Todaiji

Temple · Nara

Tōdai-ji · the Great Buddha of Nara

Protection & Safety

Researched and translated with AI assistance. Every claim is linked to its source, but errors get through, so check the official site for opening times, fees and closures.About

In short

The temple of the Great Buddha, begun in 743 under an edict praying that all things, animate and growing, may flourish.

The Daibutsuden of Todaiji, the great hall that houses the Vairocana Buddha, seen across its forecourt. — 663highland / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5)

Quick facts

Address: 406-1 Zoshicho, Nara
Spiritual entities: Vairocana (毘盧遮那佛, Birojana)

About this place

Todaiji, in Nara, is the head temple of the Kegon school. In 743 Emperor Shōmu issued the edict for the making of the Great Vairocana Buddha at the Shigaraki palace. Its wish was put in one phrase: that all things, the moving and the growing alike, may flourish. The body of the buddha was cast in the tenth month of 749, and a great eye-opening ceremony was held in the fourth month of 752.

Origin and history

By the temple’s own history, Emperor Shōmu issued the edict for the making of the Great Vairocana Buddha in 743, at the Shigaraki palace. Its purpose was expressed as the flourishing of all things animate and growing — a wish for the Kegon world in which all things interpenetrate without obstruction.

The body of the buddha was cast in the tenth month of 749, and the great eye-opening ceremony was performed in the fourth month of 752.

What it is locally associated with

OriginProtection & Safety
An edict for everything alive
The edict of 743 stated its purpose as the flourishing of all things, the moving and the growing alike.
documented history
Origin
Nine years from edict to eye-opening
The body of the buddha was cast in the tenth month of 749, and the eye-opening ceremony was held in the fourth month of 752.
documented history
Power spot
Wishing for the Kegon world
The temple records that the edict’s wish was for the Kegon world, in which all things interpenetrate without obstruction.
documented history

What is prayed for at this temple survives in a state document, with a date on it. The edict of 743 gave the reason for making the Great Buddha in one phrase: that all things, the moving and the growing, may flourish. What was to be protected was not the emperor and not the capital — it was everything alive.

Few founding documents anywhere cast their prayer that wide. And the prayer was actually cast, in gilt bronze: the body in 749, the eyes opened in 752. Nine years from edict to eye-opening — a temple where the wish written in a document became a statue fifteen metres high.

Claims and evidence levels 3

In 743 Emperor Shōmu issued the edict for the making of the Great Vairocana Buddha at the Shigaraki palace. documented history
The temple records the edict’s purpose as the flourishing of all things animate and growing — a wish for the Kegon world of unobstructed interpenetration. documented history
The body of the buddha was cast in the tenth month of 749, and the eye-opening ceremony was held in the fourth month of 752. documented history

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