Great Buddha, Great Cleaning

Once you see the Great Buddha of Todai-ji temple 東大寺 in Nara, you will be overwhelmed by the magnitude. The great Buddha  is 15 meters tall and the largest bronze Buddhist statue in the world. 

His face is 5.3 meters long.  He is the Cosmic Buddha, 

representing the infinite universe.

 "Ceremony of Cleaning the Great Buddha" is held every year on August 7th . The Great Buddha takes a bath once a year. This is a good chance to see in person how huge the Buddha is! 

Before the cleaning ceremony, a special ritual is held to remove the soul of Great Buddha.  So that stomping on his  head,  slapping his face to wipe off dust with dusters and mops won't be blasphemous. 

About 150 priests, worshipers and volunteers clad in white are honored to clean the Great Buddha and collect at least 10 buckets of dust.

"A Voyage to Lilliput" in  "Gulliver's Travels"??         

That tickles! 

                         
The history of the Great Buddha is the history of destruction and restoration. The most part of the pedestal is the original cast in 752. The torso dates back to 1580. And the head was newly cast in 1692.  That's why his face is more black and shining compared with his body. There is the time difference of about 100 years between the face and the body.

 His hand is more than 2.5 meters long.

This is a secret door to climb up to the top of the head. 

The door is at the lower back.  The inside of the Great Buddha is hollow 

and the huge wooden frames are inserted to support the statue.

5 meter tall lotus flower

The great cleaning is finished. Now Great Buddha becomes more handsome and is happily smiling. 

They are going home.

Lotus flowers are symbolic and divine flowers in Buddhism. Event though lotus flowers grow in muddy ponds, the stalks rise high above the ponds and the flowers bloom purely.

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