Sangedatsu-mon Gate, Zojoji Temple

Walking distance from Onari-mon Station etc., Tokyo, JAPAN
Important Cultural Property / Nationally Designated / Buildings

(Photo by (c)Tomo.Yun http://www.yunphoto.net)

Sangedatsu-mon Gate is the main gate of Zojoji Temple. Zojoji Temple was the family temple of the Tokugawa Shogun family, and was designed after the Buddhist paradise.

"Sangedatsu" means  emancipation from 3 kinds of worldly attachments (passions, desires, worries, etc.). Sangedatsu-mon Gate is the gate to enter the Buddhist paradise (the Pure Land) from this impure world. As you approach the main Great Hall passing through Daimon Gate (the outer gate) to Sangedatsu-mon Gate (the inner gate), you emancipate yourself from the full set of the 108 kinds of worldly desires and worries to be Nirvana, and at Sangedatsu-mon Gate you emancipate from the final 3 desires and worries, which are greediness, anger and senseless. In the main Great Hall, you find Pure Land Buddha.

In the upper layer of the gate, settled are the statues of Buddha and achievers of Nirvana.




Official Website - Sangedatsu-mon Gate, Zojoji Temple (in English)
http://www.zojoji.or.jp/en/#cultural