Virtual Shikoku Pilgrimage

In June of 2019, it was my privilege to visit the Seattle Koyasan Temple, a Shingon Buddhist temple near the city’s International District, to take a “virtual” Shikoku pilgrimage. They prepare their meeting halls and hallways with signs for each of the 88 Shikoku pilgrimage temples. On the floor in front of all the signs are sandbags with the names of the temples on them. Inside the bags is sand collected from each of the 88 temples, so you can say you’ve visited each temple by standing on these bags. In this “virtual” pilgrimage, participants stand on the each bag, say “Nomaku sanmanda bodanan baku” (a mantra paying homage to all Buddhas), bow, and move on to the next temple. Slowly and mindfully, you can visit all 88 temples. Here are a few photos from my visit (I appear in one of them, when we went outdoors to cleanse ourselves before starting the pilgrimage).