Temple's ceiling holds blueprint for life
By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Religion & Ethics Writer
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Shingon is among the most esoteric of Buddhist sects, with elevated concepts that cannot be explained with short descriptions.
It follows, then, that Reyn Tsuru, president of the Shingon Shu Hawaii Betsuin, offers a fairly lengthy and detailed explanation of the meaning and importance of the Sheridan Street temple's new ceiling mandala.
The mandala, or mystic diagram, is "a blueprint, a visual representation of how the cosmic Buddhas and their servants assist and cooperate with each other," he said.
This one is a womb mandala; Shingon also have a diamond mandala.
"The womb mandala, which depicts interrelations between all the Buddhas and Dianichi Nyorai, is supposed to give a practitioner a sense of who the Buddhas are, how they matter to us," Tsuru said. "The womb world is closer to us, and the diamond is strictly for the priest. That's why we chose the womb world (mandala) for the ceiling."
In addition to the spiritual and philosophical meanings of the mandala, it is an impressive physical representation:
This process makes the painting vibrant, with colors that can't be duplicated with modern paint, Tsuru said.
"The life span of the paint is 200 to 300 years," he added.
For example, "If you wanted protection from an ill wind of the eastern side, then Amida Buddha, who is depicted there, has his servants to protect you or your home, so when you're doing your prayers for home and family, you'd visual Amida Buddha in that mandala scheme," Tsuru explained. "If you pray to that particular Buddha, you'd defeat the ill winds coming from that section."
Why on the ceiling? Some Buddhist temples place mandala on the ceiling so blessings shower down on followers. Tsuru hopes for something a bit more ... shall we say ... interactive.
"When the congregation and visitors are sitting in the pews and look up, they can have a nice visualization of the mandala," he said. "... We wanted to bring the Pure Land that much closer to our members. What we want for them is to realize each person has their own guardian Buddha; (we) hope they connect with that Buddha by having a representation close to them. ... The mandala is receiving a lot of the energy from people, too, so there's more give and take."
The commissioning of the mandala is just another in a long line of artistic endeavors by the sect, whose artwork was featured in a once-in-a-lifetime exhibit in 2002 at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.
The mandala project was in the making even before that exhibit, Tsuru said.
It won't be their last acquisition, either. The next project is already being commissioned through the same Nagoya craft house, with work being performed by one of Japan's designated "national treasures."
"We're going to build two 12-foot statues out of cypress of the thunder god and the lightning god," Tsuru said. "They're curing the wood right now. It takes two years."
