The Shikoku Pilgrimage

"For human beings, vanity is the most intolerable thing: worrying about causing others offense is the most complicated. Existent and non-existent, visible and invisible, audible and inaudible, how joyful is the artlessly pure and independent mind. In such a mind, a most precious and abundant love arises. Life exists within the vastness of the universe. Detached but not detached, I love everything intensely. For me there is not the slightest uneasiness or sorrow. When the sun sets, I sleep: when the dawn breaks, I walk." (Tennant, p. 29)

-Takamure Itsue

Over the last few years our teacher, Ajari Jomyo Tanaka has been working his way through the four sections of the well known, 88 temple Shikoku Pilgrimage. Ajari Tanaka has been traversing each section on foot and trying to visit not only the 88 temples officially part of the pilgrimage but as many of the side temples as his time allows. This past Spring he walked the third section, which spans Ehime Prefecture. This spring he plans to return to Shikoku to complete the pilgrimage by walking the final section through Kagagawa Prefecture. This pilgrimage has been part of Shingon and Japanese spirituality for centuries. The pilgrimage as spiritual practice provides a very interesting compliment to the deep philosophical teachings of Kukai, the elegant complexity of ritual and the vast variety of meditation method which characterizes the Shingon tradition. Walking 900 miles and visiting 88 temples is a very rugged, direct and uncomplicated practice that Ajari Tanaka speaks quite highly of and always recommends.

There are many accounts of the pilgrimage, even in English. The above quote comes from a very interesting account of a young woman's pilgrimage from 1918. Rendered beautifully into English by the translator, this small quote captures a little of the spirit of her journey.

{"The 1918 Shikoku Pilgrimage of Takamure Itsue (Musume Junreiki)", Translated by Susan Tennant, Bowen Publishing, 2010}

Many people know Basho's famous haiku about the old pond, the jumping frog and the cosmic splash it made. Ajari Tanaka will often create beautiful, spidery renderings of this famous poem when performing calligraphy. During these demonstrations he will translate what he calls Basho's enlightenment haiku as follows:

Old pond,

Jumping frog,

Infinity sound.

Here is an old rendering of Basho's poem by Ajari Tanaka. It was made into a very nice postcard a long time ago.

Enjoy.

This single syllable...

"The sound A is the mother of all letters; it is the essence of all sounds; and it stands for the fountainhead of all-inclusive Reality... ...If we see the letter A, we know all things are empty and nil..." (Hakeda, p. 247)

This syllable is a symbolic representation of Mahavairocana as he appears in the Taizo-kai Mandala. It is also a central symbol in one of Shingon's most common but important meditations. Like the image of Mahavairocana, the syllable A is a universal symbol that excludes nothing. It represents all the teachings of the Dharma and, as stated above, the empty nature of all things and the ultimate reality that exists simultaneously.

The image here, often referred to as the "Aji" image depicts the syllable A resting on the lotus of great compassion and held within the full moon sphere of Bodhicitta. Please enjoy this elegant image.

"Just as we hear the sound A when we hear all sounds, so we perceive that which is the limit, the "original uncreated," when we perceive the arising of phenomena. He who perceives that which is the limit, the "originally uncreated," will come to know his mind as it really is. To know one's mind as it really is is [to gain] all-inclusive wisdom. Thus, this single letter is the mantra of Mahavairocana." (Hakeda, p. 249)

(Source: "The Meaning of the Word HUM", Ungi gi, as translated in "Kukai: Major Works", by Yoshito S. Hakeda, Columbia Press 1972)