Reflective Pond at Byōdōin

 The most beautiful and captivating part of Byōdōin to me was the amazing water in front of the temple. The Phoenix Hall was also obviously amazing too, but the water, and specifically the reflections of the temple in the water were breathtaking. It was very cool to see this, and also made this temple stand out from the other places we have visited. This large reflective pond isn’t just pretty though, it also holds symbolic meaning related to Pure Land Buddhism.

In Pure Land Buddhism, it is taught that through your faith in Amina Buddha, you can be reborn in the Pure Land and reach enlightenment and peace. Byōdōin’s layout captures this quite well. When researching it more, I found that it’s designed like this in order to make it sees like the Phoenix Hall is floating on the water, like a “celestial palace”. When you look at the hall from across the pond, like in the photo, you can see the reflection of the hall, creating a mirrored image. This suggests that there is another world below the surface, suggesting that we are a lot closer to the Pure Land than we think it is. 

It’s a pretty neat thing to think about and definitely changes your perspective. Looking at these reflections causes us to reflect on this idea that paradise is actually not far away. It was designed this way on purpose. The original builders of the temple were intentionally trying to build an earthly version of Amida’s pure land. The garden, pond, and hall are al working together to try to achieve that goal. It makes it so that when you go there, you’re not just hearing about Pure Land, you’re seeing a taste of it, even experiencing it a little bit.