耳飾りと達磨さん
First I will give you a short rendering of the explanations Mr. Kyobashi
wrote on the subject of Daruma and Earrings, as you can find in Japanese
on this HP:
http://www.amie.or.jp/daruma/earring.html
If you look closely at the many pictures and statues of Daruma, you realize that sometimes he is depicted as a real human monk in situations of his life, for example the story when Daruma leaves for India and is seen in the Pamir Mountains. (See the story about Sekiri Daruma.)
There are 73 pictures of Daruma iconography (Daruma-zu 達磨図) to be found in Japan and in 37 of them (51%) he wears earrings of some kind. Some seem to be in the form of a Wishfulfilling Jewel (mani hooju 魔尼宝珠), or made of silver or gold.
Maybe the circle of Zen Symbolism (ensoo円相) is also represented in these round Earrings?
Some other pictures show Daruma with a large hole in his earlobe, but
without a ring. Maybe he forgot to put on his rings? In Chinese pictures
he usually wears his rings.
In pictures of Esoteric Buddhism (mikkyoo密教) you find many statues with
earrings. The following illustration is from a Chinese picture.
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When did the earrings first appear in Japan? Maybe in pictures of the famous Chinese Monk Sanzoo Hooshi (三蔵法師), who went to India to get the sutras? Do the earrings have a special meaning in the various Buddhist sects of Japan?
On the pictures checked for this short essay Kyobashi San found 42 with Daruma looking to the right (58%), 17 looking to the left (23%) and 14 looking straight forward. Well, what does this tell us?
So far the story of Mr. Kyobashi.
Now I will give you my short comment on this.
Visiting a Zen temple in Kamakura researching about Buddha statues, the
priest told me the following: "The Buddha statues represent Shakyamuni
in different forms of his life and enlightened power. As a Nyorai (如来),
he is fully enlightened and does not need any more worldly attire. So
these statues are usually very simple and without jewellery. Statues of
Kannon (観音) and other bodhisattvas (bosatsu菩薩) represent the Buddha
before the final enlightenment, so they are still in a worldly fashion
and wear a lot of jewellery, after all Shakyamuni was a prince himself
and thus had to wear heavy earrings of gold or silver. That is why his
earlobes are shown with a big hole and hanging down heavily. If you want
to get enlightenment, you better start by imitating the Nyorai himself."
And believe me, from that day 20 years ago I have never worn any jewellery
again! Not that it matters with the enlightenment process...
Applying this wisdom to Daruma, maybe the pictures with earrings show
him as a struggeling human being, before the Nine Years of Wall Gazing
(menpeki kunen 面壁九年). And the pictures without rings represent him
as an enlightened power, a symbol of the Zen Wisdom he himself embodied.
If you have some ideas about this problem, please share them with me.
I really enjoyed the research of Mr. Kyobashi and to finish this serious talk, I will show you some samples of my collection with earrings as a special feature of a Daruma representation. By the way, they are sometimes called "Lucky Ears" (fukumimi 福耳).
杏橋さんの話はこちらで日本語を見てください。
http://www.amie.or.jp/daruma/earring.html
私のコメント：
20年も前に鎌倉のある禅寺を訪ねたとき、お坊さんからつぎの話を聞きました：
“仏像にはお釈迦様の「如来」、観音菩薩の「菩薩」や他に「明王」や「天部」などがあります。「如来」は悟りを開いた最高の段階、「菩薩」はその一歩手前というか、悟りを求めて修行しているんです。菩薩や明王は如来の化佛として、お釈迦様の皇子様の時の姿をあらわしています。ですから「菩薩」には、インドの皇子にふさわしい飾り物を沢山つけて、耳たぶにも大きな穴があるものが多い。だから、あなたも悟りを得たいのなら、まず宝石類を身につけないことですね。”
その日から私はいっさいアクセサリーをつけませんでした。効果があったこと聞かないでね。
達磨さんの話に戻りますが、多分同じく耳飾の達磨さんはまだ修行中の人間、面 壁九年の前の達磨坊さん。耳飾のない達磨大師は悟りを得た禅思想のシンボルかもしれない。ほかになにか説明がありましたらぜひ教えてください。
私は杏橋さんのお話が大好き。大きな耳束、大きな耳飾、福耳とも言う。私のコレクションも見てください。
The following two have special metal earrings sticking out.
下の二枚にある達磨の耳飾りは金属で、特別に出ています。
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This is a special piece of Bizen pottery. His earrings on both ears are
free to be moved! It takes a special process to fire such a piece. We
will talk about this in the Bizen
story.
これは備前焼の達磨です。耳飾りが動くようにできています。特別な技法でつくっていますので絶品です。
（詳しい話は備前焼で。）
This one has two earrings, one of the 14 percent looking straigt at you.
He is engraved on a piece of bamboo.
耳飾りが二個あります。竹の彫り物です。
The last one is a little difficult to see, but I am sure you can figure
out the huge earrings with a heart-shaped pendant this Daruma is wearing.
こちらの達磨さんはすごく大きい耳飾りを身につけています。ハートの形のペンダントが印象的です。ちょっと見ずらいですが、ごめんなさい。
gokuraku@po.harenet.ne.jp
