I've always found that the Japanese has a really define way of interpreting anything in to their refine culture and art. Theirs is most intricate elegance and meticulous attention to every detail makes one appreciate in awe how every thing they create, make, built, touch is really done to perfection of the finest quality. I stumble upon this beautiful Shinnyo Buddhism shrine which is so beautiful and grand, but take a look at the pictures, it is not just the shrine, from the the ladies like dakini's offering incense and light, their uniform, the whole presentation is like a magical piece of art. It is very breath taking and it also goes to show how devoted they are in Dharma... take a look...
On Oct. 15, 2011, Shinnyo-en Buddhism celebrated the re-inspiriting of the Nirvana Buddha sculpture in the renovated Nirvana Hall at Oyasono, the head temple complex of the order in western Tokyo prefecture. The ritual to enshrine the peaceful and elegant image is called “the eye-opening ceremony,” which has long been a part of many Buddhist traditions. The ceremony inspires people to seek personal growth and awakening through acts of kindness, generosity and compassion in daily life.
Shinnyo-en is considered a layperson’s Buddhism that uses the last teachings of the Shakyamuni Buddha as its central text. The third enshrining ceremony represents a significant step for Shinnyo-en as it brings renewed energy to spiritual community.
It was Master Shinjo Ito who was inspired to begin sculpting the Buddha image in 1957, who prayed, “May you cultivate the inherent Buddha nature that lies within each of you, so that you become Buddhas.”
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/18/shinnyo-en-buddhist-eye-opening-ceremony_n_1018542.html
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Reclining Buddha
The 16-foot image of the reclining Buddha was sculpted by Shinnyo-en's founder, Shinjo Ito, in 1957 and was first inspirited that year marking the beginning of Shinnyo-en as a spiritual community based on the last teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, as its central text. A second inspiriting ceremony was conducted in 1968 following additions and renovations to the head temple complex in Tachikawa, in western Tokyo prefecture. The most recent renovations and expansions of Oyasono were begun in February 2008.
The Great Nirvana Image or "Reclining Buddha" is the central and guiding icon of Shinnyo-en, the lay Buddhist practice developed by the founder, Shinjo Ito, in the late 1940s. Shinjo Ito had achieved the highest possible rank of monastic spiritual training and the Daigoji Temple in Kyoto, the headquarters of the Shingon tradition of Buddhism which reaches back over 1,200 years. Shinjo Ito adopted the teaching and practices of Shingon for lay persons, outside the monasteries. He furthermore based his teachings on the last sutra, the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, in which the Buddha taught that enlightenment was attainable by all people.
The word shinnyo denotes both buddhahood (spiritual awakening) and the nature of reality, en in Japanese, refers to a boundless garden or open space. Shinnyo-en is a place for people to discover and develop the buddha, or awakened nature, within themselves through altruistic Buddhist practice.
Shinnyo Buddhism today has more than 1 million members, primarily in Japan, Asia, Europe and North America. Attending an eye-opening ceremony is believed to be extremely meritorious and has a deep spiritual significance that relates to a person's individual practice.
Various kinds of eye opening ceremonies are found in spiritual traditions throughout Asia. An image is not treated as an object fit for meditation or veneration until it has been infused with blessings through a ceremony of consecration that involves symbolically opening its eyes.
The eye opening ceremony conducted in Shinnyo Buddhism comes from the traditions of Shingon Esotericism, which the founder, Shinjo Ito, mastered at Daigoji temple in Kyoto. According to Esoteric Buddhism, spirituality contains two elements: the phenomenal (outer) and the noumenal (inner). In the case of the eye opening ceremony, the phenomenal aspect is the esoteric ritual that a master performs, which one can participate in by attending the service or by making an offering. The noumenal element has to do with how a practitioner makes daily efforts to elevate one's bodhi mind -- in other words, personal transformation and spiritual growth.
