices held in the mountains. All the roles of the mountain as an integral factor in the religious life of the people are involved - it is related with all the aspects of the relations between one phase of natural environment and mans religious activities (myth, folk beliefs, rituals, temples, etc.) The View of Mountains... Sacred important in mythology as the dwelling place of kami often this meant they could not be climbed by anyone. This aspect changed with Buddhism because then mountains became seen as a place for practice. Gateway to the realm of the dead. Mountains as the axis between heaven and earth, and as the cosmos. En no Oozuna (or En no Gyoja) The Legendary Founder. Mentioned in late 7th century as an exceptional person, by the 9th century an entire tradition had arisen around him. Withdrew to a mountain and practiced a single magical formula, thereby gaining the ability to fly, etc. His practice mixed Buddhism, sangaku-shinko, Taoism, and others. Model for the practitioners of later periods. Such practices came together over time to be called Shugendo and later organized as a formal religion. The Practitioners - Practitioners were called a. hijiri (wise man/ holy man), b. genja (ascetic), c. yamabushi. Practitioners withdrew from ordinary society to live in the mountains were they conducted various austerities including: special diets, chanting magical formulas, purification under waterfalls, fire rituals. Unlike Buddhist priests, practitioners of shugendo grew their hair (though short) and married. Their practices and organizations grew more formalized over the centuries. Primarily because of the roles they came to play as leaders and guides for pilgrimages to the sacred mountains. Teachings - The Term Yamabushi as a code... YAMA ? Three vertical lines and one horizantal. This means that yamabushi express sanbu ittai (unity of three divisions the womb realm, the diamond realm and the two together), santai ichinen (the three fold truth of emptiness, conventional existence, and the middle), sangaku heishu (mastery of the three learnings morality, meditation, wisdom). The Term "Bushi" - The left side means, in this case, wisdom or enlightenment/the sacred. The right side means attachments/the profane. Teachings (worldview) - Shugendo teaches that there are basically 2 realms the worldly realm the spiritual realm. Mountains are seen as a place where these 2 realms come together. That is why practice there can be so efficacious. I AM TRANSLATING THE ANCIENT SCROLLS NOW! Not bad for an American. Man, it's late and I have commitments tomorrow, so I guess I'll crash. Strange day. I had a little soap opera online, I had friends over for dinner, we listened to music, talked about work and politics, and had baked chicken with corn and rice. I made strawberry shortcake with lots of cool whip for dessert. Yum, yum. I also got some books in the mail, which I will have to open tomorrow. "The chiefest of all the laws is the law of Website of the day: The Truth and Legend of the Swastika |
Sensei Ma Wei Lun © 2004
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