Living at Tamonin Temple reminds me of the ambivalent attitudes that the Japanese have toward their local Buddhist temple and Shinto shrines. To the Japanese Buddhism is not so much a religion as part of their culture and a worldview that informs their daily life. Japan being a postmodern society, people also view many Buddhist activities as superstition. For instance, many of our friends cannot understand how we can live at Tamonin, they think it's too scary. This is especially so because of all of the stories about strange happenings in old temples. Tamonin is about 820 years old.
Every day several people stop by Tamonin. Normally no one lives here, so the hondo, or main hall of the temple is locked. Some of the people stop by to visit their family tomb, perhaps for an anniversary, birthday, or some other occasion. They may leave flowers or not. Others stop by the temple and stand in front of the Hondo with a silent prayer. They may treat it like a Shinto shrine, clapping their hands several times, before praying.
The other day there was a group of about 20 retirement aged people who came here purposefully as part of a walking outing. They were very appreciative when I opened the main hall so they could see Bishamonten, the honzon, or main deity of Tamonin. They stayed about 45 minutes, taking pictures, drinking tea and enjoying a nice day out.
When Tamami and I lived here there were a group of seniors who used the central open space to play ‘gate ball’ as they call croquet, almost every day. The gathering hall of the temple was often used for more mundane activities such as secular organizational meetings. Recently a community hall was built not too far from the temple and that's where people go to play gate ball and hold meetings now. On June 2nd there will be a pilgrimage and Tamonin is one of the pilgrim sites for that event. So the gathering hall will be used to welcome people on the pilgrimage. They will probably have lunch or least a drink and snack before they move on to the next stop on the pilgrimage trail.
Speaking of superstitious, there's a curious irregularity. As I mentioned in a previous blog, my cell phone service is not very good at the temple. I can't use the data service at all. If I walk up the hill a little way on one of the small back roads the reception improves and I can receive and send data. So I thought well what if I go over onto the engawa, or vernada, of the hondo, it's much higher than the surrounding temple area. Sure enough cell service is as good as anywhere in the area, but there is no data service. It's as though Bishamonten does not approve of the Internet. If I go a short distance behind the Hondo on a small hillock I can get data. But on the engawa or inside the hondo no data.
Maybe I better understand how the Japanese feel about Buddhism and superstition.
Gassho . . . Monshin
