Mandala and Shinden

I agree that in a Japanese Shinto shrine or Buddhist temple, a mandala and shinden combination would be seen as very odd by Japanese. If I were running a temple or shrine in Japan, where certain expectations were hard to dislodge, I would most probably do things differently than I do in the USA

In my Quest Centers throughout the USA, the majority of our students are wonderful Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and atheist people, (with maybe a few closet Wiccans or Zoroastrians in there, too) so I am careful not to overemphasize any Asian spiritual concepts that could be misinterpreted as my endorsing one religion as the "Quest way."

The book ENLIGHTENED SELF-PROTECTION does have a description of a classical home or dojo shinden, for those who would like more info on a more traditional set-up.

My own model of using shinden and mandala comes from what I observed while training at a Kyushu shugendo dojo in the 1980s. The head of that dojo was admittedly a bit of a Japanese eccentric, but I enjoyed his inspiration of blending in a synchronistic way differing forms of accessing similar or at least complimentary insights and energies.

My ninjutsu teacher Masaaki Hatsumi used to have an extremely "creative" set of shinden in the dojo where we trained in the 1970s - an amazing blend of what would be called Shinto, Buddhist, Taoist, and ancestor reverence influences. (As a side note, since the early 1980s, Hatsumi Sensei has radically downplayed in public the spiritual and psychic aspects of his training with Takamatsu Sensei. I am aware that my continuing to teach and interpret such material that now seems "taboo" in modern Bujinkan circles does confuse many people who began their Bujinkan studies after the 1982 Festival.)

On the other hand, in spite of my own penchant for eclectic values, I do my best to dissuade my friends and students from such practices as burning incense on the shinden shelf or using little brass Zen bowl-bells to signal the start of class. Why some adaptations are OK and other conventions are not to be broken is way too lengthy a discussion for this venue, so let's discuss it personally at a workshop or Festival if it is really important to you.

- Stephen K. Hayes