Maya Temple Visit

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Maya Temple Visit (Maya moode)

***** Location: Kobe, Japan
***** Season: Early Spring
***** Category: Observance

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Explanation

Maya moode 摩耶詣 (まやもうで)
visiting the Maya temple
..... Maya mairi 摩耶参（まやまいり）
Maya konbu 摩耶昆布（まやこんぶ）Maya kelp

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butsumo-e 仏母会 Ceremony for Buddha's Mother
observance kigo for early summer
May 8


Near the top of Mount Rokko in Ashiya, Kobe, on Mount Maya, there is a small temple dedicated to Maya, Mother of Shakyamuni Buddha.



Temple Butsumo Maya San Tooriten Jooji
仏母麻耶山忉利天上寺
Maya san Tenjooji 摩耶山天上寺 Tenjo-Ji

Tooriten is the name of a Buddhist paradise, where the deity Taishaku-Ten is in residence.

There are two famous statues, one of a Kannon with eleven heads and
one of the Mother of Shakyamuni Buddha 仏母摩耶夫人 (in the middle, below).


source PHOTO :　ruri no hoshi


At the time of Tenmu Tenno the priest Hodo Sennin 法道仙人 (hoodoo sennin) founded this temple
. . . CLICK here for Photos of Hodo Sennin !
空鉢（くはつ ） Kuhatsu
Karahachi Sennin 空鉢仙人（からはちせんにん）
"Mountain ascet with the emply begging bowl"
He came all the way from India, via Korea.
Together with him came the deity Gozu Ten-o 牛頭天王 (Ox-head Deity), who is celebrated at Shrine Hiromine Jinja 広峰神社 in Hiroshima and during the Gion Festival in Kyoto.


In former times, the local farmers around Mount Rokko 六甲山 came up here to the Maya temple ith their horses on the first day of the horse in the second lunar month and celebrated.
Nowadays it is celebrated on the spring equinox day in March.


People also came to pray for easy childbirth and health for the children and themselves. Maya is a guardian deity of women.



Maya konbu 摩耶昆布

As a speciality of this festival, konbu kelp on a string was sold. In former times it was transported on horseback.

The sound of Maya is said to remind the people of the sound of uma (horse), hence the strong relationship.



quote
Maya-san is one of the highest peaks around Kobe (2,446ft), commanding superb views across Osaka Bay. The mountain is a sacred site for Japanese Buddhism, and is associated with Maya Bunin, Mother of The Buddha. During the Meiji Period, the temple here, also known as 'Moon Temple', housed a small figure of Maya Bunin said to have been made by Order of Wu Ti during the Liang Dynasty era of the 6th century.
The sculpture was brought from China by Kobo Daishi. The annual festival of the Moon Temple took place during the 7th Day of the 7th Moon, an occasion during which the pilgrims ascended the mountain by night. Those taking part achieved the same merit as if they had made the ascent 48,000 times.
source : www.bonhams.com


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Festivals to honor the Mother of Budda

３月　春分の日 　摩耶詣 Maya Mairi

５月８日 　仏母会 Ritual for the Mother of Buddha
５月１５日 　仏母忌 Memorial Day for the Mother of Buddha

７月　初旬 　沙羅祭り Shara matsuri Sara Tree Festival 羅双樹

Festivals to honor Kobo Daishi

３月２１日 　正御影供
６月１５日 　青葉祭り his birthday
８月２１日 　夏弘法

More festivals
source : www.mayasan-tenjoji.jp


Homepage of this temple
http://www.mayasan-tenjoji.jp/


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mist over the gate
no one seen around,
a temple on the hillside

Hideo Suzuki



temple visits ...
familiar to my feet
in a dream

Dennis Chibi Holmes


clearing mist -
hillside temple's gate
wide open

Rosie Mann


- Shared by Hideo Suzuki -
Joys of Japan, July 2012






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A haiku by Yosa Buson, written at this temple:

菜の花や摩耶を下れば日の暮るる
na no hana ya maya o kudareba hi no kururu

rapeseed flowers -
walking down from Maya temple
it is getting dark


- - - - - Better known is this haiku by Buson,
also written at this temple


菜の花や月は東に日は西に
na no hana ya tsuki wa higashi ni hi wa nishini

rapeseed flowers -
the moon is in the east,
the sun in the west

. Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 in Edo .


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Maya on a Japanese stamp
The statue is at the temple Horyu-Ji


Maya Fujin, Maya Bunin 摩耶夫人
Queen Maya, Lady Maya
The mother of Shakyamuni Buddha
ブッダ（釈迦（しゃか））の生母


Queen Māyā of Sakya (Māyādevī) was the birth mother of the historical Gautama Buddha, Siddhārtha of the Gautama gotra, and sister of Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī the first Buddhist nun ordained by the Buddha. "Māyā" means "illusion" or "enchantment" in Sanskrit and Pāli. Māyā is also called Mahāmāyā ("Great Māyā") and Māyādevī ("Queen, literally a female-deva, 'goddess,' Māyā").
In Tibetan she is called Gyutrulma. Queen Mayadevi was born in Devadaha kingdom of Nepal.

Queen Māyā and King Suddhodhana did not have children for twenty years into their marriage. One day however, according to legend, Queen Māyā dreamt of a divine Bodhisattva on white elephant touching her side, and became pregnant.



Māyā gave birth to Siddharta c. 563 BCE. The pregnancy lasted ten lunar months.
Maya Devi was delighted by the park and gave birth standing while holding on to the branch of a sal branc. Legend has it that Prince Siddhārtha may have emerged from her right side. It was the eighth day of April.

Some interpretations of the life story of the Buddha attribute his birth to a virgin birth.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !



Mother Maya and Child, India




摩耶夫人像（まやぶにんぞう）Maya bunin
. . . CLICK here for Photos of Japanese Maya Statues !


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way


. Gozu Ten-o (牛頭天王) and the Gion Festival 　
Kyoto　


. Taishakuten, Taishaku-Ten 帝釈天 　
Indra, Sakra Deva　


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HAIKU


摩耶詣で筒の賽米鳴らしけり
Maya moode tsutsu ni saimai narashi keri

Maya temple visit -
rice offerings rustle
in the bamboo tubes

Yoshida Toyo (Tooyoo) 吉田冬葉 (1892 - 1956)


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摩耶像の慈愛のまなこ菊日和
Mayazoo no jiai no manako kiku biyori

this affectionate expression
of the Maya statue -
bright day for chrysanthemus

Tamura Aiko 田村愛子


. . . . .


秋涼や摩耶像の袖しかと見し
shuuryoo ya Mayazoo no sode shikato mishi

coolness in autumn -
I look carefully at the sleeve
of Maya's statue

Miyagishi Mie 宮岸美


source : haikukan.city


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Related words

***** . Rape blossoms (na no hana 菜の花) 　　


***** . konbu 昆布 (こんぶ) kombu kelp 　　



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