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A trip to Ohara 大原. Last one, however, is near Gingakuji 銀閣寺.
Ohara is a town northeast of Kyoto, easily accessible from Kokusaikaikan Subway Station. One of its star attractions is Sanzen-in 三千院. This temple has been called Sanzen-in from 1871. It was previously called Kajii Monzeki, Nashimoto Monzeki, or Enyu-in Monzeki. "Monzeki" means a temple with a royal abbot or one where royalty lives. Sanzen-in's most important treasure is the Ojo-Gogukuraku-in, the Amida Hall, built in 985 originally by Eshin. He also made the hall's Amida (principal buddha of the Pure Land sect of Mahayana Buddhism). Instead of sitting on your butt for years, total devotion to Amidabutsu grants you passage to the Pure Land. According to Gouveneur Mosher writing in Kyoto: A Contemplative Guide, "In the Nembutsu the worshiper repeated the phrase Namu Amida Butsu (Save me, Amida Buddha) while meditating upon Amida and the Western Paradise into which that deity received the souls of the deserving dead."
I wish I could have taken a photo of the temple's Amida, and his two attendants, Seishi and Kannon, but that's not allowed. As you can see, hydrangea are in full bloom not only Ohara but everywhere else in Kyoto. The seventh photo is the chrysanthemum 菊 Imperial Crest.
I wish I could have taken a photo of the temple's Amida, and his two attendants, Seishi and Kannon, but that's not allowed. As you can see, hydrangea are in full bloom not only Ohara but everywhere else in Kyoto. The seventh photo is the chrysanthemum 菊 Imperial Crest.
