Butsudan

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Buddhist Family Altar, butsudan 仏壇



A butsudan (佛壇 or 仏壇)
is a tabernacle found in religious temples and homes of Japanese and other Buddhist cultures. A butsudan is a wooden cabinet with doors that enclose and protect a religious icon, typically a statue or a mandala scroll. The doors are opened to display the icon during religious observances. A butsudan usually contains subsidiary religious items called "butsugu," such as candlesticks, incense burners, bells, and platforms for placing offerings.
Some buddhist sects place "ihai", memorial tablets for deceased relatives, within or near the butsudan.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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According to the various Buddhist sect, the main deity (honzon, go honzon 本尊　ご本尊) celebrated at the altar is different. For the Zen sect, it is Shakyamuni, the Buddha, in the center and Bodhidaruma on the right side. On the left is the founder of the sect.


There are many types of BUTSUDAN in a style called
DARUMA
仏壇 達磨, ダルマ箱檀

Many are in a small box format for the modern apartment dwellers with little space.


CLICK image for more photos !


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Butsudan from Kyoto　京仏壇



They are the most elaborate and expensive ones, more than 700.0000 Yen.
They are made by various craftsmen, each one a specialist in his field:
cutting the wooden parts, laquering, putting gold foil on the laquer, carve the various detailed parts, making the roof part ...
It takes more than half a year to finish one.


quote
Kyoto, the center of Imperial Court culture, is also the center of Buddhist culture. Temples, large and small, of many Buddhist denominations are located throughout the city. It was while meeting the demand from these numerous temples and also from households that Kyoto's Butsudan (called Kyo-Butsudan) and Butsugu (Kyo-Butsugu) developed.
source : www.kyoto-teramachi.or.jp


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Bodhidaruma on a scroll for the family altar
ダルマ大師


©　www.lumiere8.com


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For the Soto Zen Sect
Dogen, Shakyamuni, Daruma
道元禅師　釈迦如来　達磨大師
©　b-mori.co.jp


For the Rinzai Zen Sect
Rinzai, Shakyamuni, Daruma
開祖　釈迦如来　達磨大師
臨済宗


©　b-mori.co.jp

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Butsudan for members of the Soto Zen sect
曹洞宗 (Sootoo shuu)


©　www.butudan.co.jp


The Buddha-altar (Butsudan)
A Buddha-altar isn’t only a place to honor one’s ancestors. Within the altar, there is an area where Mt. Sumeru (the mountain at the center of the Buddhist cosmology) is represented and in the center of that area the main image is enshrined. In the same way as a temple’s main Dharma Hall, the Buddha-altar is “the temple in the middle of the home".

The significance of the Buddha-altar
The three fundamentals of Soto Zen School practice and faith are sitting, gassho, and worship. It is by sitting with a quiet mind, with our hands held together in gassho, and worshipping (expressing our reverence) that we are able to reflect on our everyday lives and practice the teaching of Buddha. Fulfilling this practice brings us peace of mind. To honor our ancestors is to repay our sense of gratitude for having received life from them. This is also to keenly feel that we have inherited not only our individual lives but the life of all things.

Read it all here please:
©　global.sotozen-net.or.jp


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Daruma Magazine
©　Daruma Issue 49

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Altar Scrolls with Fudo Myo-O

Buddhist Altar Cloth (uchishiki　打敷）

Bon Festival, O-Bon, Obon e 　お盆　

Daruma Museum

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................ H A I K U


butsudan ni honzon kaketa ka hototogisu

"Is the main image
Set on the altar?"
Cries the hototogisu.

Soukan
Tr. Blyth

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巣箱ほどの仏壇を買ふ春夕べ
subako hodo no butsudan o kau haru yuube

a Buddhist altar
in a size of a birdhouse
spring evening

Akao Fumiko 赤尾冨美子
Tr. Fay Aoyagi



small modern butsudan


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This young temple,
Is still collecting smells,
Taking them into the wood,
Of the butsudan and shrines.

©　Richard Crabtree
amida haiku

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RENKU and kannonbiraki (観音開き)

lit. this is a door that opens to both sides of a cupboard, displaying the cupboard interior in the middle. This is in contrast to the sliding doors which are usual in a Japanese home.

The Buddha Shelf for the Ancestors (butsudan) in a home opens like this too, and usually shows the statue of a little Kannon Bosatsu, hence the name.
biraki ... hiraki 開き... hiraku ... to open

. WKD
Renku, 連句、renga 連歌 : Linked Verse


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