Virtual Ika 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #9 Chikureni-ji Temple

     I straight went westward along the street from #8 Reisui-ji Temple to #9 Chikuren-ji Temple at the foot fo Mt. Yamamoto (the altitude of 324 meters) in the village of Atsuji.

     In the Tendai Sect of Buddhism, they engage in 4 types of asceticism as Samadhi.  In one of the 4, they keep walking for 90 days around the statue of Amitabha with a treasure crown on its head.

     One day, that type of Amitabha statue was washed along Yogo River, and was found on a bridge girder.  The villagers  picked it up, built a temple, and enshrined the statue in it.  How tender and devout they were!  But the people in the northern Omi Prefecture loved Avalokitesvara.  On the other day, they changed its arms with those of Avalokitesvara, and believed in it as Arya Avalokitesvara.  It is unknown how Amitabha (or Avalokitesvara?) felt at the time, but it has been treasured by the villagers for centuries.  I don’t think it either did or does care.  To err is human, to repent is divine.