The Great Buddha Hall

Tôdai-ji, the largest wooden structure in the world, is located in Nara, Japan. The grand temple was started in 745 C.E. by the Emperor Shōmu and upon the completion of the Great Buddha statue in 752 C.E. the building was complete, that is until a series of tragedies plagued the structure. The irony of the misfortunes of the building is that the original reason for the building of this grand structure was for the Buddha to protect Japan from disasters. After two fires the Daibutsuden, Great Buddha Hall, has been rebuilt and is a much smaller size than its predecessors. The construction of the building and its bronze (originally the statue was cast in copper) inhabitants despoiled Japan of its copper resources and left the country on the brink of bankruptcy.

The Great Buddha Hall is the home of a massive bronze statue of the Buddha Birushana, the celestial Buddha, representing the cultivation of insight and the path to inner peace through the realization of emptiness. Originally the Buddha was cast in copper giving it a lustrous sheen that was then covered in gold leaf. The current bronze statue is a fraction of the size of the original and lacks the less rigid appearance of the original; however some of the original glittering copper does remain and can easily be distinguished from the dull bronze. Seated on a giant lotus throne, representation of nirvana, Buddha Birushana is depicted in the clothing of a monk and holding his hands in the Raigō-in, mudra of reasoning.

Buddha Birushana is not the only significant resident of the temple and Buddhism is not the only religion represented at Tôdai-ji. The Sika Deer roam freely on the grounds of the temple as they are messengers of the gods, according to the Shintoism. Also found in at the entrance to the temple are the protectors of Japanese Buddhism, the 26 foot tall Niō statues. These terrifying guardians are said to ward off evil spirits and according to tradition were the actual protectors