Spiritual Growth - Morning Star Institute -- Descending Part 2

DESCENDING SPIRIT EXORCISM PART 2

“GOMA is the ‘fire’ ritual meditation. Originating in Ancient India, it was later appropriated to Buddhist use… It is the ‘fire of the Wisdom of the Buddha, which destroys all worldly passions. The GOMA ritual may be viewed in two ways. There is, first, the ‘Outer’ GOMA, which is the actual fire kindled in the ritual. Secondly, there is the ‘Inner’ GOMA that is the fire of the Wisdom of the Buddha, which we have kindled within our minds. There are five different stages in the ritual, differing according to the particular deities involved. Sticks of wood are used, usually of cedar. Into the fire, other materials are thrown, including five kinds of grain, rice, barley, wheat, and poppy seeds, and sometimes sesame seeds… Upon completion of a perfect, or near-perfect meditation, the body of the practitioner is now viewed as having a ‘Diamond Nature’. By dwelling on, and within, the qualities of the Great Primary Elements, we have become aware of them within ourselves, and then within others. The manner in which this practice of identification is formed is one that passes from Teacher to Disciple privately… The practice does not, however, halt there, for from this, it progresses to include all other beings until one reaches the state of complete identification and therefore ‘non-identification’.” (The Esoteric Ritual Meditations Of Tendai Buddhism by Reverend Jikai, pg. 13)

I’m not a person who sees a trip or a journey through the lens of a camera. My philosophy has always been that my eyes are the lenses of my camera and my heart/mind is the film that records, and keeps filed, the visual memories. However, in this instance, I decided to film certain parts of the fire ritual conducted by the yamabushi of Yoshino (briefly discussed in Part 1 and described above according to the Tendai Esoteric Buddhist methodology).

As I mentioned earlier in Part 1, the Yoshino area is well known as the “stomping” grounds of the yamabushi (‘those lingering in the mountains”). I have discovered, in my many years of seeking cross-cultural spiritual knowledge, that there are very few pure traditions. Many are compositions of earlier practices, but all are usually imbued with the magical essence of a new vision of spirit. And it was such with these backcountry mountain wizards. Their tradition, a combination of Taoist Magic, Buddhism, Shintoism and Shamanism called Shugendo, “hard practice”, recognized the birth of their way in the vision and life of the legendary mystic, En-no-Ozunu (En-no-Gyoja). A son of a Shinto priest, En the ascetic represented a spiritual ideal for the common folk unfettered by the corruption of power and money that is at the heart of institutionalized religion.

From the esoteric collection of Reverend Dr. JC Husfelt
En-No-Gyoja with the Siddham letter Ham,
seed-syllable of Fudo Myo-o.

The following gives a brief over-view of Shugendo:

A blend of pre-Buddhist folk traditions of Sangaku shinko and Shinto, Tantric Buddhism, and Chinese Yin-yang magic and Taoism, Shugendo may be roughly defined as the 'way of mastering magico-ascetic powers by retreat to and practice within the sacred mountains'. Shugendo practitioners were called Yamabushi, a term which meant 'one who lies down or sleeps in the mountains' and the sect included various types of ascetics such as unofficial monks, wandering holy men, pilgrimage guides, blind musicians, exorcists, hermits and healers. A leading scholar of Shugendo, H. Byron Earhart, explains that "In the early stages of the development of Shugendo the yamabushi usually were unmarried mendicants who spent most of their time in religious practice within the mountains; in later periods most yamabushi married and either had their temple homes at the foot of sacred mountains or made periodic trips of religious pilgrimage and ascetic retreat to the mountains... When the yamabushi descended the mountains they visited their 'parishioners' to administer blessings from the mountain or perform special services of healing and exorcism. The yamabushi were adept in a variety of purifications, formulas, and charms. The religious goal of Shugendo was as diverse as its organization, technique, and procedure. In general it amounted to the utilization of religious power for every imaginable human need". Because of its loose organization, its lack of textual doctrine, and its appeal to the simple, illiterate folk people of the countryside, Shugendo became a popular movement throughout Japan from the twelfth century to the time of the Meiji restoration in 1868. According to one study, more than 90% of the village shrines in mid-northern and northeastern Japan were served by Shugendo priests. (Martin Gray’s Sacred Sites

Throughout these mountains and this magical landscape of the yamabushi roams the heart and the spirit of their patron guardian, the Brilliant Light King—Fudo Myō-ō. Gary Snyder best describes this great protector of the Shugendo brotherhood:

“ Goma, fire ceremony, mudras hid under the sleeves, dark lanterns and earthen floor smells, the Yamabushi costume with the strip of deer or wild goat hide hanging down in back. And in some of the shrines, Fudo. Fierce and funny, sitting on a rock, backed by flames, holding the vajra-sword and a noose.

Fudo shrines on mountain tops, by waterfalls, and in temples, a patron of mountain ascetics, the popular Buddha-image of many rural provinces in the old central parts of Honshu. The Yamabushi have their own lore and practice of Fudo. For the other Buddhist followers, he is seen as a Dharma-protector, a grim but compassionate tough guy, punk or street-Buddha, no bullshit, the noose is said to be a lasso and save some folks from hell whether they want it or not, or said to be for binding up destructive passions. Actually the noose stands for The Precepts. The sword is the same sword as Manjushri wields, cutting through delusion and foolishness. Such a figure appropriate to this worst of centuries, a Buddha of enlightened determination who will not back off, who is not averse to confronting the mass murder of Ukrainians, of Jews, of Cambodians, and the threat of nuclear holocaust. Who can sit down with generals and dictators and talk even tougher than they. And then laugh about it, and convert and forgive. Or so I like to imagine.

And more technically, in Japanese iconography, he is seen as an emanation of Vairochana, the cosmic eternal Buddha, in a body to enact appropriate compassion and teaching, but also the consort perhaps and other side of the gentle and feminine image of Kannon, motherly, loverly, nourishing or challenging—compassion.

So much I learned in Japan. Later I learned the Sanskrit name Chandamaharoshana, ‘Lord of Heat’ and read his old north Indian Vajrayana sadhana (visualization and practice exercise) and saw that he was a relatively minor, or at least little-known part of that iconography, an ally-figure? Minor perhaps, but enormously important. He is an emanation of the most powerful of emotions, instincts, and feelings, the deeps of the ‘red lump of flesh’—the roar of the Griz, the dying flurry of whole body of a whale, the deep-throated cry of sexual ecstasy, the cry of delight, the cry of pain, all—as illuminated and accepted and transformed by insight—as the strength and calm of active, dynamic, fearless mind-awakened willingness to fully act and be.” (Contributions to the Ring of Bone Zendo Dharma Art Exhibit, September, 1987)

Fudo Myo-o-Messenger of Dainchi Nyorai (Great Sun)

This fire imbued messenger of Dainchi Nyorai and I have always had a very close relationship, not only consciously, but also on a deep vibrational soul level. I have been deemed at times “fierce and funny”, not physically but with my voice and especially with my eyes. And I have also been told many times that I have, “a laugh that vibrates to the core of one’s soul.” Here are two images that I caught on film during the Goma in 1987.

Continued in Part 3.