Virtual Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #5 Goka-do Temple

 

     Honma Magohachi was a rich farmer in Chichibu, and had a taste of composing tanka poems.  He felt sorry for living in such a remote countryside without mastering the composition.  He invited traveling tanka poets to his annex and named it Goshi-do, namely Talking-on Poetry Workshop.  Later, he changed it to a temple.

     After the foundation of the temple, many decades passed, and the temple fell into ruin.

There was an old woman in a remote countryside of Shinano Province.  She had a girl to raise.  She didn’t mind taking any trouble to raise the girl.  One day, the girl was missing.  The old woman was very surprised, and would search for the girl here and there, but heard no news about the girl.  The old woman’s strength was gone.  She would always lie on her bed.  She heard of the miraculous power of the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, and left her house with tears in her eyes.  When she arrived at Goka-do Temple, it was dark and there was no place to stay for the night.  She fell down in the bushes, and slept for a while.  She heard a voice calling out to her repeatedly.  She wondered if it could be her lost child, and woke up.  Then, the light shone, someone who wore a Buddhist robe suddenly appeared and revealed the lost child in question out of the robe, saying, “Your child had been kidnapped by a tengu.  As you prayed, I commanded my 28 vassals to search for the girl.  I will give back the girl to you.  You should not forget your faith.”  Listening to the story, seeing such a wonder, the villagers praised the mercifulness of Avalokitesvara. Then, with the old woman as the principal, they restored the temple.  The statue of Cundi, who has 16 arms and appears to be female, of the temple is known as Childcare Avalokitesvara.

     If the 28 vassals were Narayana, Nanda, Mahoraga, Kimnara, Garuda, Gandharva, Pisaca, Pancika, Purnaka-chagalapada, Manibhadra, Vaisravana, Dhrtarastra, Vasistha, Sarasvati-sri-mahadevi, Sakro-devanam-indrah, Brahma, Virudhaka, Virupaksa, Prthivi, Suddhavasa, Mahamayuri‐vidya‐rajni, Hariti, Kumbhira, Vikarala, Asura, Ihatsula, Naga, and Vajrapani, the someone could have been Thousand-Armed Sahasrabhuja.  Cundi doesn’t have the 28 vassals.

Address: 6119 Yokoze, Chichibu District, Saitama 368-0072

Phone: 0494-23-4701