Let me begin with a rendering of the HP of Kyobashi san.
http://www..amie.or.jp/daruma/jindaiji.html

The illustration shows a Daruma from the Temple Jindai-ji in Mitaka, a suburb of Tokyo. On the belly we have the Chinese characters representing the name of "Ganzan Daishi" 元三大師. This is another name for the famous 18th head priest of the monastic center at Mount Hiei, Jie Daishi 慈恵大師 of the Tendai sect. Because he was born on the third of January in 985, he got this name. He had great spiritual power in warding off evil in daily life and many stories of his deeds are handed down to us. He is also called "Master Warding Off Evil" (mayoke daishi 魔除大師、gooma daishi 降魔大師).
There was a statue of Ganzan Daishi in the temple Jidai-ji, but in the Muromachi period there was a great fire and only this statue was saved, since it flew all by itself into the nearby pond 五大尊池. This episode even strengthened the belief of the people in the supernatural powers of this great master, which is alive until our days. The unification of this Great Master and Daruma san to ward off evil should have a double effect on your good luck, so on the yearly temple festival on Marach 3 and 4 there is a big Daruma market in the temple grounds, where you can buy all kinds of good-luck Daruma dolls.
You can ask a priest to paint in the left eye, in this case not the round pupil but the first syllable of Sanskrit A ｢阿｣ to indicate the beginning of your good-luck period. When the wish is fullfilled, you have the syllable UN ｢吽｣, the last syllable of the Sanskrit alphabet painted in the right eye. A is the first sound pronounced while opening your mouth, it is the origin of all sounds and represents the origin of all life, the woumb. UN is the last sound when closing your mouth. (A-UN is the Japanese pronunciation; usually we know this sound as the holy mantram OM or AUM.) In this way at Jindai-ji you have a reliable means to reinforce Daruma san's already salutary properties.
We find these symbols of open and closed mouth also for example in the pair of lion-dogs (koma-inu 狛犬) sitting on both sides of the entrance to a shrine or temple, warding off any evil spirits. A can also be interpreted as the entrance to life and UN the entrance to death.
In esoteric Buddhism there is also a tradition to meditate on a hanging scroll of this syllable as the symbol for Buddha, called "Visualisation of the Syllable A" (ajikan 阿字観), which we will study a little more further down this story.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

http://www.d6.dion.ne.jp/~yoen/aji.htm

In the Daruma rendering of Jindai-ji we can feel the history of Daruma coming from India, going through many changes on the way and now through the painting of the eyes being the condensed symobl of the people's wish for long life, happiness, warding off evil and getting benefits in this world.
By the way, there is one more temple in the Kanto area where Ganzan Daishi is revered and an annual Daruma market is held, the Kita-In of Kawagoe 川越の喜多院. (We will explore that in a separate story.)

According to Prof. McFarland, we can also learn this about Jindai-ji temple.
The Daruma market at Jindai-ji is held in March, closer to the traditional New Year of the Chinese lunar calendar and the beginning of spring. So this event is also called the "inviting of spring" (haru o yobu 春を呼ぶ), as the saying goes: "In Tokyo spring follows the Jindai-ji Daruma market." Normally the Daruma markets are held on the first three days of the new year in January, to get your good luck for the rest of the year.

The Temple Jindai-ji　深大寺
The temple Jindai-ji is one of the oldest in Tokyo, coming right after the famous Kannon temple in Asakusa and is well known for its Daruma market. After a visit to the temple you can enjoy a meal of buckwheat noodles, another speciality of this area. The main deity enshrined in this temple is Amida Nyorai.
東京では浅草寺についで古い歴史を持つ寺で、春のだるま市は大変賑わう。門前町はほとんどが深大寺そばを食べさせる店である。

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
http://jindaiji.s12.xrea.com/frame01.htm
http://www.jindaiji.co.jp/jindaiji.html
http://www.st.rim.or.jp/~oshimak/chofu/jindaiji.html
Here is the beatuiful old entrance gate with many stickers from the pilgrims over the years. You can also see the bronze gong called "Crocodile Mouth" (waniguchi 鰐口).
門にはたくさんのお札が貼ってあります。鰐口も印象的です。

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
http://isweb41.infoseek.co.jp/photo/fw190a8/article/jin/dai.html

The temple sells of course a lot of talismans and auspicious votive pictures connected with Ganzan Daishi and Daruma Daishi.

元三大師降魔札	だるま絵馬

http://tenqoo.hoops.ne.jp/xjindai.htm

The annual Daruma market at Jindai-ji on March 3/4 　三月の達磨市
Some dealers still carry their Daruma dolls in baskets of woven bamboo in the oldfashioned way.
店によっては今でもこのような竹かごに入れて達磨を運んでくる。

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
http://members.home.ne.jp/ororo/jindaiji.htm

Many colorful Daruma are sold.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
http://photo.jcc.co.jp/scoop/9903/990303kk1-1.html
After you buy a Daruma, the priest fills in the eye for you, as we have learned.
ご住職が目をいれてくれます。

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
Another talisman for good luck is a Beckoning Cat holding Daruma.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　開運につながる達磨抱え猫.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
http://members.home.ne.jp/ororo/jindai2002.html

Jindai-ji also features a Pet Cemetery.　
動物の墓地もあります。
There is a special Kannon Statue for the Animals (choojuu Kannon 鳥獣観音)
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Read more about this cemetery in English here.
http://www.musashinokk.co.jp/tomonokai/E_index.html

The Sanskrit Alphabet 梵字、種字
One of the specialities of this temple is the painting of Sanskrit letters in the eyes of Daruma. The use of Sanskrit syllables is especially common in esoteric Buddhism. After all Buddhism came from India and Sanskrit is the old written language of this area. The Greek alphabet starts with ALPHA and ends with OMEGA whereas the Sanskrit uses A and UN or OM, as we have seen.
In esoteric Buddhism every Buddha or deity is represented by one or more syllables of this Sanskrit alphabet. These important syllables are also called "Seed Syllables"(shuji 種字). There are special Mandalas where the deities are represented only by these letters, each one on a little lotus flower.
インドの古典語である梵語（サンスクリット語）を文字にしたもので、中国から伝わってきた密教的要素のつよい文字です。梵字は「種字｣(しゅじ)ともいわれ書体自体が仏や菩薩を象徴し植物の種のように意味や功徳が派生していくと考えられています。
Let us have a closer look at the eyes of Daruma and the two chracters written in them.
だるまさんの目をもういちどゆっくり見ましょう。

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
On the following HP you can find the seed syllables for every deity. This is a very useful dictionary, even if you do not read Japanese. Click on any of the names to find the according syllables.
梵字学典と種字の説明の便利なHPです。見たいものをclickして下さい。 釈迦三尊　阿弥陀三尊　薬師三尊　不動三尊　大日三尊　四天王　五大尊　 五如来　胎蔵界五仏　金剛界五仏　六地蔵　胎蔵界中台八葉院　九曜星　法華曼荼羅　
http://www.tctv.ne.jp/tobifudo/bonzisyo/bindex.html
For example here is the page for the Wisdom King Fudoo, one of my favorite deities.
http://www.tctv.ne.jp/tobifudo/butuzo/13butu/fudo.html

You can learn more about this Sanskrit alphabet from this useful book.

Here is a full circle of the syllables and their Japanese pronunciation.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

There is another book by the same author: 徳山暉純『ア字と真言』木耳社.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

There is a store where you can buy a pendant with the Sanscrit syllable of your protecting deity according to your year of birth.
ご自分の守り本尊の種字ペンダントがあるお店です。
http://www.3rise.co.jp/art/pen.html

The Ajikan Visualisation 　阿字観
This is a special method of meditation found in esoteric Buddhism. You sit in front of a scroll with a Sanscrit letter in a circle, usually the letter A, and meditate on its meaning. Since each deity has its own letter, you can use others too.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
http://www.buzan.or.jp/letstry/ajikan.htm

阿字（あじ）
サンスクリットの最初の文字。万有の根源を象徴した字。密教では宇宙万有を法身とみなし、それを象徴する字。すなわち、胎臓界大日如来の種字。五輪の地輪の意。
http://www.kotobuki-p.co.jp/yougo/yougoa.htm
http://www.shingon.or.jp/ajikan.htm
Here are the three syllables for the Buddhas Dainichi, Fudoo and Aizen.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　長久寺三尊（大日・不動・愛染）
http://village.infoweb.ne.jp/~tokuzoji/hoka.HTM

Esoteric Buddhism and the founder of Zen, Daruma Daishi, in happy coexistence at this temple of Tendai Esoteric Buddhism - what can we learn from this?
このお寺で密教の大師や禅宗の達磨大師が協同で人のために働いてくれる - そう言う実態が私達現代人になにを語りかけているのでしょうか？