Temple Protocol

1. For all temples you visit if on the meguri or not, you will enter through a main gate. This is the first sign you are visiting a buddhist temple, not a shinto shrine. Bow when you enter and leave the gate to the temple area.

2. Wash hands and clean your mouth in water, which is always located near the entrance to the temple area.

3. When arriving at the temple the henro may stop at the belfry and ring the bell to let Buddha and the temple's main deities know that they have arrived. Apparently you should only ring the bell when you enter and not when you leave, as ringing the bell as you leave may shatter and spoil any enlightenment experience you might have had while at the temple. I wish I had known this beforehand.

4. Proceed to the Hondo (main shrine)

5. Place one Osame-fuda in the box provided. These are the slips of paper on which you write your name, address and a wish or prayer. This is an important step, and in fact the temples on Shikoku are often called Fudasho, ie places where the Fuda are offered. The first image to the right show the colours of the osame-fuda, they correspond to how many times the henro has completed the meguri. I met several people who had been 4-5 times, and one person who had completed 21 meguri!

6. Osaisen (coins) should be dropped in a box in front of the shrine. Senko (incense stick) as well as a candle should be lit in memory of your ancestors.

7. Chant the Hannya-shingyo (heart sutra) once.

佛説摩訶般若波羅蜜多心經 BUSSETSU MA KA HAN NYA HA RA MI TA SHIN GYOU The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra. 観自在菩薩,行深般若波羅蜜多時, KAN JI ZAI BO SA GYOU JIN HAN NYA HA RA MI TA JI When the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara was practicing the deep Perfection of Wisdom, 照見五蘊皆空,度一切苦厄, SHOU KEN GO UN KAI KUU DO ISSAI KU YAKU he intuitively perceived that the five aggregates are all empty; thus passed beyond all sufferings and difficulty. 舎利子,色不異空,空不異色, SHA RI SHI SHIKI FU I KUU KUU FU I SHIKI Sariputra, form does not differ from emptiness, and emptiness does not differ from form. 色即是空,空即是色, SHIKI SOKU ZE KUU KUU SOKU ZE SHIKI Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form; 受想行識,亦復如是,　 JU SOU GYOU SHIKI YAKU BU NYO ZE the same is true for feelings, perceptions, formations, and consciousness. 舎利子,是諸法空相, SHA RI SHI ZE SHO HOU KUU SOU Sariputra, these are the characteristics of the emptiness of all dharmas: 不生不滅,不垢不浄,不増不減, FU SHOU FU METSU FU KU FU JOU FU ZOU FU GEN They neither arise nor cease, are neither defiled nor pure, neither increase nor decrease. 是故空中,無色無受想行識, ZE KO KUU JUU MU SHIKI MU JU SOU GYOU SHIKI Therefore, in emptiness there is no form, no feelings, perceptions, formations, or consciousness; 無眼耳鼻舌身意,無色聲香味触法, MU GEN NI BI ZESSHIN NI MU SHIKI SHOU KOU MI SOKU HOU No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind; No form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or mind object; 無眼界,乃至無意識界, MU GEN KAI NAI SHI MU I SHIKI KAI No eye sense-sphere, until we come to no consciousness sense-sphere, 無無明,亦無無明盡,乃至無老死,亦無老死盡, MU MU MYOU YAKU MU MU MYOU JIN NAI SHI MU ROU SHI YAKU MU ROU SHI JIN No ignorance nor the ending of ignorance, until we come to no old age and death nor the ending of old age and death; 無苦集滅道, MU KU JUU METSU DOU No Truth of Suffering, Cause of Suffering, Cessation of Suffering, nor Path to the Cessation of Suffering. 無智亦無得,以無所得故, MU CHI YAKU MU TOKU I MU SHO TOKKO There is no wisdom, nor is there attainment, for there is nothing to be attained. 菩提薩埵,依般若波羅蜜多故, BO DAI SATTA E HAN NYA HA RA MI TA KO Because Bodhisattvas rely on the Perfection of Wisdom. 心無罣礙,無罣礙故, SHIN MU KE GE MU KE GE KO Nothing obstructs their minds. Because obstructions exist not, 無有恐怖,遠離一切顛倒夢想,究竟涅槃, MU U KU FU ON RI ISSAI TEN DOU MU SOU KUU GYOU NE HAN they have no fear and pass far beyond all illusions and imagination and awaken to ultimate Nirvana. 三世諸佛。依般若波羅蜜多故, SAN ZE SHO BUTSU E HAN NYA HA RA MI TA KO All the Buddhas of the past, present, and future, by relying on the Perfection of Wisdom, 得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提, TOKU A NOKU TA RA SAN MYAKU SAN BO DAI attain Unsurpassed Perfect Enlightenment. 故知般若波羅蜜多, KO CHI HAN NYA HA RA MI TA Therefore, know that the Perfection of Wisdom 是大神咒,是大明咒,是無上咒,是無等等咒, ZE DAI JIN SHU ZE DAI MYOU SHU ZE MU JOU SHU ZE MU TOU DOU SHU is the great mysterious mantra, the great mantra of illumination, the supreme mantra, the unequaled mantra 能除一切苦,真實不虚, NO JO ISSAI KU SHIN JITSU FU KO which can remove all suffering, and is true and not false. 故説般若波羅蜜多咒,即説咒曰, KO SETSU HAN NYA HA RA MI TA SHU SOKU SESSHU WATSU Therefore is said the Mantra of the Perfection of Wisdom: 羯諦羯諦,波羅羯諦,波羅僧羯諦,菩提薩婆訶, GYA TEI GYA TEI HA RA GYA TEI HA RA SOU GYA TEI BO JI SO WA KA GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA 般若心經 HAN NYA SHIN GYOU The Heart Sutra.

8. Recite the mantra/shingon of the main deity of the temple 7 times.
9. Recite the Komyo-shingon sutra 3 times.光明真言 - Light Mantra

唵阿謨伽尾盧左曩摩訶母捺囉麽抳鉢納麽入嚩攞鉢囉韈哆野吽
On abokya beiroshanō makabodara mani handoma jimbara harabaritaya un

Om, the Lord of the Great Sun, Mudra (hand gesture, seal of the Buddha), Mani Jewel, Light and Lotus! Turn the Wheel of Eternal Compassion to all Beings. Hum
10. Kigan and eko prayers. (Kigan menas prayer, eko is to "transfer merit to all beings")

11. Head to the Daishido shrine, (enshrines an image of Kobo Daishi)

12. Offer osame-fuda, money, incense and candles once more.
13. Chant the Hannya-Shingyo sutra once.
14. Chant the Gohogo Mantra at least 21 times.南無大師遍照金剛
namu daishi henjo kongo
Homage to the Great Master, the Vajra of all-pervading spiritual radiance
15. Kigan (the concluding prayer to invoke the power of deity and extend it to all beings)
16. Chant a goeika. (A buddhist hymn which consists of several stanzas. Each temple has different kinds of verses admiring its deity (Honzon), praising the power of the deity and adoring the nature of the temple. It is chanted with a small bell and stick.)

17. Leave for the temple office and ask ask for the seal in your nokyocho.

So how much of all this did I manage? Well, I made sure I at least bowed on entering and leaving, washed my hands, lit an incense stick and after I read the guide book I started to leave an osame fuda at each temple. I would have a prayer or thought at each temple, and get my nokyocho stamped, but as for reciting any mantras or sutras, I passed on this. And as reciting mantras is about THE most important part of shingon buddhism, I was missing a large part of the pilgrim experience here.

So maybe my 88 sins have not all been cleansed yet....