Wow Place #281: Kiyomizu Temple, Kyoto, Japan
The Dalai Lama once said something to the equivalent of, “The most powerful love is that of a mother for her child. Love others as if they are your mother.”
What an amazing statement! I mean, how can you think of hurting your mother…or anyone’s mother?!!
I try to keep this admonition in mind as I hike up the steep, hilly, single-lane road to Kiyomizu-dera on the east side of Kyoto. Among the short list of most spectacular temples in all of Japan, Kiyomizu is also one of the country’s most popular. And that means tourists…lots and lots of tourists! We’re talking tourists clogging the roadway, tourists swamping the shops, and of course, tourists over-running the temple itself.
I hate tourists.
I know – I’m a tourist, too. I should probably try to love them like they are my Mama. But there are tourists and then there are travelers. Sadly, the dictionary doesn’t particularly distinguish between the two. According to Merriam-Webster, a tourist is “someone who makes a tour for pleasure or culture,” while a traveler is “a person who is traveling often, or who often travels.”
I think of it like this: a tourist is seeking escape from their everyday life and often views travel as a process of checking items off a list of attractions, without really experiencing the destination. By contrast, a traveler is seeking to understand the foreign culture – to try new foods, to meet new people, to explore places not in the travel guide.
Whatever you want to call them, I really dislike the type of foreigner who runs around a popular destination – talking too loudly, disrespecting the local customs, taking endless selfies and basically acting like they own the place. In short, there are just some people who treat everywhere they go like it’s Disneyland—a theme park for their own pleasure.
And yet, the Dalai Lama suggests I should love them all like my 92-year-old mother, Shirley?!! Hmmm.
To be fair, I can see why both “tourists” and “travelers” would want to visit the spectacular Kyomizu-dera. Translated as “Temple of Pure Water,” Kiyomizu features a pretty waterfall at the heart of the temple. As legend has it, a monk named Enchin dreamt of golden streams flowing from the mountain into the Yodogawa River. When he went to view this site for himself, he found an old man named Gyoei, sitting on a log. Gyoei had apparently been sitting there for 200 years; the log was to be used to make an image of Kannon, a god with 11 faces and 1,000 arms. Wishing to go on a pilgrimage, the old man asked Enchin to take his place on the log, which Enchin did. After a long wait, he eventually went in search of the old man, but only found his shoes. Naturally enough, Enchin thus concluded that Gyoei was actually Kannon and hurried back to the log to shape it in Kannon’s image. Interestingly, he never did get it right – not until a warrior, Saka-no-ue Tamuramaro, came by. So impressed was he by Enchin’s devotion, the warrior converted his own home into a temple, allowing Enchin to finally finish the image.
Founded in 780, Kyomizu temple was added to the list of World Heritage Sites in 1994. It’s best known for its dramatic wooden stage, jutting out (on stilts) from its main hall, hovering 13 meters above the hillside. Remarkably, both the main hall and the stage were built without the use of nails! Inside the main hall, you’ll find the temple’s primary object of worship: a small statue of the eleven-faced, thousand-armed Kannon.
Kyomizu is also the temple of lovers. No matter the time of day, you’ll always find young people in the shrine gathered around a pair “love stones”. Placed 18m apart, the stones offer both a challenge and a reward: if you can find your way from one to the other, with your eyes closed, your romantic wish will be granted! During our visit, my 21-year-old nephew, Amir, successfully completed the walk between the stones. However, as he’s still single over a decade later, I can only wonder if the magic of the stones is all it’s cracked up to be.
Given Kiyomizu’s history, beauty and intriguing features, it’s no surprise that the tourist hordes have descended on it like bees on honeysuckle. This is a one crowded place…which is not all a bad thing! For example, many of the shops along the main drag cater to visitors by offering free samples of their delicious “nama yatsuhashi” sweets – basically soft mochi wrapped around sweet red bean paste. Best of all, the samples are free! After scarfing down my third plate of matcha, cinnamon and strawberry matcha sweets, I find myself starting to warm up to the tourist invaders.
It’s really not until sunset that Kiyomizu sheds off its tourist trap mantle and reveals its true nature. Silhouetted by the pale, blue and yellow evening sky, the red gates and pagodas of the temple rise up like samurai on the battle field. With the entire city of Kyoto spread out before me and an ancient temple behind me, I feel old Japan peaking out from behind its hidden veil. Kyomizu temple at sunset is a lovely, lovely sight – one that makes me at least consider we’re all connected – and perhaps everyone can be treated as mothers.
(What do you think about the Dala Lama’s statement? Do you operate from a position of duality, ie. we’re all separate, me vs. others, us vs. them? Or, on occasion, do you sense the interconnectedness? The first step of all spiritual journeys is to puncture the duality balloon. Once you’ve acknowledged that all people are “made of star stuff,” to quote Carl Sagan, is it such a crazy leap to imagine that we are all members of the same family? And if we are all family members, why can’t we all be mothers, worthy of deepest love?)
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