December 25 (continued)
After our lovely lunch we walked over to one of my favourite temples in Japan: Sanjusangen-do. 三十三間堂, Temple of thirty-three bays) is a Buddhist temple of the Tendai sect in the Higashiyama district of Kyoto, Japan. I have been there at least 3 other times and it always impresses me – the sheer magnitude of this project.
Full disclosure: Over my life, I have come to have mixed feelings about the concept of people in power building huge expensive buildings, monuments, and idols, sometimes literally covered in gold, in devotion to their diety – no matter what religion. The artist in my soul admires the art, the craftsmanship, the dedication of those craftsmen and artists to create devotional art, much of it extremely beautiful. It gave those artists a livelihood where they could dedicate their lives to creating art to support their families. Supporting artists to make the world more beautiful, or to create a beautiful environment in which to create a sense of awe for worship is one contribution to a wonderful world. As Teva quoted to Aubrey the other day – Earth without art is “eh” .
In Judaism we have the concept of “Hiddur Mitzvah” (loosely translated to mean beautification of the commandments). From Jewish Learning.com: “Beauty enhances the mitzvot by appealing to the senses. Beautiful sounds and agreeable fragrances, tastes, textures, colors, and artistry contribute to human enjoyment of religious acts, and beauty itself takes on a religious dimension. The principle of enhancing a mitzvah through aesthetics is called Hiddur Mitzvah.“
As the parable goes: When a starving man spent his last two coins on bread and a rose, he defended himself by saying that the bread is to help him live, and the rose is to give him something to live for. I cannot imagine life without any art, music, theatre, or dance. Appreciating the arts is one way to make sense of the world we live in.
On the other hand, when people in power dedicate a disproportionate amount of resources into creating a place of worship or an idol, sometimes literally covered in gold, instead of properly feeding their people while they are starving, it makes me both sad and enraged.
So, as usual I am forced to hold two truths in my heart at the same time, something that I sometimes struggle with. Can I separate and appreciate the beauty of the art, even if I have a problem with either the artist as a person, or the circumstances under which it was made? This question could be a whole university level dissertation.
That being said, this temple is truly impressive. There is a gigantic statue of the goddess Kannon (the goddess of mercy and compassion) which has been designated a National Treasure of Japan. The statue itself is then surrounded by 1001 human-sized statues of the goddess Kannon. In addition to the thousand-armed Kannon statues, the hall displays 28 guardian deities whose origins lie in Hinduism. There are various theories as to how the concepts spread, but they somehow made their way across Asia in the form of Sanskrit texts and over the sea to Japan where the Hindu deities of Shiva, Vishnu, Lakshmi, Brahma and others found new lives as fusion deities in Buddhism. They now serve to protect the goddess Kannon.
Each individual statue of the mythical thousand-armed Kannon is said to have eleven heads to better see the suffering of mankind, and one thousand arms to save everyone in need. Though the statues only have 42 arms, each holds a different item or is posed in a Buddhist symbolic gesture.
Each sculpture was made with wood, then covered in lacquer, and then finally in gold leaf. The building that houses them is 120 metres long and was originally built around 1164. It took sculptors and craftsmen approximately 100 years to complete all of the statues housed there.
For more information about this fascinating temple click here: https://www.discoverkyoto.com/places-go/sanjusangen-do/#:~:text=Arranged%20in%20ten%20rows%20and,in%20the%2013th%20century.
We are not allowed to take photos. but here is one from the internet 🙂
And, as in the other times have been here, I am still impressed. and was glad to share it with my family. Stay tuned for part three of our day…