Welcome to the Tuesday edition of the Coffee Hour at Street Prophets. This is an open thread where we can discuss what’s happening in our lives, what we’ve been working on, and our opinions on current events. To start our discussion today, I thought I’d bring up Samurai Religion.
At a recent display of Samurai armor at the Portland Art Museum, one of the displays pointed out:
“It is often said that Zen was the religion of the samurai, but warriors espoused a wide variety of Buddhist beliefs, often in combination with elements of Chinese cosmology and Japanese folklore. Fudō Myōō, one of the principal deities of esoteric Buddhism in Japan, was regarded as an all-powerful god who could remove all obstacles to enlightenment. His fierce appearance as a figure enveloped in flames and carrying a sword clearly inspired generations of fighting men.”
The armor shown above contains emblems of the Buddhist deity Fudō Myōō—the dragon engulfed in flames on the helmet and the Sanskrit letters on the sleeves—which are intended to offer the warrior divine protection.
The helmet with a hawk feather shown above was made in the seventeenth or eighteenth century. The frontal crest is the Buddhist Wheel of Law which represents the universal spread of Buddhist teachings. The gigantic hawk feather is made from lacquered wood. Hawks were admired for their sharp eyes, determination, and speed of flight.
The helmet shown above, which dates to the seventeenth century, is made in the shape of a Zen priest’s headdress. The frontal ornament is the Sanskrit letter associated with the Buddhist deity Fudō Myōō.
This helmet, which dates to the seventeenth century, is embellished with a pattern of seven linked stars. In the Buddhist tradition, these stars which represent the brightest starts in the Big Dipper, are gods under the charge of Myōken, the guardian of horses.
The six-plate iron helmet shown above is in the shape of the flaming, wish-fulfilling jewel of Buddhist doctrine. The frontal ornament is the stylized heart of Marishiten, goddess of archers. This helmet was made about 1630.
Welcome to the Street Prophets Coffee Hour. This is an open thread. For a starting question: How do you feel about the intersection of religion and warfare? There are, of course, many in the United States who feel very strongly that the U.S. military should be composed of Christian soldiers who spread the gospel and fight the evils of paganism, atheism, and Islam. Should warfare, and the warriors who engage in it, have their own religion?
Feel free to talk about something more peaceful, like dinner, Congress, climate change, or the weather.