Steve McCarty 🇯🇵<p>A place can be historic without being old, as is usually the case here in Asia. The Thai royalty shared with Japan and two other countries ashes that had helped prove that the Buddha was a historical person. I certainly accept that there was a Gautama or Shakyamuni, but in graduate school I uncovered all sorts of loving embellishments: a huge lore of legends, stories of past lives, miracle birth, and dreams, all rich in symbolism of spiritual growth. </p><p>We went to Nagoya to see my wife's mother, and we participated in a ceremony for her late father at Kakuōzan Nittai-ji (名古屋の覚王山日泰寺), which houses the relics shared by King Chulalongkorn. The temple uniquely belongs to no religious sect, yet all the Japanese Buddhist sects take turns providing the head priest to Nittai-ji, which means Japan-Thai temple. It was built in 1904, and it's in the big city, yet it looks quite imposing with the summer sky.</p><p><a href="https://hcommons.social/tags/Japan" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Japan</span></a> <a href="https://hcommons.social/tags/Thailand" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Thailand</span></a> <a href="https://hcommons.social/tags/Thai" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Thai</span></a> <a href="https://hcommons.social/tags/Nagoya" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Nagoya</span></a> <a href="https://hcommons.social/tags/Buddhism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Buddhism</span></a> <a href="https://hcommons.social/tags/Buddha" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Buddha</span></a> <a href="https://hcommons.social/tags/religion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>religion</span></a> <a href="https://hcommons.social/tags/history" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>history</span></a> <br><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/religion" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>religion</span></a></span> <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/histodons" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>histodons</span></a></span></p>