Todaiji -
A Buddha for the State

Todaiji, the temple of the Great Buddha of Nara, is core business for any first-time visitor to the town. Standing next to the Kasuga Shrine, Kofukuji Temple and the park with its roaming deer, it forms a solid pillar of Nara's sightseeing triad. That is how it should be, for Todaiji is a fitting symbol of eight-century Buddhism, when the state ruled supreme in Buddhist matters.

Todaiji earned its name, 'Great East Temple,' because it stood due east to the then capital of Heijokyo (present-day Nara). Thanks to the huge statue sitting in its immense main hall, it is popularly known as the Great Buddha of Nara.

It all started in 743, when Emperor Shomu ordered the construction of a huge Birushana, a statue of the Cosmic Buddha Vairocana. Emperor Shomu had established the system of kokubunji, a network of provincial temples throughout Japan and he placed Todaiji at the apex of these state temples. The sheer size of image and temple was meant to illustrate the power of the state, and Shomu selected the Birushana Buddha for its main image as a symbol of his own imperial status.

Birushana is the cosmic Buddha, the center of the universe, from whom emanates all power and who stands at the head of all other Buddhas. In the same way, Shomu saw himself as the center of all worldly authority. In this period, Buddhism had become the state religion. It was also the golden age of Buddhist sculpture and many of the statues left today could not have been made without state sponsorship and the organization of large workshops.

The casting of the Buddha was no easy job. After a false start at another location, the arduous task started in 747 in earnest on the present site. Over a period of three years, eight castings were needed before the artisans could complete the statue. After that, the Buddha Hall was built around it and in 752, the temple was inaugurated with ceremonies full of pomp and splendor. Emperor Shomu solemnly declared himself a "servant of the Buddha."

Emperor Shomu, his wife Empress Komyo and his daughter the reigning Empress Kogen all took part in the solemn ceremony to dedicate the statue by "opening the eyes". This last act was performed by the Indian priest Bodhisena, who used a huge brush to paint in the eyes. Colored strings, hanging from the end of the brush, were held by the imperial family and other dignitaries, so that they symbolically took part in the ceremony. The brush still exists: it was entrusted to the Shoso-in treasury attached to Todaiji after Shomu's demise.

Over the next decades further halls, cloisters, and two pagodas of 100 meters in height were added, so that Todaiji grew into the largest temple complex in the country. This huge endeavor necessitated an immense number of workers: 50,000 carpenters, 370,000 metal workers and more than 2 million laborers. The whole complex was seven city blocks large.

The impressive Main Hall

The Career of a Statue
The world is an endless succession of Yin and Yang. The court, whose Emperor compared himself with the Buddha Vairocana, soon lost power. Ironically, it were the expenses of building Todaiji that brought the 8th-century nation to the brink of bankruptcy. The dream of greatness of the Buddhist Emperor had ruined the country's finances. State Buddhism not only meant that state and court used Buddhism for their ulterior purpose, but also that Buddhism could infiltrate the state and that priests became very influential at court. Another emperor, from a different line, therefore moved the capital away from Nara and its Buddhist establishment. This happened already in 784, almost fifteen years before the construction of the Todaiji complex was 'officially' completed.

States come and go and a State Buddha will not last, either. He simply has the wrong connections. Already in 855 an earthquake shook his head off his torso. Repairs took six years. In 1180, the temple's strong, secular connection with one of the warring parties in the civil war between the Genji and the Heike clans led to its total destruction by the troops of Taira Shigehara. When peace was reestablished, rebuilding started with contributions from the new Kamakura government in the person of Minamoto no Yoritomo. In 1195, the new Buddha hall was completed and ceremonies could be held to inaugurate the complex. However, the pagodas and several other magnificent buildings were never rebuilt.

The next disaster struck thanks to the civil wars of the sixteenth century and again the whole temple was destroyed. Now repairs took a much longer time. When Basho visited Todaiji in 1682, he only saw the headless torso of the statue sitting in the open air. The statue was only finally repaired in 1692, and the new Buddha Hall was finished in 1708. The Great Buddha we see today was cast in the Edo period, anyway not a good period for Buddhist sculpture, a far cry from the majestic original.

The Great South Gate

A Mountain of Copper
When I come to the temple, I first follow the drift of people to the large hall housing the Great Buddha. On the way I pass the Great South Gate, dating from 1203 and thus one of the oldest buildings of Todaiji remaining today. It has been rebuilt in a massive style imported from China, although the name, Tenjiku-yo, wrongly points at India. I gaze up at the giant guardian statues carved by Unkei and Kaikei. The 8.5 meter tall statues are a mass of muscles and their bulging eyes try to detect any evil entering the gate. I doubt these Goliaths with their clubs and spears still inspire much fear in real evildoers - perhaps the temple needs to install some high-tech weapons in the gate.

In the main hall, the Great Buddha from 1692 impresses me as just such a high-tech gadget: he looks almost like a robot and has none of the warmth of the Buddha statues from the Nara period. The face is impassive, as if it were a steel mask. In the Edo period, art had moved away from the religious to the secular, from Buddhist statues to screen paintings and ukiyo-e. Todaiji's Buddha only impresses because of his sheer mass, a 16 meter high mountain of copper, dwarfing he visitors going around him (ten grown people could easily stand on his upturned hand).

The Sangatsudo or Lotus hall

The Kannon as Magician
Fortunately, there are more beautiful statues left in Todaiji, many dating from the original temple building. The best of these have been gathered in the Sangatsudo, also called Hokkedo, because here in the Third Month (sangatsu) a rite centered on the Lotus Sutra (Hokke-kyo) was held. Part of this hall is still the original 8th c. building, a precious rarity. It was developed on the basis of a temple Roben had founded here before Todaiji. I sit down on the bench in the back of the hall and intently survey the array of statues. It is quiet here - these statues have no attraction for the masses of tourists.

In the center stands the Fukukenjaku Kannon dating from 746. The 3 meter high, dry-lacquer statue has an imperial grandeur and reputedly was the patron of Empress Komyo. It wears a gilded metal crown just as the empress herself could have worn. It is an esoteric statue, with a third eye set in the brow. The Kannon has many manifestations and this is the Kannon of the Never-Empty Lasso, who saves straying souls and leads them the salvation. The statue indeed carries a lasso in one of her eight hands. The face is not compassionate, but rather fearsome. I wonder what prayers the Empress said before this Kannon. Surely, she did not see herself as a "stray soul." Such an esoteric statue was believed to have terrible powers and I suspect she prayed here very practically for the destruction of her enemies, rather than for abstract matters of the soul.

On either side of the Kannon stand much smaller images of the Bodhisattvas Nikko (Sunlight) and Gekko (Moonlight). These clay statues date from 746 and may actually represent the protector gods Bonten (Brahma) and Taishakuten (Indra), because they wear armor under their robes. Nikko and Gekko usually appear as companions of the Yakushi Buddha, but there is no Yakushi here. Besides these three, the hall is brimming over with other statues. It looks more like a storehouse than a hall of devotion. That is in fact what it is, as statues from other subtemples and halls of Todaiji, now destroyed, were assembled here over the centuries.

One image in the hall is only shown on December 16: that is Shukongoshin, the "Thunderbolt Bearer," a muscled guardian deity kept in a cabinet at the back of the altar. Because this strong god, carrying a vajra thunderbolt to destroy the enemies of Buddhism, has had so little exposure to light, the original colors are still left on his clay body. Shukongoshin was probably the patron deity of Roben, the monk who founded the temple.

Other great statues stand in the Kaidanin, the Ordination Hall, west of the Great Buddha Hall. This ordination platform was established in 754 by the Chinese priest Ganjin, but the present Kaidanin dates from the Edo period. It is even more quiet than the Sangatsudo. A set of four Heavenly Kings (Shitenno) dating from the middle of the eight century stands guard over the altar. The life-size statues, again made of painted clay, are very well preserved. They express a sort of balanced and tranquil power, which is more impressive than the extravagant gestures of the Twelve Kings in Shin-Yakushiji.

-One other building that has withstood the ravages of time in the Todaiji complex is the above-mentioned Shosoin, a log-cabin type storehouse where the treasures Emperor Shomu collected via the Silk Road from Central Asia were preserved. As if by a wonder (and because it stands to the back of the temple proper) the Shosoin has made it into the modern age and handed us its eight-century treasures for study and appreciation. A selection is shown once a year in the Nara National Museum.

Prayerwheel and stone lanterns at Nigatsudo

The Kannon of the People
Finally I climb the steps leading up to the Nigatsudo, the Hall of the Second Month. A Kannon hall, this is where the temple meets ordinary people. The Kannon is not on display, but I am sure it will be a compassionate one and not the Black Magician of the Sangatsudo. The Nigatsudo is the stage of the annual Omizutori event, originally held in the Second Month (now March). It is named after the ceremony of the drawing of sacred water from a well in the grounds of the hall, to offer to the Kannon, but the most impressive rite is held March 12. This is a Fire Festival that includes the waving of blazing torches from the hall's veranda, in fact whole trees set afire, sprinkling sparks over the crowd of worshippers below. This is not without risk: in 1667 the original hall burned down, ignited by flying sparks. During the ceremony, first held in 752, eleven monks, who have been in retreat for several weeks, on behalf of all people do repentance to the Kannon for greed, anger and ignorance - three vices that are still the blight of human society. It is also a festival symbolizing the arrival of spring. At this occasion, many people from Nara brave the cold night to visit the temple and receive the Kannon's blessing.

From the verandah of the hall, one has a good view of Nara, seen over the roof of the Great Buddha Hall. I stare at the town, which lies hidden in a haze. States are toppled, their symbols destroyed, and only the true Kannon, who lives in the hearts of the people, remains and still inspires us today.

Nigatsudo, the Second Month Hall