Okomori is a special custom that visitors of Zenkoji usually practice. Once they arrive at night, they are divided into groups of 4 or 5 people to share a blanket. Then, a monk begins his services and the visitors start chanting the Nembutsu, continuing until morning.
It must be wonderfully moving for Buddhists to have a chance to experience this special custom. Each visitor has a different reaction to the sleepless night of chanting; some reunite with the dead, others encounter Amitabha, and many feel a release from suffering.
Zenkoji is special because it offers this unique Okomori custom. It’s also said that Zenkoji is the only Buddhist temple that’s run by different sects of Buddhism. How does that even work?
Actually, Zenkoji is so old that it existed before religious “sects” were even created. They say that the Buddhist statue in the main hall was given to the emperor over 1,500 years ago, which would make it the oldest statue of Buddha in Japan.
The statue is a “Hibutsu,” which means it’s a Buddhist statue concealed from public view. But you can feel its presence in the main hall. Zenkoji is also known to have hosted Prince Shotoku, a semi-legendary regent and a politician of Japan. He offered a letter to Amitabha through the Hibutsu for his recently departed father. In this way, Zenkoji has been known to accept all kinds of people since the beginning-- regardless of gender or status. No matter who you are or how you feel about your spirituality, you are warmly welcomed at Zenkoji.
"You should visit Zenkoji at least once no matter what.” The visitors of Zenkoji come in all shapes and sizes, with different personalities and different reasons. But they all use the same path to get here-- the same path you used. Did you make your mark on this impressionable path?