0050 Ash Buddhas

In at least one Buddhist temple in Japan, ancestor worship is way more substantive than you might imagine. The temple is called Isshinji and it is in Osaka which is located in the western part of Honshu. The Isshinji temple is the home of okotsubutsu, that is, statues of Buddha that are made entirely out of the ashes of the dearly departed. You heard that right. Since 1887, the cremated remains of many an ancestor have been formed into larger-than-life sized statues of Buddha that are described in the temple’s brochure as “easily felt to be friendly” . Leave it to the Japanese, a culture that was into reuse long before it became eco-chic, to come up with this, the ultimate form of recycling. #ceas #hacker #japan #tsutsui