Buddhist Temple Names in Japan

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    Buddhist Temple Names in JapanAuthor(s): Dietrich SeckelSource: Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Winter, 1985), pp. 359-386Published by: Sophia UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2384822.

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    BuddhistTempleNamesin Japanby DIETRICH SECKELA THOUGHthenames fmany uddhistemples,r igo , are ncon-stantuse among Japaneseand Western tudents f Japan'shistory,religion, nd art,theynever eem to have been made the subjectofsystematicesearch,not even,as faras I know,by theJapanese hemselves.(Thereexists,however, short nd not entirelyatisfactoryrticle n igo inMochizukiShinko,ed.,Bukkyo Daijiten,9, pp. 307f.)Just s Christian hur-chestaketheirnames mainly rom hemultitude f saints nd otherholyper-sons (according o their atrocinium), rom he body of theological oncepts,such as Trinity,Holy Spirit,Sacred Heart, etc., and, less frequently,romother spheresof religiousthoughtand devotionallife, so manyBuddhisttemples renamed after acredpersons nthe pantheon' Buddhas,bodhisatt-v.as, etc.) and importantdoctrinalterms.But in addition an astonishingnumber f templenamesrepresentitles f scripturessutras)and theological

    or philosophicaltreatises, se symbols nd metaphors, xpressgood wishesand auspiciousomens,orare takenfrom itual nd devotionalpractice s wellas fromlegends and local traditions.As even this short and provisionalenumerationhows,thevariety f nametypes s muchgreaterhan t s in theChristian tradition; t is further nrichedby naming a particularlyargenumber ftemples fterhistorical ersonswhowere heir ounders rpatronsor to whose memorynd spiritualwelfare hetempleswere dedicated.Thus thecorpusof templenames and there rethousands f them, howinga bewildering iversity)s embedded n the system f Buddhist hought, ult,and religious ife on the one hand and in the fabricof Japanesepolitical,social, and cultural history n the other.The variety,freedom, nd evenarbitrarinessn namingthe templesare enormousand call for clarificationand classification.THE AUTHOR is ProfessorEmeritusof EastAsian Art History at the UniversityofHeidelberg.A more comprehensiveresentationf thematerial nd discussion f pertinentroblemsis published in the author's BuddhistischeTempelnamen n Japan (MunchenerOstasi-atische Studien 37), Franz Steiner Verlag,

    Stuttgart,1985, which includes a specialchapterdevotedto the technicaltermsusedfor thedifferentypesof temples nd monas-tic institutionsas opposed to theirnamesas such). In the presentarticle only a fewisolatedexampleshave been selectedfrom heapproximately ,300 templenames analyzedin thebook.

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    360 MonumentaNipponica, 40:4This introductoryssay willprovide,after ome generalremarks, surveyof themain groups of templenames in typologicalorder, llustrating ach

    of themby some examplesselected from much greater tock of availableones. Inevitablythe picturepresented n this sketch shows the rich andvariegatedmaterial n undue simplification.We have to exclude or to reserveforfurthertudy he specific easons, occasions, motives, nd circumstancesthat ed to the choice of a particular emple'sname, thequestion of regionaldistribution f names throughout apan,and the possiblepredilection or er-tain namesortypes fnames ndifferenteriods.Also excluded s, of course,anyattempt t providing tatistics; uite a number f namesare found onlyonce, othersmore or less frequently,nd some in theirdozens or even hun-dreds.The questionof whether rnot and to whatdegree ectarian ffiliationsoftemplesmanifest hemselvesntheir ames sbriefly iscussed.So also is theproblem f the mportation ftemplenames fromChina; theirnumberwouldappearto be muchsmaller han one would expect.Categoriesof TempleNames

    Official ames. What we call templenames jigo, jimyo #t) is usually onlypartof the full nameof a Buddhist nstitutionstablished oth formonasticlife and for the performance f ritual, thus embracingthe meaning ofmonasterys well as temple. For convenience ake, however, temple' s thepreferredermnWestern anguages.Normally uch an institutionji, tera )has a longofficial amemade up of three omponents: he mountainname'(sangorU-"),he cloistername' (ingoR- andthe templename'proper san-in-jigorR- For example,Chotoku-sanKudoku-inChion-jiAM, 1R),k (Mountain of Long-Enduring Virtue, Cloister of Religious Virtue,Temple/Monastery f Awareness of [the Buddha's] Grace). Another m-pressive example is Shiun-san Shoju-in Raigo-ji (Mountain of Purple[=Auspicious] Clouds, CloisteroftheSacredHost, TempleofWelcome-theBuddha Amitabha (Amida), accordingto the Pure Land doctrine, ppearswith multitude f bodhisattvas n clouds to receive hepiousbelieverntohisholyrealm.Butlogicalor self-evidentemantic onnections etween hethreecomponents f a temple'sfull, fficial ame,as in this ase, arerare, nd moreoften hannot their ombination eemsarbitrarynd difficulto explain.Before concentratingn our mainsubject,the igo, a fewwordsaboutthetwoothernamecategories, hesango and theingo,are in order.Sango. Evenwhen ocated on levelground, nvalleys r intowns,Buddhisttemplesare called 'mountains' (san, -zan OA) ecause originally heyweremountain etreats frecluses,hermits,ndmonks, ndbecause the olitude funinhabited nd remotemountainswas felt o be a numinous phere.Certainmountainshave a cosmologicalsignificance,nd the Buddha is reported ohave preached on sacred peaks, most prominentlyhe Lotus Sutra on

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    SECKEL: Buddhist Temple Names in Japan 361Vulture's Peak (Grdhrakuita). he altar or dais for Buddhist mages repre-sents Mt Meru (Sumeru, J. Shumi-sen j,Li), the central xis of the worldaccording o Indian cosmology, nd is therefore alledshumi-danQTffl. hefounding r consecrating riest f a templeperformshe act of OpeningtheMountain kaisan M A) nd himself s called the kaisan.Being basically topographical, he mountainnamesare also used as or in-stead of personal names, especially n Zen circles.For example, the monkWen-yen J. Bun'en) t)1K, iving n themountain etreatr monastery n Yun-men-shan J. Unmonsan)fUY1LLJMt Cloud Gate) was popularly alled MasterYtin-men J. Unmon); several Japanese templeswere named Unmonji afterhim or his Chinese monastery. his usage, of course,was taken over fromChina; forexample,whenthe eminentmonk philosopherChih-i J. Chigi)V0, 538-597, eceived hehonorary itle f T'ien-t'ai Ta-shih J. Tendai Daishi)X-lvtft,he was called after he sacredpeak in Chechiangprovince, nd thename of thismountainwas subsequently ransferredoone of themost nfluen-tial sects as well. In the present hort urveywe have to omit the mountainnames almost completely, or otherwise he scope of the materialwould bedoubled.In many cases, althoughbyno means regularly, here xists semantic e-lationship between the sango and the igo, and a few examples out of aconsiderablenumber f typical onnections regivenbelow.Ruriko-sanYakushiji fU% iS: Ruriko=Radiance of JewellerySkt.vaidurya) s an alternative ame forYakushi NyoraiViji4p, theHealing Bud-dha. Muryoju-san aihoji dEUW15: inthe WesternRegion reignsAmida(Skt. Amitayus), heBuddha of Immeasurable ife. Chfidai-san ainichiji @=LLJ7HEY:ainichiNyorai Vairocana) occupiesthe Central Lotus) Terraceof the GarbhadhatuMandala. Gokoku-sanShitennojiT,LI4I: theFourLokapalas (Heavenly Kings) are worshipped as Protectorsof the State.Hokke-san chijoji i'L-#: theOne-and-OnlyVehicle wayto salvation)according o the Tendai school (to which hetemplebelongs) s expounded nits fundamentalext, he Lotus Sutra Hokke-kyog*).

    Sometimes hetwo elements repersonalnames: nMyoyfi-sanokyutji1I1utS, the sangOgives the posthumous or Buddhist name (hogo -) of thefounder'smother nd the igo thatof his father. ixedrules,however, r atleastacceptedhabitsof choosing nd combining ango and igo didnotexist.Ingo. Originally he term n denotedan enclosure, precinct of a palacecompound,forexample) and, by analogy,a cloisterwithin monastery.nthis atter ense twas appliedto temples as Byodo-in+1R atUji) ormainlysub-templesas Daisen-in t{WSRithinhehugecompoundofDaitokuji 7inKyoto).Alternative ut essfrequenterms re -anX and -bo t, while doV, normally onfined o singlehallsorchapels,can sometimes esignatemalltemplesor sub-temples.As usual in East Asia, the name of a house orresidencecould be transferred o the personresiding here;the most con-

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    362 Monumenta Nipponica, 40:4spicuous cases are the names of CloisteredEmperors(-inor oko ? r; inseirfA,heruleof retired rcloisteredmnperors).lso prominentre thenamesofnoble court adies residing n precinctswithin r outsideof the palace; forex-ample, Higashi-Sanjo-in&?:1, named after he mother f Emperor chijo

    -X. In theBuddhist phere, hemostnumerous ndpopular n-names fper-sons are the hogo, religious names adopted eithier uring the lifetime rgrantedposthumously see p. 383, below). They are often denticalwiththenames of templesfounded by thesepersons,dedicatedto theirmemory ndsalvation, restablished s their amilies' anctuaries, or xample,Jisho-inP, forAshikagaYoshimasa ,fIJ, founder f Jishoji, nd Soken-in/ji%R/, for Oda Nobunaga EmA- and his family t Azuchi.What concernsus here,however, s the use of inas a component f templenames. Usually it occupies the second place between ango and jigo. It canreplace i when a templeprecinct ose to great mportance r became an in-dependent stablishmentfor example,Byodo-in),but mostoften t s appliedto small sub-temples, r tatchuJ;df, ttached to a inain temple whose fullname normally ontains a differentngo as componentpart. For example,Rinzo-inWAR withinthe compounds of Koryo-sanKeiden-inShitenno-ji3Rt41- R &A. Examplesof the semantic onnectionbetween his attertypeof ingo and the igo were mentioned bove, as also some instances f aclose connection mong all these components.Jigo.Bothsango and ingo, although mportantndmeaningful artsof thefull,officialemplenames,arenot, and neverwere, n general veryday se,and areevenunknown omostpeople. Everyone allsthetemples y theirigo(or, in special cases, by their ngo-whenthesetook theplace of thecurrentname). The igo may thus be termed heirprincipalname. In some cases thecharacterfor i l is pronounced tera (in compounds,often -dera), mainlywhen heternple ameproper s an indigenousJapanesename,as inHase-dera}A?S and Tachibana-deraSE, orwhenan unofficial, opularname betsugoV'-1y, esshoSI]#, zokusho {4, tsusho At) is usedsidebysidewith heofficialjig6Unofficialor Popular Names. These occur most often among thetopographical ames forexample,Asuka-deraF Asakusa-dera - orin the case of temples named by some conspicuous featuresor famouscharacteristics;or xample,Koke-deraW theMossTemple,forSaihoji -WYr% inKyoto,orGinkakujiVX,Y theTempleof theSilverPavilion,whichhard-ly anyoneknowsbyitsofficial ame of Jishoji As thesetwoexamplesshow,both-ji and -tera -dera) maybe used inthesepopular names, naccor-dance with ither heSino-Japanese on -) ortheJapanese kun j1)pronuncia-tion. But templenames incorporatingteraare not invariably opular ones;Ishiyama-dera i+,, theTempleof theRocky Mountain, s an official ame.

    Not infrequentlyt s the sango that s usedas a popularname,such as Shigi-san OAUor hecomplicatednameChogosonshijiN+ff'. In another ype

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    SECKEL: Buddhist Temple Names in Japan 363ofpopularname thetemple s simply alledbv itsprincipal tatue honzont4), as in the case of Asuka-Daibutsu A1k,{fiorGangoji iW in Yamatoor Narita-Fudo ;WT- forShinshojiW-, orbythename of an eminent er-son who founded the temple, resided there,or whlose omb is located intheprecincts. or example, kkyutji t-- is namedafter hefamousfifteenth-century en masterwho livedand was buried n thetempleofficiallyalledShuion-an P,6 .

    Jigo: Form and MeaningVariety f TempleNames. The numberof temple names is enormous andseems almost chaotic since the chioice fnamewas left o a personor a groupof people responsibleforthe foundationor restoration f thetemple.Thischoice often ppears to be even arbitrarynd as a consequence we are con-frontedwith heresult f a remarkable nventiveness.fficial uthorities ereinvolved nly nthecase ofcourt- rgovernment-sponsoredemples.Therichvariety f names is due to the fact that Buddhism had no unified hurchorganizationwith central cclesiastical uthorityra dogmaticallyixed oc-trine.Even theso-calledsects, convenient utmisleading erm hatperhapsshould be replaced by 'denominations'or 'schools', had a relativelyooseorganization, ach sub-divisionha rp)or even each individual emplebeingmore or less independentn itsmanagement.Whether r not there xisted,alongwith hisgeneralfreedom nd autonomy, ome sortofauthority ithina sect, school, or group of temples ssuing egulations r approbations or henamingof temples emains o be clarified. here were,however, pecial casesin whichan emperorgranted templename (choku-go#h).Sincetheredidnot exist canonicalorgenerally cceptedbodyofapprovednames, anyone beingfree o inventnewones, a particular amemay possiblyoccuronly once,whileothers refound nseveraldozens or evenhundreds fcases. Some names ortypes fnames,ofcourse, reextremelyopular,main-ly those of the large Jodo or Amida sects or thoseconlaining henames ofgreat bodhisattvassuch as Kannon or Jizo. But manynames are highlyesoteric, ntelligible nly to the initiated.Still others are derivedfrom n-dividual names of livingor deceased personswho are not knownbeyondalimited ircle.The variety ftemplenameswith heir olychromaticpectrumsfurthern-creased and a comprehensiveurveymade stillmore difficultythe factthattemplenames were often hanged kaisho&Vi', aimy6o) in the courseoftheirhistory.A specialmethodofrenamings thereplacementf one or twocharacters f a namebyotherswithdifferenteaning ut dentical ronuncia-tion homophonic hange), s inSaihoji fli# > - orDaigoji MM-7> iRXt, a templenKyushu.Bythismethod templenamemayeasilybe adaptedto the doctrine f another ector to some newpurposeor situatioi.

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    364 MonumentaNipponica, 40:4Linguistic orm of TempleNamesa. BinomialCompounds.The normalform ftemplenames s a binomial om-pound plus -ji/-tera or sometimes in) in the Sino-Japanese on) version.Usuallythesecompoundsare based on theChineseBuddhistvocabulary sformulatednthe translations fthe sutras nd other exts nd in thetreatiseswritten y the greatChinesemasters nd theirJapanese followers.Typicalexamples are Engakuji F5S,, Myoshinji J Byodoin. Most Buddhistnamesand terms re coined nkeepingwith heSouth Chinesepronunciation(go-on l showing ertain eviations rom he tandardkan-on reading(for example,kudoku IJu, insteadofkotoku). Itgoeswithout aying hat hegrammatical nd logicalrelationships etween he members f thesebinomialcompoundsfollow he rules and theambiguities) f theChinese anguage. nquitea fewcases the twocharacters re moreor less interchangeable,o thatSaikoji li and Kosaiji i Fukuryuiji 3 and Ryuifukuji , standside by side, oftenwithoutany appreciabledifferencen meaning. Nameswithonlyone character lus -ji or-tera re rare,mostof thembeingJapanesenamesof ocalities, uildings, lowers,nd the ike,used as popularnames, uchas Oka-deraFAlorKoke-dera, r evenas officialnessuchas Tachibana-dera.In exceptional ases one-character ames are used beside the normal,officialnames, as inToji # (EasternTemple)forKyoogokokujiRT-gJWS,Yndicat-ingits location in theeastern ection of Heian-kyo. Three-membered amesare not quite so rare, occurringmainly n names of a holy beingor a doc-trinaltermconsistingof threecharacters Amida rjTr, Muryoju 4-,jobodai t haramitsu9W).b.Transliteration f SanskritTerms.Haramitsu,mentioned mmediatelyabove,is theSino-Japanese quivalent fSanskrit aramita, nd is an exampleof the frequent honetictransliteration,irst nd basically nto Chinese (ir-respective fthemeaning f the character sed) and then akenover ntoSino-Japanese on'yaku H 'translation y sound'). Further xamples reMonjut9ij forManjushri,makayaVnpgNormahayana, odaiEX forbodhi, ndshitchi P for siddhi. Many of these transliterationsre shortened r evenmutilated ybrutal mputation f syllables o such a degree hat hey ecomeunintelligible ithout ecourse o their anskritform ryaku-on'yakuW ,'abbreviatedphonetic ranslation').For example,Bonshaku t,, forBrahmaand Shakra Indra),derives romBontenXy and Taishakuten,;V mani #Pt orcintamani; unda WrforpundarTka. he samephenomenons found nthe nnumerable ransliterationsof foreignwords fromEuropean languagesand theirmutilations urrentnmodernJapanese for example,rangakuM, Dutchor Western tudies ntheEdo period, s the abbreviation orOranda-gakuTh(J)M ). Thismethod,ngeneraluse sinceearlyTokugawa times,was merelyn adaptationof a time-honoredChinesepractice o other anguagesand fornewpurposes.

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    SECKEL: Buddhist Temple Names in Japan 365For the transfer f Sanskritwords into Chinese and Sino-Japanese womethodswere used side by side: transliterationy sound (phonetically)nd

    translation y meaning semantically).Thus there s Amida (fromSanskritAmitabha/Amitayus)nd Muryoko/Muryoju'ImmeasurableLight/Life'),or hannya AQt (fromprajna) and chie *ug=wisdom. All this is reflectedinJapanese emplenamesthatdrawtheir erminology rom heentire, ast re-pertory f Indianand East Asian Buddhistvocabulary, dding ntheprocesscertainnew,indigenousnames and termsmainlyfrom hestock of Japanesepersonaland topographicalnamesor from hetreasury f legend nd lore.c. Kun-on Change. A specificallyJapanesephenomenon, mpossible notherlanguages, is the replacement f the purelyJapanesepronunciation(kun)ofChinesecharacters r of indigenouswords and namesbytheir ino-Japanesereading on). This exchangeoccurs mainlyamong templenamesderived rom opographical rpersonalnames names,that s,ofnon-Chineseand non-Indianorigin),resultingn seemingly ureChinesebinomialnames.For example,a templefoundedby a certainKi no Michinari#d:S; is calledDojoji :J (evoking the Buddhist concept of jodo AA3-i,erfectionofEnlightenment,ccomplishing heWay); a placecalledTatsu-no-Kuchi ro(Dragon's Mouth), transposedto its on form,furnishes he templenameRyuikoji4ii . It can evenhappenthatthetwocharacters retakenfrom henames oftwodifferentersons:a templefoundedbyFujiwaraMichiaki*;Agq ndTachibana Sumikiyo%& is calledDochoji - (michi=do, sumi=cho). Oftenthemeaningof suchartificial ames s strange r evenobscure.d. ContractedCompounds. The final inguistic orm ftenused in namingtemples s thecontracted orm.Froma long term rname,consistingffourormorecharacters, sually wo arepickedoutandcombined ocreate handybinomial ompound,after hepatternABCD (AB-CD) > AD orBC, etc.Forexample,thenameof Hommanji *i't, enigmaticwhentakenbyitself, s acontraction f the termhongan-manzoku W,fiF, CompleteFulfillment f(Amida's) OriginalVow, and Shogo-in - is contracted romhftai-gojiMA4, Protection f the (Emperor's)Holy Person. These contractionsftenresult n binomialcompoundsthat are not to be found n anybutthemostspecializedbuddhologicalorhistorical ictionaries,nd oftennoteventhere.It is hopeless o try ounderstanduchnamesexceptbyrecourse o their om-plete,originalforms.But othernames aretime-honored,ong-established embers ftraditionalChinese Buddhistvocabulary; for example,hokke (in Hokkeji )

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    366 MonumentaNipponica,40:4Another orm f charactermanipulations thehomophonic hangemention-ed above. A third ne is the additionof character lements: huigenji IJrf+ s

    based on theon-pronounced amily ameNakahara rV, _ C huigen), hich orcertainreasons was complemented y the radicals 4 and f without lteringthepronunciation. fourth ne is thebreaking p of a characternto tspartsto form binomial temple name: Mokuboji IThe, taken fromWume ndreferringo Umewaka-marufLA, whose tragic story s the subject of thecelebrated ohplaySumidagawa. ften uch manipulated ames do not makea greatdeal of sense when takenat face value.Interpretationf TempleNamesa. VariousApproaches.When interpretingemple names,we first ave toestablish ts iteralmeaning-a task not always so easy as it may first eem-and to identifyt as the name of a holy being,of a historical erson,or as aterm fdoctrine r ritual, tc. semantic nterpretation). second approach sto investigate he particular ircumstances f the temple'sfoundation nd thereasonsfor hechoice of tsname-who founded, nlarged, r revived he em-ple, what egend, ocal tradition, r socio-political ituationwere nstrumentalinnaming t contextual nterpretation). third, ften ndispensable pproachis to bring hetemplename nto relationwith heprincipal bject of cult hon-zon) and themountainname (sango),bothofwhichoften,butby no meansregularly, ffer clue to the name; or to consider he temple's ffiliation ithand servicefor a certain ect,its doctrine, ult, symbolism,nd devotionalpractice functional nterpretation).In usingtheseapproachesorperspectives e have to define hecontext, heconceptual ndterminologicalfield' nwhich certainname orterm, s usedin a templename, acquiresa specific ense or nuance:the otus ntheAmidacreedhas a different eaningfrom hat nNichiren eaching, heWestmeansone thingn Amidism nd another nZen; forexample,Sairaiji i (Com-ingfrom heWest,that s,Amida's comingfrom hePure Land to receive hepious believer) s opposedto Sairaiji Bodhidharma'sComingfrom heWest,that s, to China, the nception f the Ch'an/Zen tradition).Oftendue regard o chronological equence helpsus to avoidthepitfalls fanachronism.Apparentconnectionsbetween emplenames and certainper-sons mayturn out to be impossibleforchronological easons.Manynamescannot appear earlierthan a specificdate of politicalor religioushistory;honorarycclesiastical amesposthumously ranted ohigh-rankingriests yan emperor suchas EnkoDaishi q-j-jK forHonen&t) were ften onferredlate in history,n Honen's case in 1697; thusany templecalled Enkoji andfounded before that date cannot have been named afterHonen. All thesemethodsof interpretationre, of course, nterrelated, utually omplement-ingeach other.

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    SECKEL: Buddhist Temple Names in Japan 367b. HistoricalStratification. hen templenames are seen n due perspective,they howa sort of 'historical elief'or stratificationn thattheybelong to a

    differentge andgo back tovariousphasesofreligiousife nd thought. omnebelongto the early, nitialstage of Japanese Buddhism,others ppear suc-cessivelyn the courseof later developments; ome representtimeless'con-cepts, uchas enlightenment,nd maybe found talmost nytime.Others, nthe otherhand, are dependent n certain pecific vents nd cannot appearearlier han a definite ate, for xample, hose of the esoteric chools mikkyi)?t) and of Amida, Nichiren, nd Zen. In each of thesephases, graduallysuperimposedike layersor strata,we find n templenames the conceptualfields'mentioned bove. Their origin n certain anonical texts, asic for hedifferentchools of thought,requires special attention; uite a numberofterms ppearing nnames turn ut to be titles f or quotationsfrom utras rtreatises fperhapswidely ivergentges and religious ystemssee below, pp.372-73). In our typographical rrangement f temple names we constantlyhavetopay attention o thishistorical tratificationn cases where hesenamesappear sideby side on the common plane of semantic ategories.c. Semantic tratification. nother ype f stratifications found within' n-dividualtemplenames;that s, theremayexist everal ayers f meanings ndsemantic spectsor of overlapping ontexts nd functions. ne and thesamename may have to be interpretedn diverseways according o its being con-nectedwithdifferentchools of thought, ystems f symbolism,egends boutthetemple'sfoundation r the miraculouspowerof itshonzon,or with hename (often posthumous) of a historicalperson. Such a temple name maytherefore ave to be classifiedn morethan one typological ategory, utinpracticeone of these various aspects, or 'layers', s found to be the primaryone, predominantlyesponsible orthetemple's name.A templemaybe calledafter priest'sname thisbeing he primaryayer',the mmediatemotivefor hoosing hisparticular amefor hetemple), ut attherootofthemonasticname may ie a doctrinal erm.Alternatively,tmaybe themountainname sango) of themonastery here hatpriest eceived isordination r wherehe resided, husat the same timebeing a topographicalname (oftena Chinese one); or a temple may be called afterthe title ofa religious treatisethat, in turn, may have political overtones.Or theposthumousname (hogo) of a believer, sed as a templename,can be a termof devotional ife;or theera name nengo) given o a templemayoriginallyebased on a good omen or an auspicious legend. The classification f templenames by systematic ypes,therefore,s oftenfar fromeasy because manyof them utthrough wo ormore ayers f meaning. n an overall urveyt sobviously mpossibleto analyzethesestratificationsn each particular ase,but awarenessof thisstructural rinciples often ndispensable ora correctinterpretation,hichshould neverbe a mono-dimensionalne.d. SectarianAffiliation. s mentionedbove, templenameshave often obe

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    368 MonumentaNipponica,40:4interpreted ithin he contextof a certain chool of doctrinal hought ndreligiouspracticeand within ts semanticfield, but it would be wrongtoassumethat clear,strict, rnecessaryonnection f nameand sect nfact x-isted.Often,of course,thelink s obvious,mainly n the case of theAmidasects,for xample,Honganji* Raigoji*5i, Gokurakuji , Rensho-ii , etc. But quiteas frequentlyhe inkmaybe doubtful rmisleading.Manyterms sed intemplenamesare generally alidbeyond ectarian orderlines,beingbased on fundamentalnd universal uddhist oncepts rcontain-ingnamesofpopularholy beingsand famouspatriarchs.Also, entire etsoftermsmay havebeen nheritedyone sectfrom nother;Tendaiterms, or n-stance,manyof them taken fromthe Lotus Sutra,were ncorporatedntoNichiren/Hokkeeaching.Many templenameshave sourcesotherthansec-tariandoctrinalor devotionalterminology; or example, legends,politicalideas (protection f the state and emperor),good wishesand omens,placenames,names of historicalpersons,etc., so thattheir ect affiliations notclearly hown n theirnames.And evidentlyn not a fewcases peopleresponsible or hetemples idnottakeoffensewhenthe namewas more or less inappropriateo or even ncom-patiblewiththe creedof their ect.This happenedwithparticular requencywhenever templewas transferredrom ne sect o anotherorevento a thirdsect)without hangingtsname kaisho).Or,viceversa,when emples hangedtheirnameswithoutpassingover to othersects.All thismayoften ead usastray, nd whenever ossiblewe have to go back to the initial ituation norder o avoid error.On the changeof templenames-kaisho, kaimyo,eep.363, above.)e. Translation.ranslationof templenamesis often precarious ask. Inmany ases,of course, t s unproblematicecausemeaning ndcontextreob-vious or easy to ascertain,forexample,whenwell-known olybeings,doc-trinal erms,ymbols,wishes nd omens,or ocalities, reconcerned. utevenwithin hesecategorieswe findmanynames and terms hatcall forcarefulinquiry,and in such cases the authoritativeJapanesebuddhological en-cyclopedias remosthelpful. n additionthe meaning f othernames s am-biguous or maybe understooddifferentlyn differentontexts.We have tobearin mindthattemplenames haveoften o be interpretedccording o thecorrect layer', dimension, r field f meaning, s explained bove. It wouldnot makesense,for xample, o translate certain emplename iterally henitturns utto be thenameof an era,orof a figureppearingna sutra, rofahistorical erson possibly n on nsteadofkun eading, s notedabove). Forinstance,Jogyoji L4 has to be understoodas based on the name of abodhisattvaVishistacaritaSuperiorConduct),mentionedn the LotusSutra,of whomNichiren,1222-1282, xpectedhimself o be a reincarnationn anafter-life.Not infrequentlyhegrammaticalnd logicalstructurefthebinomial om-

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    SECKEL: Buddhist Temple Names in Japan 369poundforming templename maybe uncertain, llowingdivergentnterpreta-tions and translations. articularly horny roblems rise whenever namebelongsto the contracted ype,mentioned bove. It oftenhappensthatnewcompoundscombiningwocharacters aken from longer erm r phrasedonot form logical, easilycomprehensiblenit, nd there xist uitea numberof templenamesthat eemtobe completelymeaningless r eadus astray fwedo not realize theirnatureand origin. f, for example,we were to translateKontaiji iv as 'Temple of the Golden Womb', this obvious nonsenseshould warn us to look for the correctmeaning: Temple of the DiamondWorld (kongokai ij) and the Womb-StoreWorld (taizokaiMK)',represented y the famouspair of mandalas. Many such contracted ames,and others s well, require n explanation rparaphrase ftheir riginal ndunabridgedmeaning, ncludinghiddenallusions. It is quite futilefrom hestartto attempt o translate hose names and termsthat are nothingbuttransliterations f Sanskrit words by Chinese-Japanesecharactersusedphonetically, egardless f theirmeaning.

    TypologicalClassification f TempleNamesTemple names have been arranged n the following equence in ordertoclassify heirvastnumber nd bewildering arietyn a reasonableand com-prehensibleystem:1. Names of holy beings numina)2. Titles of scripturessutras)and treatises3. Basic conceptsof doctrine4. Terms of ritual nd devotionalpractice5. Symbols nd metaphors6. LegendsThe above groupsof specificallyeligious erms refollowedbymore ecularconcepts:7. Wishes forgood fortune nd auspiciousomens8. Motifs of Chinesemyth nd symbolism9. Era names nengo)10. Wishes forthe welfare f theemperor nd nation.While most of theabove categories re of a general,partlyBuddhist largelyoriginatingn India) and partly ecularcharacter,valid also in China andKorea, the finalgroupsbelow have a specifically apaneseflavor nd a higherdegreeof regional ndividuality.11. Names of historical ersons,clericalor lay12. Localities and their raditions13. Conspicuous features o whichcertain emples we theirfame.An appendix,p. 385, below,refers o names mported romChina.

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    370 Monumenta Nipponica, 40:4In thisbrief urveywe can supply nly few ypical xamples or achoftheabove typesof name,having o pass over n silencemanyhighlynteresting,

    unusual,sometimestrange, nd even enigmatic ames.For a fuller resenta-tionthereader s referredo the studymentionednthenoteonp. 359,above.Our main source material is found in compendia containingseveralthousandsof temples,giving heirnames,history, uildings, reasures, rin-cipal cult objects (honzon), legends, and festivals.The two most usefulreference orks reNihonShaji Taikanand ZenkokuJiinMeikan; lesscom-prehensives Koji MeisatsuJiten thefulltitles f theseand otherpertinentworks re supplied nthebibliography,. 386,at the nd of thepresentrticle).These compendiahave utilizedoriginaldocuments,whichtherefore o nothaveto be consultedforour limited urpose.As regards henamesthat re not self-evidentr explicable y using hedataassembledin these books, a greatnumberof excellentJapanesereferenceworkson language,history,nd religion realso available,someof which relisted n thebibliography. speciallyuseful s the small but comprehensiveBukkyoJitenbyUi Hakuju (its abridgedEnglish edition,Japanese-EnglishBuddhistDictionary,is much less satisfactory).Hobogirin and Soothill1Hodous, Dictionary fChineseBuddhistTerms, tandoutamongtheWesternbuddhological eference orks. n several asesmore pecialized iteratureadto be consulted.1. Names ofHoly Beings Numina)Manytemples re called after heusual namesof theBuddhas,bodhisattvas,etc.,notonly n a directmanner, ut also indirectly yusingspecialdesigna-tions oftenveiling heir dentity.a. Buddha (nyoraiPji*; tathagata).Shakyamuni'snameis seldomused forentire emples, lthough ften n thecase ofchapels,for xample, haka-doWAV, and even he itleBuddha' wasunpopular. n fact, nly wotemples am-ed Buddaji or Butsudaji {Lt exist.The titledoes appear,however,nmanycompositeformsdesignating ismetaphysical ature nd merciful race seebelow,3a). As a morecommon erm or heBuddha, nyorai s preferred;hereare severalNyoraiji JIE, togetherwithRinnojiW--J Wheel-Turninguler=cakravartin) rDaiyuiji t (Great Hero). The most mportant yorai refound,eitherby director indirectnaming, n the following emplenames:Shaka-inVAR (shortforShakyamuni), esonji t?> (The HonoredOne intheWorld),and Zenzeiji AEX (He Who Has Gone theRightWay=sugata).Amidaji 14Jt (short for Amitabha/Amitayus),Muryoji, Mury-okoji,Muryojuji (i,4)# (ImmeasurableLightor Life), Saikoji (Radiancefromthe West). Yakushiji i1X (Bhaishajyaguru)and Tokoji 1Yi (Radiancefromthe East, whereYakushi's Pure Land is situated)or Joruriji(Pure Crystal; ruri is abbreviatedfromvaidumrya,mysterious ubstancerelated o the HealingBuddha). Dainichiji-)kH (Vairocana; sometimesnthe

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    SECKEL: BuddhistTempleNames in Japan 371transliteratedorm f Birushanaji j1) and Henjo(ko)ji j (y)' (Shin-ingThroughout he Universe).

    b. Bodhisattva bosatsu Ef). In additionto the largenumber f templeswithdirectbodhisattvanames,suchas KannonjiZ (themostfrequentfall, occurring 40 times),Jizoji P1L&, Mirokuji- and Monju-in-ZY*rthere realso examples f indirect aming.ForKannon Avalokiteshvara), efind Daijiji )t? (Great Compassion), Senjuji f#X (Thousand-Handed),FudarakujiVjrLg4 (MtPotalaka, Kannon's abode on thewest oast of India;transliteratedanskritname). Miroku Maitreya) s referredo in Rytigeji/-ineUX/1EfortheDragon-FlowerTreewill be histree of enlightenment,or-responding o Shakyamuni'spippala tree.Less famousbodhisattvas ppear in names such as Jogyoji see above, p.368) or Myokenji4?P , referringo the stargod of the GreatBear (or Nor-thernDipper), who accordingto the honji-suijaku tPh2i theory s the'trace', or manifestation,f Myoken's original'or 'fundamental ntity'; rbothformshe grantsgood fortune nd long life,and protects hestate.c. Vidyaracjamyoo MTE). he mostusual forms ound n templenamesareeitherthe genericterm,as in Myooji, or the currentnames of individualWisdom Kings,as inFudoji/-in b/E orAizen-in Q . Thegroupof theGreatFive appears in Godai-in Ikj, shortforgodaimyoo.d. Deva (ten uk).ShitennojiVYTFEYin shortened orm,Tennoji) is calledafter heFour Devarajas governing nd protectinghe four quarters f theuniverse.Of the ndividualgodswefind nlyVaishravana,Kingof theNorthand bestower f riches, n Bishamon-dO t1UJV (transliteratingis Sanskritname),whileTamonji/-in / is a hybrid f phonetic endering-vana >mon) and semantic nterpretationsingtheexplanatoryharactert,,ormon;as he is believed o listen agerly othe Buddha's sermons e is called He whohas heardmuch'. His consort,Kichijo-tenShrimahadev ),hegoddessofhap-piness,enjoysgreatpopularity eflectedn many temples alled Kichijoji orKisshoji 1Bonshakuji ? a forcedcombinationof Bonten-Brahmadeva andTaishakuten Indra(Shakra, ransliterateds Shaku)-deva,hasbeenmention-ed above, p. 364; onlyTaishakuji is found ndependentlys a templename.This and manyother xamples llustrate general ackof or indifferenceo asystematicnd consistent rocedure n creating nd selecting emplenames.From amongthemoreobscuredeitiesMyojo maybe mentionedinMyojo-inWMIR).He is themorning tarand a prince esiding herein,t the sametimebeing an incarnation keshinIL4) of the greatbodhisattvaKokuizofVR(Akashagarbha: Treasuryof Empty Space). The popular and ambiguousDragon Kings,protectors f the Buddha, his teaching,believers, nd sanc-tuaries, nd also bestowers f rain,furnish wholegroupof templenames,suchas RyuiojieiF, Ryfitenji , and Tenryuji .e. Shinto Deities (kami P$, gongen tV). The syncretisticonji-suijaku

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    372 MonumentaNipponica, 40:4theorymade possiblethenaming f Buddhist emples ven fter hintodeities.There is a Tenshoji R featuring he name of Japan's highestnumen,Amaterasu-OmikamijkV$ in on pronunciationTensho Daijin). She wasinterpreteds a manifestationf Vairocana Dainichi=Great Sun, or HenjoIlluminator f theUniverse).A popular figureppears nKoshinji I re-ferring o the complicated monkey lore and symbolism. Most Shintonames,-however,are those of rather obscure, local deities; for example,Tateyama-Gongen ZLUY#,the god of a mountainrange n centralJapan,gavehis namein on reading o Ryuizanji LL.f.Disciples and Patriarchs,mainly he Ten GreatDisciples judaideshi tMT) and the 16, 18, or 500 Arhats rakan 1, are to be distinguishedromnormal,historicalmonks and dignitaries wingto theirhalf-historical,alf-mythical haracter. ometemples recalledRakanji or GohyakuRakanji iiW-,Y but nonebythe ndividualnameof a singlerakan.From amongthe ten disciples of the Buddha, there s only Kashyapa (inKasho-in ) provided hat hisname does notstandforKashyapa,the m-mediatepredecessor fShakyamunin the ine of theBuddhas of thePast. Inthecase ofZen temples he reference o Shakyamuni's reatdisciple, he firstto graspthewordlessmessageof Zen, seemsmoreprobable. Bodhidharma(thetransliterations shortened o Daruma), of course, gave his name to anumber f Zen temples Darumaji/dera ) From among the famous n-dianphilosopher atriarchs,wefind nlyNagarjuna,venerated s thefounderof esoteric mikkyo) teaching, n translatedform:Ryuijuji E (DragonTree).2. Sutras nd TreatisesA smallgroupofnames s based on the titles f famous criptures,utsincemanyof them ontaingeneral erms fdoctrine,herelation o specificexts snotalwayscertain; n somecases, however, t seems at leastprobable.a. Sutras. DoubtlessDaizokyoji 1 refers o the Great SutraTreasury(theBuddhistCanon) andMitsuz6-inWAR tothatof EsotericTeaching.Sincelegendstell of the Mahayana Canon being guarded in the Dragon Palace(ryugi ) at the bottomof theocean, there s a templenamedRyuizoji M+, a contractedform of ryuguno kyozo , Sutra Treasury n theDragon Palace.Individual utra itles ppearinDai-Amidaky6ji ,Th# (Templeof theGreatAmidaSutraorSutras), ndinHokkekyoji ndHokkeji ( (Tem-ple of the Lotus Sutra), showing contractionfthe sutra'sfull itleMyoho-renge-kyoAjffiX#, translating addharma-pundarTka-stitra.nothercon-traction fthesametitle s found nMyorenji, naccordancewith hepatternAB-CD > either D orAC. ABD are combined nMyohokkeji.ShomanjiJ&* referso theShoman-gyoShrTmala-devT-simhanCida-sutra),textonwhichShotokuTaishi lectured; homanji inOsaka was foundedbyhim.

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    SECKEL: Buddhist Temple Names in Japan 373b. Treatises.Hekiganji X a Rinzai Zen temple, vidently wes ts nameto the famous Zen classicPi-yen-lu,J. Hekigan-roku, , Record of the

    Emerald Cliff,1125, whileDentoji T# is named after heequally famousDento-roku if the religious ct as such of Transmittinghe Lamp, that s, theZen traditionhanded down through many generations f patriarchs ndmonks, s notmeant). From tsfull itle,Ching-te h'uan-teng-lu, . KeitokuDento-roku, M TAy,ublished n 1004 ntheChing-te ra,thetemple ameKeitokuji took the Chinese era name, which has no counterpart mong theJapanesenengo.Ankokuronji n expressly refers to a major treatise writtenbyNichiren, Rissho Ankoku Ron v En=6k, Treatise on EstablishingRigh-teousness or he Peace ofthe Country,whileRisshoji utilizes hefirst,nsteadof thesecond, partof the same title.3. Doctrinal Termsa. Nature of Buddha and Bodhisattva.The ontological ermbuddhata, Bud-dha Natureor Essence, is used literallyn Busshoji {L1, whileother emplenames expressthis dea in a more abstractmanner see below, d.), such asBusshinjiL#, which t the same time tandsfor he Buddha's Heart fullofcompassion.From thesemantic ield fawakening, nowledge,ndenlighten-ment bodhi) are derivednames such as Daikakuji tZ#, Shogakuji i(sambodhi), and Engakuji, meaning Great, Right, or Perfect ('round')Knowledge,respectively.rajna, the Sanskrit ermfor nsight r wisdom, sphoneticallyrenderedin Hannyaji #tE and semantically ranslated nChiekoji , here combinedwithko, 'luminescence'.Fromamongthe ThreeBodies (trikaya)nwhich ll Buddhas are thought oexist, only the two highergrades are found in temple names: dharmakaya(Body Absolute) nHosshinji ;-#, andsambhogakaya Body of Compensa-tion orReward) nHojinji , the atter ameoften eferringoAmitabha,thesambhogakaya par excellence.Nirmanakaya Body of Accommodation,that s,to the empiricalworld) appears only ndirectlynnames uch as Shooji1?c+, Accommodation f theTrueEssence,tantamount o its manifestationin the historicalBuddha Shakyamuni.Names such as Jionji x,X or Jigenji# contain term pplying o bothBuddhas and bodhisattvas, ompassionateGracebeingone of their redomi-nantvirtues.Othersuse terms pecific o bodhisattvas,uchas theSix Perfec-tions (paramita, literally, Reaching the Other Shore, that of nirvana),transliteratednd supplementedwith henumber six' inRoku-haramitsuji,g+. The two highest f 52 stagesof the bodhisattva's piritual areer,togaku 49 (insight equal' to that of the Buddha) and myokaku04g('sublime' insight) re coupled in TomyojiX44E.

    b. Pure Land Terms,usuallyreferringo Amitabha'sParadiseintheWest,arepopular ntemplenames such as Jodoji + andGokurakuji PureLand

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    374 Monumenta Nipponica, 40:4and HighestJoy),but they lso appearin a moregeneral ense nButsudoji l.?# andBukkokuji41HA;since nyBuddha issupposedtoresidena realm fhis own,thisgroup ofnamesmay be considerednterdenominational.nnojip>+ refersoenno-do .X;, therealmwhere hePerfect'round') Reality fthedharmakaya accommodates' nirmana) tself o theempiricalworld, hatis, where heabsoluteBuddhamanifests imselfs Shakyamuni.On theotherhand, there s a groupof Shingon temples alled Mitsugonji WC aftermi-tsugon 6do, Pure Land of MysteriousSublimity, hat is, the realm ofVairocana,thedharmrakaya.c. The WaytowardSalvation, calledthe RightEightfold ath (hasshddoAiL6) appears in two abbreviatedforms:Hasshoji J@:FVand Shodoji E-after he patternABC > AB and BC. Contrary o expectation, ot all oftheeight ndividual erms re used in templenames,an ilitListrationf thefact,mentioned bove, thattemplenamingwas freefrom hefetters f stringentsystematization.heredo exist,however,RightConcentration n Shojoji iEYandRightView freedom rom llusion) n Shokenji KYX. Thebasis of theWay,dharma, s representedn Shoboji ?- (saddharma)orBuppoji {I2(buddha-dharma). hochi-in E-Y meansCorrectKnowledge,Jochiji W-Pure Knowledgegained by following he Way, whileZenchi-in4WR andKanchi-inAWR denote wisdomobtainedby meditation.Enlightenmentbodhi) is represented irectly, ytransliteration,nBodaijitMX, Shobodaiji iEtM#TestimonyfEnlightenment),ndJobodaijiAI&+ (Perfection fEnlightenment). Chineseequivalent,wu,J.go, satori,Fh,appears in Goshinji iXA (Awakening o True Insight).Othertranslations,suchas chiV orkakuA, areoften ound s components ftemplenames.Thefinalgoal of nirvana,however, s never ndicateddirectly y theusual termnehan &- (a transliteration), or by the alternative ranslationmetsu0(nirodha: annihilation, uppression),butby paraphrasingt with erms romthe semanticfieldof quietude and silence,often ntensifiedy the idea ofstillness, s in Jakujo-in&R, or that of light,as in Jakkoji . Anequivalentfor nirvanacurrentn Zen circles s found n Myoshinji, ublimeHeart of Nirvana nehan myoshin); his s identicalwiththe Buddha Heart(busshin), nd is a quotationfromChapterSixof thebasic Zen textWu-rnen-kuan, J. Mumonkan, Smm;his Buddha or NirvanaHeart or Spiritwastransmittedbytheheart rspirit' ishindenshin 21L? ). as foundnDenshinji

    'To becomea Buddha' or to complete heWay' is expressednJobutsuji XIL and Jodoji ; while the centralphilosophical onceptof theMiddlePath, transcendingll conceivablealternativesnd dichotomies,s found nChfudoji .The GreatVehicle mahayana) s transliteratednMakayaji 1 the -nabeingdropped, nd translatednDaijoji . Thisvehicle, ypreferencen-terpretedn East Asia as a boat orferryseebelow, p. 379), s differentiateds

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    SECKEL: Buddhist Temple Names in Japan 375'superior' in Jojoji ?*eY and Saijoji ;K, 'round' or 'perfect' in Enjoji P9, 'true' in Shinjoji , and 'unique' in Ichijoji - (ekayana).As an essentialmethod eading o salvation, eachings likewise escribed s'round' inEnkyojiF'j, or excellent' nZenkyoji k ina general ense.Diverse schools of thought, uch as Amitabha teaching,may be specified s'western', s in SaikyojiNR7k,Yr 'pure', as in Jokyoji k withreferenceto thePure Land of the West.d. MetaphysicalConcepts. Basic Buddhist ermsdenoting ltimate ealityand true essence of all existence ccur in manytemplenames. For example,Busshoji (Buddha Nature,buddhata), Jisshoji%1t?PAnd Jissoji%tB, (TrueNatureof Things, tathata),or Shinnyojift, Shokfiji (Voidness ofUltimate Reality), Hokkaiji j (Dharma World, dharmadhatu),andHosshoji 't~1? (Dharma Essence).Two important erms,mainly f Tendai thought, re found n EnnyujiP-1k+ and Byodoji/-in / Ennyu means perfect 'round') fusion or in-terpenetrationf all severally xisting henomena with the underlyingruerealitytranscending ll differentiation;yodo (sameness, samata) likewisestands fortheuniversally qual and impartial ruth eyond nd embracing lldiscriminationsshabetsu oku byodo J byodosoku shabetsu).e. Concepts of IndividualSchools ('Sects'). Quite a numberof doctrinalterms pecific o certain chools of thought ccur ntemplenames,but we canmention nly a few exampleshere. The Amida or Pure Land schools, as wehave seen,call theirdoctrine hat of the West as in Saikyoji), the Rinzai Zenschool that of the South (in Nanshuiji ) Most prolificwithin hisgroupare the Jodo (Pure Land) and the Hokke/Nichiren chools. As regards heformerwe find he central erm anXo vow) inmany ombinations:Gankyoji1@ZE Honganji, Ganjoji 1O;,Y Ganshoji RLT#, that is, Doctrine of(Amida's) Vows, FundamentalVows, Vow Fulfillment,romiseof Rebirth.Ojo tT (Rebirth n the Pure Land), found n Ojoji, is cut short o sho inSaishoji l (Rebirth n theWest) or RenshojiM4LY (Rebirth n a LotusFlower). At first ightnamescontainingmon r (to hear) in binomial com-

    pounds are somewhat nigmatic, orexample,Mommyoji Montokuji1+,, MonshinjiFHt+. These refer o the formula f some ofAmida'svows:'He whohearsmyname mommyo) hall receive toku)faith shin),' or someotherreligious irtues nd blessings.Othernames describe hebeautyof thePureLand, suchas Rendaiji Z (Lotus Platform rSeat) andHojuji qIrt1t(Jewelled rees).Namesreferringo Amida's Comingfrom heWest Sairaiji)and his Comingto Welcomethe Believer Raigoji) enjoy greatpopularity.The Hokke School terminology, argelybased on Tendai philosophy,centers n two basic concepts:one is hon, forexample n Hommonji cTh(Main or TrueGate), that s, to Real, Original nsightHongakuji &A), tobe distinguished romprovisionaltruth shakumonamr), nalogous to themedievalhonji-suijaku heory f origin' and 'trace'. A parallelpairof terms

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    376 Monumenta Nipponica, 40:4is kenand itsu found nKenjitsuji0%Y: onceprovisional 'open, manifest')truths grasped,real or genuine ruth hinesforth s well sincebothare in-terdependent.The secondbasicHokketerm,myo41Psublime,beyondnormal omprehen-sion) owes itspopularity o thetitleof theLotus Sutra:Myoho RengeKyo(Saddharma-pundarTkautra),thebibleofall Hokkedevotees, nd itappearsnot only in Myohoji 4?j, but also in various shades of meaning, s inMyohonji4t, Myokenji , and Homyoji j24M.Specific en namesarenotso numerous.The famousgreat emples uchasDaitokuji,Eiheiji 7 Engakuji,Kenchoji SAN, andNanzenjiX#, bearnameseither fgeneral,unspecificignificancer of a differenton-Buddhistsemantic ategoryKencho,forexample, s a nengo). Some names,however,could not have been used by othersects. Sairaiji (Bodhidharma'sComingfrom heWest)refersothebeginningfthepatriarchalradition.Myoshoji41P,# (WondrousSmile) evokestheinitialmoment f Zen whenShakyamunisilently eldup a flower,nd Kashyapawastheonlydisciple o indicatehis n-expressible nderstandingnd insightsatori)bya mere mile nengemishot&t); thereuponthe Buddha spoke of the Nirvana Heart (see above:Myoshinji).Jikishi-ant (DirectPointing otheTrueSelf)andKenshojiQI?E~ (therebyeeing heNatureorEssence)arequotationsfrom basicdictumepitomizing en thought nd experience.4. TermsofRitual and DevotionalPracticea. Ritual. In additionto certainnames containingwidely cceptedsymbols,mentioned elow,suchas kongo IJ, there xists typebased on terms on-nectedwithritualperformances:heTrueWord (mantra) n Shingonji ,orthe acredformula dharanT) nSojiji , Jinjuji , andJimyoji , 1+, the astnameatthe ametimedenoting neof the reaswithinheTaizokaiMandara (GarbhadhatuMandala). An unusualcase is Akaiji(-dera)WTbwW,'FountainofHolyWater' aka transliteratingrgha).Mostnamesofthis ypeoccurwith heesoteric mikkyo) ects.

    b. MonasticLife andReligiousTraining. ermsdesignatingmonasticnstitu-tions are found,forexample,in Angoji J forin early Buddhismtheitinerantmonkswere allowed to seek 'quiet shelter'onlyduringthe rainyseason (one of the originsof the Indian monastery).Another example isToshodaiji , the famoustemple n Nara foundedbytheT'ang monkChien-chen, .Ganjin,P , in 759: To (= T'ang) isattached oshodai ch ao-ti)which,by way of transliterationnd contraction,goes back to Sanskritcaturdesha-bhikshu angha)- '(congregation f monks from)thefourcar-dinal pointsof the compass'. Strictlypeaking,this is not a templenamebut a technicaltermfor a monastery,with-ji used pleonastically.Also inKokubunji WXh$, esignatinghetypeof provincialgovernmentemples ftheeighth entury,nd in Jingfiji , temples ttached o Shintoshrines

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    SECKEL: Buddhist Temple Names in Japan 377according o the syncretisticonji-suijakudoctrine.Both of theseexamples,however, lso occuras templenamesproper.

    Religious rainingna general ense sspokenof n names uchas Dairenji ?R (GreatDiscipline)orKanjujiN Y EncouragementfTraining).Thefun-damentalexerciseof meditation ppears in severalvariants:Zenjoji Wjoins two terms for meditation,dhyana and samadhi (this latterterm,transliterateds sammai, soften sedin names uchas Kongo-Sammai-in I,7t4);Shojoji IES emphasizesRightMeditation s the last stageof theEightfold ath; and Kannenji Kandoji gN, and ShOkanji EWY takethe termkan (intuition, ontemplation) rom he same semantic ield.c. Devotion. We can present nlya small selectionfrom hemultitude fnames relating o the religiousattitudes nd activities f the devotee.TheAwakeningof the Heart, the resolveto followtheWay of the Buddha, isfound n Hosshinji , theAwarenessof and Gratitudefor his Grace inChionji/-inW8W/1R.he semantic ield freligious cts,centered n the ermgyo j, is covered by such names as Kudokuji jt (MeritoriousActs),ShogyOji E4ThYRightActions),Gyoganjif1@ (shortfor hingyohinganffiL'@: actsof thebodyandvowsof theheart).Fuku m is anotherkeyword nthisconnection. t does not simplymean 'good fortune'but ratherbliss';paired with knowledgein Fukuchi-inVt1E and withvirtueor merit nFukutokuji S, it acquiresa deeperreligiousdimension. incevirtue ndgood deeds are likened o a fieldwhere he fruit'of enlightenmentnd bud-dhahood isgrowingndripening, efind ven henameFukudenji gFHEl. heidea of the transfer r 'turning ver' of religiousmerit o othersfortheirspiritualwelfare ppears in Eko-in Hi1Ri.Invocationand contemplation f the Buddha's, primarily mida's, holynamebeingthemostwidelypracticeddevotional ct,thetworelevant erms,sho and nen,form broad semantic ield n whichare found namessuchasShomyoji t (Calling the Name), Shonenji (Invocationand Considera-tion), Nembutsuji,ILX (Contemplating he Buddha), and Sainenji i(ContemplatingheWest,whereAmida's paradiseis located). As theseactsare all-importantnd specific orAmidadevotees, hey recalled special' or'unique': Senshuiji : (Sole or Special Practice),Sennenji3 (ExclusiveContemplation), nd Senshoji3 (Exclusive nvocation).The conceptofvowsforthebenefitnd releaseof all otherbeings, s pro-claimedbyAmida in his forty-eightows,playsan important olein templenamessuchas Hotsuganji1 (ResolvetoTake a Vow),Gangyoji RealizeaVow), and Manganji 1f+ (Fulfill Vow).d. Tradition ndPropagation.Traditionsusually xpressed ydenX, as inDemboji j (Transmission ftheLaw; also inthereverse orm f Hoden-ji), Denjoji (Tradition f theVehicle,yana), and Shodenji i (RightTradi-tion).Which particular eaching s considered o be the trueone dependsonthe sectto which certain emplebelongs.Propagationofthe Law is a highly

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    378 Monumenta Nipponica, 40:4meritorious ct and hence found nmanynames--HOryuiji1@ (Prosperityof the Law) and KoryuijiZ4 (Propagationand Prosperity) eingthe mostfamous examples.5. Symbolsand MetaphorsCommonBuddhist ymbols nd metaphors re found n templenames uch asSambo-in 1 (Three Jewels, riratna)ndHorinji Wheel of theLaw, dhar-macakra). Some of thesedesignate he Buddha by his distinguishing arks(lakshana, o t), appearingnByakugoji b (WhiteCurl, theUrna etweenthe eyebrows), horenjiH (Blue Lotus, the Buddha's eyesbeing aid to bedeep blue),andChoonji 4 (Thunder f theRisingTide,a simile orhis all-pervading,world-awakening oice,otherwise omparedwith he ion's roar).Phenomena connectedwith ight re widelyused to express nlightenmentand theradianceof wisdom nd grace, he keywordsko X~,myoMJ,ndsho Pappearing in many names, such as Bukkoji {LX9 (Buddha's Radiance),KOmyoji (Light and Effulgence), okoji tW (Emissionof Radiance),and Jishoji Luminescence fBenevolence).A cognate ymbol s gold, whichnot only because of its lustertranscending ll the differentolors but alsoprimarily ecause of its immutabilitytands for theglory,permanence, ndperfectionf AbsoluteReality nd Truthpersonifiedn the Buddha's goldenbody and halo. Konshinji , (Golden Heart) symbolizesthe absoluteessenceunderlyingll existence,whileKonkoji i (Golden Radiance) andKonzoji R (Golden Treasury)refer o the Buddha nature buddhata) in-herentn all living hings.The circle en Fl) is likewise symbol f absoluteperfection, eingfull ndcompletebutat thesametime nfinitend empty. n itspureform t s seen nthe full moon (GetsurinjiJql Mangetsujiahfl) and in a round mirror(Enkyoji FlXR), which, while absorbing and reflecting ll evanescentphenomena, tillremainsbright nd empty.A similarmetaphorical ermforperfect,round' insights found n Engakuji.The lotusflower, ymbolizing oth the essential urity f the absoluteBud-dha Nature nd thecosmicuniversalityf theempirical nd the piritualworld(as representedn theMandala) is found n a greatnumber ftemplenames,manyof themreferringpecificallyo the Lotus Sutra. Funda-in4rLR showstheabbreviated anskritwordpundarTka or hewhite otus; Hachiyoji v(Eight-petalled)means the otusflower ccupying hecentral ield f the Gar-bhadhatuMandala; and the idea of rebirthn a lotusflower, s promised oAmida's devotees,appears in numerousnames such as Jorenji + (LotusVehicle), SairenjiPMX (Lotus in theWest),and Jorenji X (Pure Lotus,alluding o odo, the Pure Land).Symbols f theefficacyf magic' arefoundmainlynesoteric hought,uchas the 'diamond' or 'thunderbolt' kongo) for the all-powerful ruth inKongoji and Kongobuji NIUJo). Kongoji and Taizoji H1Xja~how the names

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    SECKEL: Buddhist Temple Names in Japan 379of the fundamental air ofmandalas. The 'germsyllables' bMja,huji N-),suchas kan and man (=Ham andMam), standforFudo-myooTAMb, andappear in Kanmanji h or A and Un (=Om), the Buddhistalpha andomega, in AunjiA largegroup ofnamesarebased on metaphorical omparisons.Hounji jXe meanstheDharma as a fertilizingloud and at thesametimethetenthand highest tage of a bodhisattva's areer.SimilarlyJiunji f theCloudof theBuddha's) Compassion.A wholesemantic ield, enterednthe dea of'ferryingver to theother hore', to release n nirvana, s coveredbynamessuch as Kaiganji J (Seashore), Saiganji g9 (Western hore=Amida'sParadise), and Fusaiji si%: (UniversalRedemption,ai=saido AFr,to ferryacross).

    Daigoji takesuptheancientndiansimile fmanda,an extremelyefined x-tractof milk translatedntoChineseby t'i-hu,J. daigo, No), standing orhighestruth,bsolutereality,ndtheBuddhaNature.The Zen temple aiho-ji 2XX inKyoto,originallyalledSaihoji 9yJX (Western irection,Amida'sParadise) was renamed by slightlyalteringthe characterho to mean'fragrance' nstead of 'west', thereby uotingfrom poem bythetemple'sreviver,Muso Soseki , which likens the Zen tradition sinceShakyamuniand Bodhidharma to a fragrance preadingover wide areas.Anothermetaphorical uotation s found nKozanji , (HighMountain).In theKegon-kyo#09 (Avatamsaka-sutra)hefirstermon f theBuddha,explainingo an audience ofbodhisattvas hewholeundiluted ruth xperienc-ed undertheBodhi tree, s comparedto 'the first aysof therising un il-luminating he high mountains' u , this being the complete,official,mperially rantedname of thetemple.6. Legendsa. The life and legendsof Shakyamunihavefurnishedeveral emplenames.For example,Dojuji XE# (Tree of [Attaining] heWay, theBodhi Tree),Temborinjik (Turning heDharmaWheel),KakurinjiM.hZ8Groveof[Shala Trees turningwhite ike the plumageof] Cranes, whenShakyamuniwas about to enter into nirvana under these trees). The Bodhi Tree ofMaitreya, heBuddha ofthe futureworld,appears nRyufgeji (DragonFlower).b. There s a host oftemplenames nJapanbased on specificocal legends,most of which serve to illustrate he all-pervading rinciple f 'originationfrom onditional ausation' (pratTtyaamutpada,J.engiOLE).Thistypemaythereforee called theenginame.Usuallythe egends elate omesupernaturaloccurrencemanifestinghepowerofBuddhistholybeings nd their vataras(gongen,reigen . intheguiseofShintodeities rtheirmessengers. or ex-ample,a statue of theBuddha reveals tself rom he sea (Butsugenji L).Amida and Kannon help PrincessChufjohimeo weave theTaima Mandala

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    380 MonumentaNipponica,40:4from ibers ftheBlue Lotus (Shorenji).A deaf-mute oyis healedwhen,onmeeting hotokuTaishi,he producesa holyrelic shari iJ) fromhismouth(Shariji).A monk succeeds,byhisspiritual ower, nexorcizing malevolentdragon, ealinghim up in a pondunder stonecover Rytugaiji ) Oftenwonder-workingountains,waterfalls,ocks,orimages, s well as dreams ndapparitions, ases ofmiraculoushealing nd auspiciousomens,are involved.It is obviously mpossible o relatehereeven a fraction f thesestories.7. Good WishesndOmensMosttemplenamesofthistypedo not expressgenuinely uddhist entimentsbut secularones, as for ongevity, lentiful nd happylife,easychildbirth,peace and prosperity,huscontradicting,n fact,theBuddhist onviction ffundamentalmpermanence,uffering,nd misery f all existence.Many ofthesewishes re expressed ytime-honoredtandardformulae r symbols fChineseorigin.Generalterms fwell-beingnd happiness re found,forex-ample, n Eifukuji Ajt (PermanentBliss), FukushojiVgX (HappinessandJoy),Shofukuji b (SupremeHappiness), and Mampukuji Jt3 (Ten-thousandfoldBliss). Specificwishesfora long lifeoccur in Fukujuji g(Happy Long Life), Senshtuji tk (ThousandAutumns=Years), MannenjiH+ (TenThousandYears), and Shojuji VLX (LongLife ikethePineTree).Severalnames,however, xpresspiouswishesfortheblissof salvation ndrelease n nirvana r in Amida's Pure Land, such as FukurakujiVjX andJofukuji (alludingto thegokuraku-joido9+), and Saifukuji2VX(Bliss n theWesternRealm). Easy childbirths askedforby usingnamessuchas Taisanji *X; such templesoftenhave Koyasu-Kannon as theirhonzon.Auspicious omensare usuallyof generalsignificance,ut now and then,depending n theparticular ircumstances,hey elate o specificallyuddhistconcepts.The key erm ccurrings often ui a (auspicious),as inZuitokujimtX, Zuikeiji , Zuihoji 4l,, Zuiryuiji E the asttwonamesmen-tioning hephoenix nd dragon, ymbolic nimalsofChinese ore.Zuiunjiu@ and Shiunji 2 refer o theappearanceof auspicious, purple' clouds,andZuisenji 3 to a miraculous pringa commonmotif).A truly uddhistterms found n Zuioji t (AuspiciousResponse),meaning heappearanceand beneficialactivityof the Buddha 'answering'the urgentprayersofmankind -'in rs4: bodyof accommodation).8.Motifs fChinese olklore ndSymbolismNamesofstrongly hinese or, strictlypeaking,Taoist)flavor upplementingthose lreadymentionedbove and without pecific uddhist onnotationsoracquiringthemonlysecondarily) re foundin GekkeijiJqjjl (theKatsuraTreesupposedto growon themoon), Shoryutji (Blue/GreenDragonofthe East), ReishijitEX (MiraculousMushroom,or ling-chih,rowingn an

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    SECKEL: Buddhist Temple Names in Japan 381ideal ruler'stime and granting ong life),Horai-in+K (one of the threeislands of immortality), nd Togenji tfAfflPeach-Blossom Spring,madefamousin Tao Yuan-ming's 14X prose-poem T'ao-hua-yuanchi VEEl,about a dream and full of peace and harmony).A Buddhistversionof thetermho-kuang,J. wakoi, iit (MitigatingheRadiance) comesfromTao-te-chingAV,4 chapters & 56, and is found n Wakoji intiyU; ere t refers othehobeny' fRupaya-kaushalya) f theBuddhas andbodhisattvas,hat s,theaccommodation ftheir verwhelmingplendor o the imited apacity f liv-ing beings, n accordancewith hehonji-suijakudoctrine.9. Era Names (nengo)Relatively ew emples ear namesofthe eras nwhich heywerefounded, e-established, r enlarged.A templewith n apparentnengo name,however,snot necessarily onnectedwiththat era; itmayhave been establishedmuchearlier r later, nd thusthemeaning nd origin f itsname have to be soughtelsewhere.Since nengo normally xpress auspicious omens and wishesforgood fortune nd prosperity,hese formulaemay equally well be used asunspecific emplenames.Examplesofgenuinenengonames reKoninjiKLf7,foundedbetween 10 and 824; Enryakuji , 782-806;NinnajiCfiwi 885-889; Kenchoji, 1249-1256;Kan'eiji c 1624-1644.Jingoji however, s notnamed after heTempyo-JingoX-M era,765-767,but receivedtsname with 'political' meaning see below)not earlierthan 824. In rarecases Chinese era names wereused for empleswith strongChineseaffiliation. his is probably rueofEiheiji, yung-ping, .eihei,beingthe era, 59-76,whenBuddhism s said to have been introduced nto Chinaunderthe Later Han emperorMing-tiM.10. Political NamesThislabel is used for typeof names expressing he hope forpeace, prosperi-ty, ndprotection femperor, tate, ndnation,for t was theexplicit uty fsuchtemples o secure hesebenefits y ritual rmagicalperformances. anyof these names have a strongChineseflavor,whilea fewothersrefer o thebenevolent owersof Shinto deities.Thus, Jingoji,whosefullname is JingoKokuso Shingonji - (Shingon Temple Protected or, for he Pro-tection]bythe kami forthe Happiness of the Country)clearly xpresses tsreligio-political eaning.Constantly ecurring ey erms re an X, hei4V, ndgo X, often combined with koku (kuni) M. Self-explanatorynames of thistype reDaianji 7k@ and Taiheiji , both meaningGreat Peace (the at-ter lludes to theChinese nengo-named empleT'ai-ping Hsing-kuo-ssuT&XF1X1) Ankokuji2 (Peace for heCountry), ndChinkokujim_1 (Pacifica-tion of the Country-the name has its equivalent n China, but in Japanthe term hin [=shizumeru] has also a Shinto ring). Shogoin s a contractionofshotaigoji f;:4, Protection f the Emperor's)SacredPerson.

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    382 Monumenta Nipponica, 40:411.Names ofHistoricalPersonsUnlikeChristian hurches, surprisingumber ftemples re namedafteriv-ingor deceased personswho in one wayor otherwereconnectedwith heirestablishments founders rpatrons.Someofthese nstitutions erefoundedto serve s familyemplesujideraPX, bodaiji or bodaisho f koge-inAtR-),devotedto the spiritualbenefit f itsmembers nd their ncestors ftertheirrelease',hencecalled temples fenlightenment'r forofferingncenseand flowers'.Personsfeaturedntemplenamescan be laymen r laywomen,oftenhavingtakenholyorders,or clerics;they an be emperors, eigningrretired, thermembers f the imperialfamily r aristocrats;n morerecenttimes,middle-class eopleare included s well.Thuswefind greatvariety findividualnames, increasedby the frequent se of religiousnames (hogo,homyoMo, kaimyo) ) eitheradopted by the livingpersonor grantedposthumously. he rulesgoverninghispractice retoo complex o be discuss-ed here.A furtheromplication rises n cases,mentionedbove, p. 365, and oftenoccurring, f personal names transposedfrom the Japanese (kun) to theSino-Japaneseon) readingor pronunciation, r of charactermanipulation.Fromthisbewilderinglyichrepertoire, e select fewexamples t random,reluctantlyomitting often fascinatingpersonal aspects and historicalcircumstances.Shotokuji X is a Shinshui emplecalled afterShotokuTaishi KtJ"because he was held in greatesteembythatsect;Taishi-dera& was alsonamedafterhim.Domyoji A)iX comesfrom ne ofthenamesof SugawaraMichizane*;qO,, 845-903.Saiokuji m is derived rom hepoeticnameofthemonkSocho , 1448-1532.Gioji I ?X is namedafter hemistress fTairaKiyomori Af, 1118-1181.Anothernstance fa templenamedafterlady is Gekkeiji, founded in the early seventeenth enturyby a certainnobleman'sdaughter alledGekkei-inJqR; atthe sametime henamerefersto thecassia tree katsurat) on themoon (see p. 380, above), illustratinghesemantic tratificationf templenames mentioned bove, p. 367.Names of Chinesemonksweresometimes sed. ButtsfijiIfi is derivedfrom hehonorary itle ftheChinesemaster fthetemple'sfounder,GuchulShuikyui '@1R, fourteenthentury. bai-in*N1Rreceivedtsnamefrom he'mountain',that s, themonastery uang-mei-shan LU, YellowPlumTreeMountain,where hefifth-centuryatriarchHung-jenLU secretlyppointedHui-neng B thesixthpatriarch ygivinghimhisrobe; the mountainname(sangCo)of one ofthe Obai-in s Den(n)e-sanfPO, Transfer f theGarment.Ummonji@PM isnamedafter heCh'an master un-menJ.=, 780-841,whileZendoji #i4+ honorstheChineseJodopatriarch han-tao _4,613-681.Japanesemonks,of course,gave theirnamesto manytempleswhich heyeitherfoundedor to whichtheywere somehowrelated.KObOji Is and

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    SECKEL: Buddhist Temple Names in Japan 383Honenji , are calledafter hefamousShingon nd Jodopatriarchs. en-shoji derivesfromKumagai Naozane's Pli: monasticname adoptedafterthe tragic episode withTaira Atsumori -Vk in 1184. Engakuji , aShingon emplenAomori,referso itsfounder, monknamedEngaku.Theseexamples showthat personalnames,mainlymonasticones, can at the sametimehave a doctrinal rdevotionalmeaning.Famousmonks re oftenhiddenbehind theiralternative ames; for example,Koshoji tW?Jrefers o KuyaShonin ThL, 903-972,an earlypropagator f theAmida creed.The last important ype ncludesthereligiousnames hogo) of lay people.This term s to be preferredo 'posthumousnames'becausethesereligious rmonasticnameswereoften doptedwhenpeopletook holyorders uring heirlifetime. hesenamesare used in connectionwith hemeifuku SMor tsuizenA1 rites performed or the spiritualbenefit f the deceased in the templedevotedto theirmemory nd used as their amily's ncestral emple bodaiji,etc). They realso inscribed nthetombstonendthe ncestor abletplaced nthe butsudanf1ff. ince they re suffixed ith in, they re called ingo.For example, Jishoji alias Ginkakuji)derivesfromJisho-in, he ingo ofAshikagaYoshimasa, 1435-1490, he temple'sfounder.ZentsuljijE comesfrom hereligiousnameofKukai's father. ogen-inAMR referso thefatherofYodogimiMB, thewifeofToyotomiHideyoshi : and ZenshojiAiEy is thehogo ofHideyoshi'sadoptedson,HidetsuguA&. Dentsu-in ,jARj isnamed afterTokugawa Ieyasu's t'JIIS mother.Myorenji jE is based onthehogoof Nichiren'smother,while hetemple's ango, Myonichi-san HLU,referso thatof his father.Annyo-inAR wasthe religious ameof Masako-f#,157-1225, hewidowof MinamotoYoritomoMdM.Ungenji i , is aninterestingase of a templenamecomposedbytaking necharacterachfromthereligousnamesoftwodifferent,lthough elated,persons-the founder'stwosisters, ne calledHoun-in R- the otherGenshin-inJLAE; t the sametime,ungen Cloud Phantom,gen=Sk. ma-ya-,llusion, rreality)makesgoodsense forBuddhistbelievers.12. TopographicalNamesBefore giving examples of templenames referringo specific ocations inJapan,letus mention ome institutionsalled by one of the cardinaldirec-tions.The reasonforchoosing uchnamesvaries.We leaveaside namesbasedon mythological opography, s the Western ure Land or the VulturePeak(Grdhrakuita) hereShakyamuni reached heLotus Sutra in names suchasRyosenji tI). Such names comeprimarily nder hecategories f doctrines,legends, tc.In the geographical ense,however, he easterndirection ppears in Toji(unofficial ameofKyoogokokuji, ocated n the easternhalf ofHeian-kyo);similarly, odaiji 1J and Saidaiji A intheeastern ndwestern artsofNara, or Higashi-and Nishi-Honganji / in Kyoto.

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    384 MonumentaNipponica,40:4SaikokujigH1jE does notrefer o thePureLand in the Westbut toWesternJapan,where histemple njoyeda privileged osition.Nanzenji,situatedn

    theeastandnot nthe southofKyoto, s calledthe Southern en Templewithregardto the division of Chinese Ch'an into 'northern'and 'southern'schools.Some names are related,forreasonsof religioushistory, o Korea or toChina. Forexample,Kudara-deraTih;# nd Koraiji # (Kudara-Paekche;Korai, in thisparticular ase, =Koguryo); Tendaiji ## and Rozanji JL(T'ien-t'ai-shan nd Lu-shan).Truetopographicalnamesbased on Japanese ocalities, ften howing tera(-dera) nsteadof-ji nconcordancewith hepurelyJapanese ocal names,canbe those of towns, villages, and rural areas: Asuka-dera,Asakusa-dera,Hagiwara-dera , Ikaruga-dera ]I)tjE (theold nameofHoryuiji,fter henameof thesurroundingractof land, in on reading,Hankyuji),Hase-dera(also Chokokuji, Long Valley). Oftensuch Japanesetopographicalnames,when used in theiron reading, cquire a Chinese, offical,nd 'learned' air,suchas MeisekijiMj=Akashi.Other topographicalnames may be those of mountains,as Kiyosumi-dera/Seichoji '1i4# (located on Mt Kiyosumi,BosO Peninsula), Koyaji/Koyasan ,f,/U (High Plain), Kongobuji (on Koyasan; Vajra Summit,mountainname based on a legendconnectedwith Kukai). Some of thesenamesaredeterminedycertain haracteristicsfthe ocal situation ndthuslead us to the asttypeof templenames.13. ConspicuousFeaturesWithin hiscategory re foundmanypopular,unofficial amescurrentlikeamongBuddhist dherentsnd non-Buddhist isitors; ften,nfact, templeis farbetterknown byitspopularnamethanbyitsofficial ne. Few peoplehaveeverheardof Jishoji nd Rokuonji tjE, but everyones familiarwithGinkakuji and Kinkakuji F# (Temple of the Silver/GoldPavilion) inKyoto.Often,however, nameofthis ype s used as theofficial ame.Apartfrom onspicuousbuildings uch as these,characteristiceatures f thesur-rounding andscape-hills, rocks, grottos,waterfalls-can furnish emplenames:Rinkyujit4, Ishiyama-dera, ekiganji , and RyoanjiS;.In additionthe Japaneseare fond of callingtemplesafterbeautiful rees,flowers, nd evenmoss: Tachibana-dera tangerine ree),Tsubaki-deraw(camellia),Hasu-dera47jE (lotus),Koyojiqi,,# =momijit[, autumnal ol-ors), and Koke-dera moss; identicalwithSaihoji in Kyoto). A fewtemplestake theirnames fromfamousstatues, uch as Shakuzoji 6f*# (a wonder-working tonestatueofJizo)and Sentaiji VA (Thousand Buddha Statues).

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    SECKEL: Buddhist Temple Names in Japan 385

    AppendixTempleNames TransferredromChina

    Quite a number ftemplenamesare evidentlydoptedfromChina, buttheyarenot so numerous s one wouldexpect nviewofthe ntimate onnectionsbetweenJapaneseand ChineseBuddhism hroughouthecenturies.n manycasesnamesare so specificallyonnectedwithndigenousJapanese laces,per-sons, events, egends,etc., that theyobviouslycannot have counterpartsin China. In most cases the identity f names in both countries s due tosimpleconvergenceincea greatnumber fnamesand terms recommon oall Buddhistschools of thought, ult, symbolism, nd devotionalpractice.Even non-Buddhist onceptsof Chineseoriginhave spreadthroughout astAsia (see sections7 & 8, above).Unlikethesecases, however, here xists smallishgroupoftemplenameswhoseorigin an definitelye attributedoChinesemonasteries rovided hatat leastone of thefollowing onditions s met.a. A link nsectarian istoryfor xample,Tendaiji/T'ien-t'ai-shan;horin-ii ?J/4/Shao-lin-ssu,hemonastery n Sung-shanwhereBodhidharma ssaidto have sat facing wall in meditation ornineyears).b. Japanesemonkshad personalconnectionswith pecific hinese nstitu-tions (Shoryuiji/Hsing-lung-ssu in Ch'ang-an, whereKutkai tudiedunderHui-kuo; Ryuikoji , a Tendai templefoundedbyEnnin Flzi andnamed after Chinese state-protectingemplecalled Lung-hsing-ssu, hereSaicho R& (Dengyo Daishi {F?tI) had beeninitiated o esoteric eaching).c. The names of Chinese masters or those of their 'mountains' (=monasteries),mostlyof the Ch'an/Zen sects,wereused to name Japanesetemples as Sokeiji , withreferenceo Ts'ao ravine;Hui-neng, hesixthpatriarch, ived in the Ts'ao ravine, whichbecame proverbial mong Zenadherents s a sourceof their radition).d. In one or twocases a Chinesemaster ransferredhenameof hishometemple otheonehefounded nJapan;for xample,Mampukuji,nearKyoto,was named n 1661afterWan-fu-ssu 3+ on Huang-po-shan,J.Obaku-san,IALU, byYin-yuan,J. Ingen,7G.We have to confine urselves o thesefewhints;theproblems onnectedwith hisphenomenon re numerous nd call forfurthernvestigation.

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    386 MonumentaNipponica,40:4ReferenceWorks

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