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will travel to hud it. Iney arc astonishing pedestrians and tireless pilgrims, and [ think they make pilgrimages not more for the sake of pleasing the gods than of pleasing themselves by the sight of rare and pretty things, for every temple is a museum, and every hill and valley throughout the land has its temple and its wonders. Even the poorest farmer— one so poor that he cannot afford to eat a grain of his own r[ce—afford to make a pilgrimage of a m mth’a duration; and during that season when the growing rice needs least attention, hundreds of thousands of the poorest go on pilgrimages. This is possible* because from ancient times it has been the custom for everybody to help pilgrims a little, aad they can ah WAys hud rest and shelter at particular inns which receive pilgrims only, andourslt; met of ra the lt;of hthis thou Qr% 11T! of Ita ve mucaspindaas aliveits cl rath'of Pawhere tbey are charged merely the cost blueof the wood used to cook their food. But multitudes of the poor undertake pilgrimages requiring much more than a month to perform, such as the pilgrimage to the 33 great tain pies of Kwan-non, or that to the 88 temples of Kobo-dnishi ; and these, though years be needed to accomplish them, are a3spinfidec of h acioi Britshordimthethenothing compared to the enormous blueSetiyqjh the pilgrimage to the 1000 temples of the Nichiren sect. The time of a generation may pass ere this can be made. One may begin it in early youth, and omplete it only when youth ia long past; yet there are several in Mafcsue, men and women, who have made this tremendous pilgrimage, seeing all Japan, and supporting themselves not merely by begging, but by some kinds of itinerant peddling.The pilgrim who desires to perforin this pilgrimage carries on his shoulders n small box shaped like a Buddhist shrine, in which he keeps his spare clothes and food, Ho also carries alittle brazen gong, which he constantly sounds while passing through a city or village, at the same time chanting the lSFamU'myo-ho-ren*ge-kyo; and be always bears with him a little blank book, in which the priest of every temple visited stamps the temple seal in red ink. The pilgrimage over, this book, with its one thousand seal-impressions, becomes an heirloom in the family of the pilgrim.Lworihis And of 1oartAsotnclouefcheA clmigto i evoiehaiSOU!Slt;pa isky shac and tkal no e its aandnoA
Newspaper Details
Milton Bruce Herald
Milton, Otago, NZ
Fri, Jan 22, 1892
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
JP 22 Jul 2020
Other Publications Near Milton, Otago
Milton Bruce Herald
