Gyoki Bosatsu

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Gyoki Bosatsu (Gyooki Bosatsu) 行基菩薩
(668-749 AD) Gyōki
Read his full biography below. Find KIGO at the end.

The great priest Gyooki Bosatsu is well known for his activities at the construction of the Great Buddha of Nara, 奈良の大仏.


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The "Great Priest" Gyoki was born in Osaka with Korean background and took Buddhist vows at age 15, entering Asukadera in Nara, the oldest temple in Japan founded in 569. Though started as an official priest employed by the government, he was not satisfied with the Buddhism then prevailing in Japan. It was solely for the peace of the state and welfare of the court nobles, not for the masses.
He quit the job in 704 at age 36 to propagate Buddhism for salvation of the suffering people and to practice philanthropy, making a pilgrimage mostly in Osaka and Nara areas. Not only did he give a hand to the sick, the poor and many others in distress, he also contributed to social welfare building roads, bridges, irrigation reservoirs and other civil engineering, and helped construct a number of temples.

Gradually, he earned fame as a Buddhist and philanthropist. Back at the time, Emperor Shomu (701-756) was reigning Japan and he had a plan to construct a great Buddha statue in Nara. The project was so huge that state funds alone were not enough to cover the total cost. The emperor asked Priest Gyoki to help raise funds. Accepting the emperor's request, Priest Gyoki immediately began fund-raising campaigns. Thanks to his fame and philanthropic activities, enough alms were collected soon afterward, and in 752 casting the Great Buddha statue we see today at Todaiji was completed.

Unfortunately, he had passed away just before the consecrating ceremony for the statue took place. Without his self-sacrificing efforts, the colossal statue would not have probably been constructed. In praise of the priest's achievement, the emperor conferred on him the title of Dai-sojo, or the Great Priest, the highest rank given to priests.
In addition, people called him 'Gyoki Bodhisattva'. The priest had two honorable titles: the official Dai-sojo and unofficial Gyoki Bodhisattva. Priest Gyoki is also reported to have helped build Sugimoto-dera in Kamakura, although evidence suggests otherwise.
www.asahi-net.or.jp/~QM9T-KNDU/Hinatayakushi.htm
http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/monju.shtml#gyoki

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Quote from Mark Schumacher

Monju Bosatsu
(Sanskrit Manjusri Chinese Wenshu Tibetan Jam-dpal)

He who is noble and gentle. Monju is the embodiment of wisdom. Images of Monju were introduced into Japan by Chinese monks who, during a voyage to Wutaishan, learned that Manjusri was reincarnated in the person of the Japanese monk Gyoki, and so went to Nara in 736. One of these monks, Bodhisena (Japanese Bodaisenna), succeeded Gyoki as director of the Buddhist community of the Todai-ji (Nara) in 751 or 752. In turn, another monk named Ennin traveled to China to Mount Wutai in the year 840, during a journey that lasted nine years from 838 to 847, and brought back scriptures and images of this Bodhisattva.
http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/4-compassion-bosatsu.shtml

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Enoki Shrine , Osaka

The temple's grounds contain a hackberry nettle tree more than 800 years old. The tree was said to be a manifestation of god, and a temple was built in its honor. The number of worshippers increased sharply every year, and the temple was officially established as a religious body in April 1952. The following year, a new hall of worship and shrine office was built.

Horakuji is situated within the grounds of the Kuwazu Cemetery, which originated with the sage Gyoki Bosatsu; the grounds are slightly elevated and are thought to be the remains of an ancient burial mound.

http://www.city.osaka.jp/higashisumiyoshi/english/attract/attrac05.html

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Miyamotoji 宮本寺、佐渡

The temple had been established on 1084, there are four principle statues in this temple. One of this, Jizo-Bosatsu, made by Gyoki-Bosatsu, is known to us as "Yakuyoke Jizo", the literally means, to avoid devil. It is allowed to disclosed only once of 33 years and the last opened year was April 1987. Now, apprix. 1500 kinds of cactus are growing up in the site, therefore, this temple is sometimes called, "cactus temple".

http://sadotemple.jp/miyamotoji/miyamotoji_04.html

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Hot Springs and Gyooki Bosatsu

Two of the most well known priests associated with hot spring bathing were Gyooki-Bosatsu and Kooboo-Daishi (Hotta, p.20). Gyooki (668-749), a Buddhist monk, was director of construction of the Great Buddha at Nara's Todai-ji temple. It is believed he brought out healing hot water from rocks throughout Japan (Grilli, p. 110). Todai-ji-Nigatsu-do (the February subtemple) is the religious building built over the main spring that supplied the temple with water.

The priests performed omizutori, a ceremony for cleansing the Buddhists with water. It also served as a bathhouse for monks. (Grilli, p. 52). Kooboo Daishi (774-835), it is said, was also able to bring forth water from rocks. Seeing sick and dying beggars, legend says he would strike a rock and healing water would rush out (Grilli, p. 110).

Read a great article about hot springs by Mendy Nitsch
http://www.k-i-a.or.jp/ts-report/m-report/m-report.htm

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As for Shibu onsen has been told to have discovered by the Gyoki-bosatsu at the Nara period. Sep 10,1561 The battle of Kawanakajima had occored and Shibu onsen were the grounds for medical treatment of many soldiers who've got damaged.
At that era, Ichizaemon, the first master of Kokuya, who had handled rice store,taking advantage of this opportunity, opened a travelers hotel,and it has resulted soon, obtaining a visitor's patronage since then. It is the 16th generation in this present Master.
KOKUYA Shibu Onsen,Nagano

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The Clear Water in Shichimi Village

Many years ago Gyoki Bosatsu (a Buddhist priest) was training himself around Japan.
One day he was walking in Muraoka town. There is a stream near old Kasanami pass in Muraoka. He took a rest there and drank it. He said,“It's tasty! This has seven flavors,it tastes like nectar.”

Since then this clear water is called“Shichimi Clear Water.”And people in town enjoy drinking through many years.
http://www2.nkansai.ne.jp/sch/muraoka-jh/ohaeng01.htm

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Read about a statue made by Gyoki at Nozaki.
Nozaki Pilgrims, Japan (05)

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Gyōki, Bodhisattva of Japan (668-749) A biography of the life and legacy of the Bodhisattva Gyōki .. © by Ronald S. Green For more than a thousand years, the Japanese Buddhist priest Gyōki has been well known for his seventh-century charitable religious activities. His biographies and hagiographies tell that not long after the “official introduction” of Buddhism into Japan, Gyōki roamed the countryside propagating the teachings together with farming techniques to oppressed people hungry for both. His activities, in defiance of secular law, were carried out in a time when the government maintained strict control of Buddhists by confining them to temple grounds for academic study. With supporters outside the capital swelling to thousands, an imperial edit was issued against his actions and Gyōki was arrested. This tactic backfired as a government attempt to quail the growth of Gyōki's hero status among the non-aristocratic population. As a result the government reversed it's stance toward Gyōki and he was awarded the rank of High Priest (Daisōjō). Meanwhile, among the masses he became known as the Bodhisattva Gyōki (Gyōki Bosatsu). Subsequently, he became the first person in Japan to be awarded the title Bodhisattva by the government as an official rank. Throughout Japanese history, Gyōki reappears in literature as an archetype of both a man of the people and as a shaman-priest. The most famous of Haiku poets, Matsuo Bashō, wrote of Gyōki in his seminal work Narrow Road to the Deep North. The Chinese graph for chestnut consists of west and tree and is, therefore, linked up with the Western Paradise of Amitābha (J. Amida). This is why the Bodhisattva Gyōki all throughout his lifetime used the wood of this tree both for his walking stick and for the pillar supports of his house. Men of the world Fail to see its blossoms: Chestnut of the eaves. Bashō’s literary conception of Gyōki follows the often-portrayed image of his predecessor. Since at least four hundred years after Gyōki’s death, when he was further immortalized in the Miraculous Tales of Japan, typical features found characterizing his persona as seen in Bashō’s words include, 1) much walking and living among the people as opposed to being confined to temple study as the government of his day would have it, 2) fervent belief in Amida’s Paradise in the West, 3) the blend of shaman-like powers and Buddhism as with his ability to perceive the true nature of things, in contrast with the vision of “men of the world.” These qualities may explain his popularity and even the worship of him in the Kamakura period, over five hundred years after his death when such an image would be revered. Yet, from biographical and physical evidence dated earlier, researchers now question at least the latter two components of his popular image, if stopping short of the more radical suggestion that his entire biography could have been fabricated. Nevertheless, if Gyōki’s faith in the saving powers of Amida was grossly exaggerated and if his life was not a blend of shamanism and Buddhism, the emerging portrait of him as propagator of an earlier or 'more pure' form of Buddhism is even more appealing to a modern audience. The early national histories of Japan clearly indicate the government’s position on Buddhism at the time Gyōki lived was that it offered to their disposal a magical potential that could be harnessed for economic, political and healing powers. Writings such as the Nihon Shōgi and Shoku Nihongi leave little room for doubt that this accounts for the official interest in Buddhism and controlled support of its study and practice. Nevertheless, besides being perceived as an uncontrolled spiritual power, Gyōki may have been imagined to present, his arrest was likely related to reports of huge gatherings of rural people he was organizing. This was seen as an imminent political threat to the instable power of the capital. Gyōki’s reported behavior centers on building hostels, opening farm lands, constructing irrigation systems and other charitable activities aimed at improving life for a large number of people. This emphasis does not tell of a tendency to rely on magic or the saving power of another (tariki [1] ) as seen after Gyōki’s time in the esoteric Buddhist movements of the Heian period and the Pure Land traditions become immensely popular afterwards. For this and other reasons, researchers have suggested the possibility that the Buddhism Gyōki propagated may instead be seen to represent a tendency toward rejection of the notion of magic Buddhism embraced by the government, as well as their scholastic studies. In addition, Gyōki’s Buddhist master was master Dōkyō, who first propagated the Hossō (Sanskrit: Yogācāra) tradition in Japan. Many aspects of Gyōki’s charitable projects are easily understood in light of the content of Yogācāra texts that Dōkyō is known to have imported from China and taught in Japan. Viewed in this way, Gyōki’s was a mass movement against the government's insistence on magic and scholastic study by Buddhists. Instead, like the historical Buddha Shakyamuni, Gyōki emphasized Buddhist practice, stressing charity work. Saichō, the famous Heian period founder of the Japanese Tendai Buddhist tradition, praises Gyōki for these very qualities and seeks to emulate his lifestyle. Gyōki’s place in the history of Japanese Buddhism has been insured for centuries by hagiographies and literary works disseminating the image Bashō upholds. If, however, recent scholars are correct in assessing the nature of his form of Buddhism, Gyōki’s role in the history of Japanese Buddhism has not only been mistakenly categorized but also likely underestimated. Regardless, a fabricated image persisting in various usages a thousand years is no less influential. It is the task of the present study to familiarize the reader with portraits of Gyōki's life. Because of the importance of legions about Gyōki for both the history of Japanese Buddhism and that to Japan in general, while this study points to modern scholarship and sometimes interprets Gyōki’s actions for a Yogācāra perspective, it also introduces the most influential legends of Gyōki. In order to better explain the activities of his life these are framed within the context of Japanese history and the history of Japanese Buddhism. [1] To contrast Buddhist traditions, the historian Gyōnen used the classifications jiriki (salvation by means of one’s own efforts) and tariki (reliance on the powers of another for salvation). According to the argument above, Gyōki’s Buddhism should be classified as jiriki in contrast to the tariki of Pure Land Buddhism. http://bodhisattvamail.org/gyoki.htm

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..... ..... ..... Kigo for Gyooki

Gyoki Memorial Day, Gyoki Bosatsu Ki 行基菩薩忌
..... Gyooki-ki 行基忌

Visiting the Gyoki Memorial Temple,
..... Gyooki moode 行基詣, Gyooki mairi, 行基参
..... According to the modern calendar on April 2 - 3. Kigo for late spring. In the old lunar calendar, it was the second day of the second month, February.

The Gyooki Memorial Hall at Temple Koyadera
昆陽寺（兵摩県伊丹市）
Gyooki founded this tempel and made the statue of the healing Buddha, Yakushi Nyorai, by himself.

Gyooki-Doo 行基堂



http://hirotaku.web.infoseek.co.jp/temple/syakushi/syak19.shtml

行基忌　昆陽にはいまも　池多く

Gyooki Memorial Day -
At Koyadera even now
there are many ponds

Oohashi Oohashi
大橋櫻坡子（おおはし・おうはし）
Saijiki for Buddhist Events 仏教歳時記


In Memory of Gyooki Bosatsu, we also have the kigo of
Nozaki Pilgrimage, Japan (05)



Zenbonzuki 千本搗 Ceremony of preparing 1000 rice cakes
.....at the temple Mizumadera in Kaizuka, Osaka（大阪府貝塚市水間寺）
. . . CLICK here for Photos !
水間千本搗餅つき Zenbon mochizuki, Sembon Zuki


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WASHOKU ... Japanese Food SAIJIKI



Alphabetical Index of the Daruma Museum World Kigo Database

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