ela has always loved the incense from enryakuji. it’s the only place in japan where that particular scent is available.
we decided to become marathon monks for a day in the hope of making this scent of eternal light available for our friends to enjoy and be inspired by.
enryakuji temple incense
- all natural agarwood held together with mushroom extract.
- evokes a memory of ancient times, fills the room with the magnificence of japanese temples and their powerfully cleansing ceremonies
- the scent is somewhere between the crisp pink air of an early spring morning in the himalayas and the mid afternoon warmth rising from the golden-lit leaves on autumn forest grounds. hours after lighting the scent lingers faintly… like a reminder… like the continuous swirling thread of prayers we can hear when crossing temple grounds in asia.
- 85 sticks (13.5 cm long) per box.
enryakuji temple “eizan” incense
- the oldest of the enryakuji incenses with a scent based on aloeswood.
- brings serene images of the peaceful quietude of japanese gardens, woods and temple grounds and feels like it purifies the body, mind and soul.
- 75 sticks (13.5 cm long) per box.
the enryakuji adventure
1. mt. hiei from afar 2. sekizanzenin 3. meditating with 33 bodhisattvas 4. sekizanzenin hondo roof
enryakuji (延暦寺) on mount hiei in the north-east of kyoto was established in the early 800s by saichō (767–822). the “eternal light of the dharma” which he lit in 788, has been housed since 1642 in the kompon chu-do. enryakuji is the headquarters of the tendai school of buddhism and home to the “marathon monks” who practice kaihōgyō (回峰行) 1000 days of physical and spiritual marathons spread over 12 years.
in the spirit of the gyōja (行者) after a light breakfast we set off with limited provisions (spring water, hot tea, nuts, dried fruit and each a thick pancake, leftover from breakfast) to climb mt. hiei, secure our incense, meditate and return before sunset. it was not to be.
we departed at the seemingly monk-like hour of just past 12:00, for the marathon monks that is am, not just after 12pm as in our case. our starting point was sekizanzenin (赤山禅院) where we tried to repent our delayed start with a visit to the purification waterfalls. we paid respect to the “marathon monks” and their extreme practice of getting purified under a fountain of harshly running cold water no matter what the season or time of day… your two aspiring for-the-day-monks surrendered to just taking a picture thereof, with the lame excuse of running kind of late already… though we did fit in a short meditation on the mantra of compassion “om mani padme hum” in the serene company of 33 kannon statues trying to make up for the un-holy late start. feeling quite saintly by now, cheeks blushing with the reflection of the shiny red autumn leaves more than true repentance we set on our journey.
as we climbed, our clothing, which had been entirely appropriate for base camp, began to seem little more protective than the white cotton robe of a gyōja. adding the relative isolation of a cedar forest to the change in weather, the cold and wind that comes with mountains like cake comes with icing, we began to get the taste of what making a true ascetic pilgrimage must be like.
1. pointing the way 2. half way up 3. a brief rest 4. ela on the path
even relatively close to civilization the mountain paths of hiei-zan (比叡山) can be difficult to navigate. there are signposts, and though many have both english and japanese the directions can be difficult to understand in either language. exactly which of the three arrows points to our goal? do all roads lead to enryakuji? if we take a wrong turning will we end up deep in the mountains of confusion, or perhaps worse, back in the modern day samsara of kyoto without the slightest glimpse of the object of our journey. this is where it helps to have a guide who has already climbed the mountain, ideally more than once, and by different paths, so that if we do get turned around there is someone around who can say “yes, this path leads down for the moment but it turns back up just after that bend.” luckily ela has been to enryakuji numerous times and was able to keep us on the bent and rocky path, which further up the mountain changed to gorgeous channels or tunnels of brightly shining autumn colours, toward the top suddenly widening into what seemed to be the play grounds of elves and fairies, with glowing bundles of dried up pampas grass swaying in the fresh mountain air. even opening up to far and wide views of kyoto and the surrounding hills and valleys.
1. guardians 2. pagoda 3. stone steps 4. temple compound
though yet again, when we arrived at the temple site itself confusion arose: do we cross the bridge and head down the impressive series of steps to the left, follow the modern two-lane paved roadway, or continue on the unassuming footpath which heads up to the right? of course, trying to keep in line with the “monkish feel” we took the footpath which did eventually bring us out behind the crimson and white initiation hall (灌頂堂 kanjō-dō) and east pagoda (東塔 tō-tō).
we quickly headed down stone steps past the bell (鐘楼 shōrō) being enthusiastically rung by groups of chinese tourists, (click here for the bell sound) towards our ultimate goal the 根本中堂 kompon chu-do, home of the “eternal light of the dharma” and shelter from the icy november wind.
1. the initiation hall 2. prayers wafting to heaven 3. the founders of enryakuji 4. the bell tower
before reaching our ultimate goal however we took a brief detour, spending a few well deserved minutes consuming our provisions in the suitably spartan, unheated, plastic chaired, fluorescent lit but oh so wind free dining area. there was even hot green tea – courtesy of a vending machine. ah luxury!
luckily the great central hall has heated carpets for those who wish to meditate. this is where the ability to sit seiza has great advantages, not only are the tops of the feet heated but the shins as well. an additional bonus is that after sitting for long periods when you stand up the blood running back into comatose legs gives the illusion of a rush of warmth. assuming that you are able to stand unassisted of course.
it was in the great hall that we met two young monks, the first of whom kindly pointed out to us which of the many lights in the dim wooden cavern was the eternal one. the monks know the value of backing up their important assets. the eternal light has in fact been extinguished on at least one occasion (after enryakuji was razed to the ground by oda nobunaga in 1571). it was rekindled from a flame at risshakuji temple in yamagata prefecture, which had been lit from saichō’s original. although the light may have gone out, the flame was never extinguished.
1. konponchudo 2. souvenir shop 3. mission accomplished 4. initiation hall
the second monk we met was originally a cellular biologist working on cures for cancer. disappointed by his lack of progress and deeply affected by the idea that in the same building (a teaching hospital) people died each day of the disease he was unable to cure, he eventually changed careers. we spoke briefly about how cell biology and buddhism were coming to the same conclusions, that the body is controlled not by genetics but by mental states. then he sold us some incense.
enryakuji has several kinds of incense each based on different main ingredients, all non-chemical. ”eizan” the oldest and more affordable kind is produced using a secret mix of agarwood and other natural ingredients (different woods and spices) to create that distinctive deep forest scent we talked about earlier. “ela’s favourite – the one we bought from the monk in the great hall with the eternal light – is different in that besides several high quality ingredients a special kind of mushroom is also used which holds the ingredients together and gives this particular incense its lingering-in-the-room quality. you can really get lost in the eternal bewitching scents of these unassuming skinny sticks…
by this time we were already two hours later than expected and the sun was beginning to set. with a final ring of the bell we began our race against the dark. the problem was that on mt. hiei the dark has assistants. it’s not so much that the sun is going down but that the path you climbed on the way up is now descending through thick forest, which makes all the twists, turns and potentially ankle rolling rocks all that much harder to see. in addition, around enryakuji down is up. in order to get off the mountain we first had to walk uphill from the great hall, then further up the mountain, until 1.6 km from the temple complex where a helpful sign offered temptation: take the relative warmth of the cable car and descend in comfort, or plunge down into the deep woods. of course we took the plunge. pausing only to snap a quick photo of “kyoto at night”, we ran down the mountain at an almost literally breakneck pace. with only a couple of minor tumbles each we emerged from the gloom to the cheery glow of fluorescent street lamps, less than an hour after leaving the peak with our prizes in the back pack, satisfied smiles on our faces and our hearts pounding – we weren’t sure whether from excitement or the speed we descended…
