Zenrin-ji

• Established: 855, Shinshô sôzu
• Japanese: 永観堂禅林寺 (Eikandou Zenrinji)

Eikan-dô Zenrin-ji is a Buddhist temple in Kyoto's Higashiyama district, the head of the Seizan Pure Land Zenrin-ji sect.

The temple was founded in 855 when Fujiwara Kanyû turned over his private villa to Shinshô sôzu, a disciple of Kûkai, who converted the space into a temple.

A later head priest of the temple, Eikan (1033-1111), established a hospital called Tônan-in on the grounds of the temple. It is this Eikan after whom the temple's fuller name, Eikan-dô Zenrin-ji (lit. "Eikan Hall, Temple of Forest of Zen") derives. The temple's chief object of worship, an Important Cultural Property known as Mikaeri-Amida, is a statue of Amida Buddha, famous for its very unusual pose, looking back over its own left shoulder. A story tells that one day (supposedly 1082/2/15), while reciting nenbutsu, Eikan encountered Amida himself, who stepped down from the altar and began to walk ahead of Eikan. Stunned, Eikan failed to keep up, and Amida glanced behind him, admonishing him for dawdling.

The temple was founded as a Shingon temple, but the 12th head of Zenrin-ji, Jôhen (1166-1224), became a devotee of the teachings of Hônen, and appointed Shôkû, a direct disciple of Hônen, to follow him as head of Zenrin-ji. Shôkû then converted Zenrin-ji from Shingon Buddhism to Hônen's Pure Land sect (Jôdo-shû), and established it as the head of a new Zenrin-ji sect within Jôdô-shû.

Zenrin-ji lost many of its buildings to fire during the Ônin War (1467-1477), but from 1492 onwards, successive heads of the temple, including Kenryû, Yushun, Kôzen, and Hoshuku, led efforts to rebuild the compound.

Treasures

The temple's collections include over 60 Important Cultural Properties & National Treasures, alongside numerous other works. Some of the most famous or significant are:

• The Mikaeri Amida sculpture (Important Cultural Property)
• Gilt bronze lotus-shaped gong (Tang Dynasty, National Treasure)
• Painting of Amida coming over the mountains (yamagoe Amida zu, National Treasure)
• Painting of sixteen Arhats (ink & colors on silk, Kamakura period, Important Cultural Property)
• Painting of the raging sea on gilded paper, by Hasegawa Tôhaku (hatô-zu, Important Cultural Property)
• Painting of Shaka Trinity by Kanô Motonobu (colors on paper, Important Cultural Property)
• Painting of Shaka and Ten Disciples, attr. Zhang Sigong (color on silk, Important Cultural Property)
• Painting of Amida and Twenty-Five Bodhisattvas raigô (Important Cultural Property)
• Painting of Amida Trinity (Kamakura period, Important Cultural Property)
• Painting of Buddha entering Nirvana (nehanzu, ink and colors on paper, Important Cultural Property)
• Painting of Yakushi nyorai (ink and colors on silk, Important Cultural Property)
• Painting of Shaka and 16 good gods (Shaka 16 zenjin-zô, Important Cultural Property)
• Painting of Ten Worlds (colors on silk, Important Cultural Property)
• Painted door of 25 bodhisattvas raigô (Important Cultural Property)
• Reliquary (Important Cultural Property)
• Taima Mandala (1262, Important Cultural Property)
• Taima Mandala (c. 1213-1218, Important Cultural Property)
• Yûtsû nenbutsu engi by Tosa Mitsunobu (colors on silk, Important Cultural Property)
• Yûtsû nenbutsu engi kanjinchô (colors on paper, Important Cultural Property)

References

• "Zenrin-ji and its History," English-language pamphlet obtained on-site.