#myoe

[littleeyesofpallas]

shout out to magical, bed-headed, hat-wearing, affable, child wrangling, mentor figures secretly working outside the law to chase some morally dubious greater good that undermines the world order. gotta be one of my favorite genders.

[crazyfox-archives]

A portrait of the Kegon monk Myōe (明恵) (1173-1232), founder of Kōzanji Temple (高山寺) up in northwest Kyoto, meditating on a tree in the Togano’o area near the temple

Color on paper from the collection of Kōzanji Temple, painted by Myōe’s disciple Enichibō Jōnin (恵日房成忍) sometime during the last decade of Myōe’s life

Image from a booklet acquired at the temple March 30, 1997

[chichitoitsu]

summer's ending over where i am so i wanted to celebrate the last of it

[cosechadehuellas]

Hace años vi ese dbujo por primera vez en el Kõzan-ji, un pequeño templo a las afueras de Kioto, y en los años siguientes retorné a aquel lugar a menudo. No había casi nunca visitantes. La lámina cuelga en un espacio abierto y luminoso con vistas a un jardín. Ahí puedes sentarte en el escalón superior de la escalera que conduce al jardín; un estanque, unas piedras cubiertas de musgo, árboles de colores otoñales. Y, cuando te das la vuelta, ves esa imagen en la que un hombre siempre aparece en un instante de quietud. Durante todos estos años intermedios no se ha movido. Él único que se ha movido soy yo. Se llamaba Myoe y vivió de 1173 a 1231. Fue un monje erudito de la escuela esotérica Shingon y el fundador de ese templo.(...) El Shingon nos enseña que somos seres iluminados, aunque no lo sepamos (una idea tranquilizadora). Basta con observar suficiente tiempo el misterio del mundo para que uno se deslumbre, lo cual viene acompañado de mucha luz, como es natural. Al final de su Divina comedia, Dante vio una luz tn intensa que no supo cómo describir la experiencia. La elocuencia de su silencio se manifiesta en los cuatro últimos versos de su poema, que parece haber escrito bajo esa luz.

• Cees Nooteboom, 533 días

El Ojo del Tiempo Siruela.

[crazyfox-archives]

Pages from the dream journal kept by the monk Myōe (明恵) (1173-1232) for most of his adult life, here featuring his sketch of a female version of the cosmic buddha Vairocana (毘盧遮那仏) from a dream in 1221

From the collection of Kōzanji Temple (高山寺) up in northwest Kyoto

Image from a booklet acquired at the temple March 30, 1997

[crazyfox-archives]

A scene from the now fragmentary “Illustrated Biography of Saint Myōe” (明恵上人絵伝) dating to the Muromachi period (1336-1573) in the collection of Kōzanji Temple (高山寺) up in northwest Kyoto, featuring Myōe in the upper left conversing with the Zen monk Enkū (円空) from downtown Kyoto’s Kenninji Temple (建仁寺)

Image from a booklet acquired at the temple March 30, 1997

[crazyfox-archives]

A view of the Kaisandō Hall (開山堂) on the grounds of Kōzanji Temple (高山寺) up in northwest Kyoto, dedicated to the temple’s founder Myōe (明恵) (1173-1232) and adapted from his residence later in life, though mostly rebuilt in 1717 after extensive fire damage

Image from a booklet acquired at the temple March 30, 1997

[crazyfox-archives]

A scene from the “Illustrated Biographies of the Founders of the Kegon School” (華厳宗祖師絵伝) dating to the Kamakura period (1185-1333) in the collection of Kōzanji Temple (高山寺) up in northwest Kyoto, with text by the temple’s founder Myōe (明恵) 

The scene depicts the meeting of the Korean monk & Kegon founder Uisang (義湘 Gijō) and the Tang Chinese merchant’s daughter Shanmiao (善妙 Zenmyō) who immediately takes a liking to him, to which he can be seen replying “I am a monk so I cannot accept your feelings for me. Please open your heart and transfer those feelings to support the Buddhist teachings instead.”

Image from a booklet acquired at the temple March 30, 1997 (Translation from the Kyoto National Museum’s Museum Dictionary under the entry for Paintings)