Daibutsu 大仏

The Great Buddha at Kōtoku-in (高徳院), a 13.35 meter high, 93 ton bronze statue of Amida Buddha cast in 1252, represents a high point of Jōdo shū Buddhism during the Kamakura period. The mudrā seen here is the Dhyana (上品上生), normally practiced during Zazen (坐禅) meditation. Besides ushering in Jōdo shū in the 12th century, the Kamakura period introduced a form called Rinzai- largely influenced by Fa-tsang’s Hua Yen Sect (Kegon) and the earlier Yui Shih (Hossō) or Consciousness Only Sect-which is the first appearance of Zen in Japan. 1227 dates the arrival of Sōtō Zen with Dōgen Zenji, introducing the kōan tradition to Japan. Lucky us.

Oddly enough it is the Rinzai Zen school of thought, brought alongside tea from China by Eisai Zenji, which mainly employs the use of the kōan as a method of meditation, while Sōtō sticks to shikantaza (just sitting), though many practice both. The flourishing of Buddhism and introduction of Zen to Japan is, in part, largely due to the breaking away of the powerful shōgun Minamoto no Yoritomo from the old tradition of Korean and Chinese-influenced Kyoto to the new militarism of Kamakura. It is during the Kamakura period that the invasion of the Mongols by Kublai Kahn’s troops is attempted in Fukuoka. These troops, thought to be one of the largest naval operations in history, were twice rebuffed by what is now the infamous kamikaze (神風), later invoked by suicide bombers during World War II. Between the first and second invasion the samurai at Hakata built a wall or series of walls, which served to do two things: 1) to cut off landing access to the invading Mongols thus making them vulnerable to typhoons (aka divine wind) by lengthening their time at sea and 2) to cut off Japan from the outside world. The invasion was largely due to the shogunate’s continued brush-off of numerous warnings to pay homage to the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty rulers. The literal actions of this period can be seen in retrospect as the metaphoric rise of the desire to consolidate and concentrate internal power toward a greater realization, i.e. the spurning of the outside world (repelling of Mongol armadas attributed to Shintō thundergod Raijin), the building of walls (literal and figurative), and the flourishing of Zen as well as other forms of Buddhism. This is the Japanese people looking inward for all their answers, whether physical or mental, artificial or natural. Talk about cultivating one’s own garden.

Excerpt from a forthcoming article on Wabi-sabi & The Ruin of Nature in Japan.

Chinese philosophy: Wu Xing 五行

• Earth (土: tǔ)
• Water (水: shuǐ)
• Fire (火: huǒ)
• Wood (木: mù)
• Metal (金: jīn)

Japanese philosophy: Godai 五大

• Earth (地 Chi or tsuchi)
• Water (水 Sui or mizu)
• Fire (火 Ka or hi)
• Wind (風 Fū or kaze)
• Sky or Heaven (空 Kū or sora)

Aristotelian Physics

• Earth, which is cold and dry.
• Water, which is cold and wet.
• Fire, which is hot and dry.
• Air, which is hot and wet.
• Aether, which is the divine substance that makes up the heavenly spheres and heavenly bodies (stars and planets).

Buddhist doctrine describes five aggregates

• “form” or “matter” – rūpa: external and internal matter. Externally, rupa is the physical world. Internally, rupa includes the material body and the physical sense organs.
• “sensation” or “feeling” – vedanā: sensing an object as either pleasant or unpleasant or neutral.
• “perception”, “cognition” – saññā: registers whether an object is recognized or not.
• “mental formations”, “volition” – saṅkhāra: all types of mental habits, thoughts, ideas, opinions, compulsions, and decisions triggered by an object.
• “consciousness” – viññāṇa: cognizance.

4 Noble Truths

• The Nature of Suffering (Dukkha): “This is the noble truth of suffering: birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair are suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering.”
• Suffering’s Origin (Samudaya): “This is the noble truth of the origin of suffering: it is this craving which leads to renewed existence, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there, that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, craving for extermination.”
• Suffering’s Cessation (Nirodha): “This is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering: it is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving, the giving up and relinquishing of it, freedom from it, nonreliance on it.”
• The Way (Mārga) Leading to the Cessation of Suffering: “This is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering: it is the Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.”

Four Noble Truths → Suffering → Aggregates → Form → Four (or Five) Elements

Ta da! Well, now that that’s settled, we can get down to drinking…

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 17th, 2009 at 15:44. It is filed under Blog and tagged with 4 Noble Truths, Aether, Amida Buddha, Aristotelian Physics, Buddhism, Earth, Fire, Five aggregates, Five Elements, Godai, Great Buddha, Jōdo shū Buddhism, Kamakura, Kōtoku-in, Water, Wind, Wu Xing, Zazen, 五大, 五行, 大仏. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.