We finished up shooting at Tamagawa Daishi. The abbot gave us some dorayaki and senbei. The snacks tasted religious. The dorayaki were even stamped with bonji, the Siddham script seed syllables.

The most impressive part of shooting at the temple was definitely being able to film in the tunnel, to really be able to study it. The tunnel felt even more underground, than it did the past two times I walked through it. There’s something about viewing a space through a camera that adds to your level of understanding of the space. I imagine it’s because the space is flattened. You see the different parts that compose the space on a single vertical plane – read it and register it on better terms than you could interacting with it in your usual dimension.

It definitely added another level of awe to think that a group of people dug the tunnel by hand for no reason other than to create a single religious experience. Of every instance of religious architecture does this, but there’s something different about a tunnel, an added level of amazement. I suppose that’s why the catacombs of Paris are such a popular tourist destination. Or why people go on road trips to Carlsbad Caverns. What is it about underground spaces that are so impressive? I suppose there also isn’t one cohesive underground experience. I think the draw is definitely there though.

The tunnel at Tamagawa Daishi definitely accomplishes that pitch blackness. I think the only thing that distinguishes it from the cave is its intention. Somebody but all that darkness down there. It’s a different effect. You know instantly that there’s something to be learned from that lack of light. The pitch blackness of a cave on the other hand is just straight up scary, no message,  just a chaotic darkness. On the other hand, the stairs, the shape of the tunnel, the fact that you pay your respects to the different buddhas before entering the tunnel all prepare you for the experience. I suppose it’s sort of like an underground communion wafer.

Another impressive part of the tunnel was that in plan view it is a replica of the diamond realm mandala, that when you’re walking through the tunnel that you are walking through the body of the mahavairocana, that you are essentially entering another dimension. When you think of it this way while walking through the tunnel it adds to the otherworldly experience. In the dark parts it suddenly feels like you aren’t walking on solid ground, but instead moving through a total void. And the light parts open up just that much more. The light is no longer the light of a tungsten bulb, but the light of some other-dimensional being.