Many of the place-names given to sacred sites on Shugendo mountains are illustrative of Shugendo theory and practice. Thus Shugendo may be understood through an examination of these place-names. In the name of a sacred mountain of Shugendo, the final character (山) is read-sen (rather than the usual -san or -yama) in order to indicate that a mountain ascetic (仙人, sennin) has undergone ascetic practice there; this is the case with the principal center of Shugendo, Kinbu-sen in Yoshino, Nara Prefecture. Kinbu-sen is also called Kane-no-mitake; the character for -take (a large stony peak) is frequently used in the names of the sacred mountains of Shugendo. Mountains with names such as Fudo-sen (from the Sk. Acalanatha) and Dainichi-ga-take (from the Sk. Mahavairocana) express objects of worship in Shugendo, while others, such as Mandara-sen ("Mount Mandala") and Misen (i.e. [Shu] misen, Sk. Sumeru) are themselves expressions of the cosmos. Shugendo practice at these sacred mountains consists of the ritual cleansing of body and mind at the Harai-kawa ("Purification River") at the foot of the mountain, the ascension of the Nobori-iwa ("Climbing Rock"), performing penitence for one's wrongs while being held upside-down over a precipice named Nozoki ("Viewing"), and crawling through a crevice with the name Tainai-kuguri ("Passing-through-the-Womb"). Shugendo practice may also be undertaken at places that represent other realms, such as Jigokudani ("Hell Valley") and Jodo-ga-hara ("Pure-land Field"). The names of these mountains and mountain sites indicate that to Shugendo practitioners they are places in which deities and spirits dwell and where, through religious practice, they will be reborn as buddhas.
|
