Konpon-daitō 根本大塔こんぽんだいとう

The Great Stupa

The Danjō-garan and, indeed, all of Mt. Kōya are dominated by the 48-meter-tall, vermillion-colored tower that gives physical presence to the central idea that pervades Shingon Buddhist belief. Known as the Konpon Daitō, or "Great Pagoda of the Fundamental [Principle]," the original building was conceived by Kūkai as the central locus of ritual concentration and meditation. It was completed in 887 by his successor and nephew, Shinzen (d. 891).

Records indicate that the tower has been rebuilt no fewer than five times since the original was destroyed by a lightning strike in 994.

The present structure, which is made of reinforced concrete, was rededicated in 1937. The tower enshrines a large golden image of Dainichi Nyorai (Mahāvairocana), the Great Sun Buddha and principal object of worship within Esoteric Buddhism.

credited image of the interior of Konpon-daitō — Dainichi Nyorai (photo courtesy of Kongōbuji Shūmu Sōchō Kōshitsu)

Dainichi appears as he does in the Womb Realm Mandala with his hands in the samādhi (or dhyāni) mudrā of meditation. But he is surrounded by statues of four Buddhas and sixteen columns of Bodhisattvas as they are arranged in the Diamond Realm Mandala. Konpon Daitō is, thus, not only a three-dimensional mandala; it is a synthesis of these two worlds and a manifest statement of their ultimate non-duality.

KoyaQuest

KoyaQuest

KoyaQuest

Konpon-daitō

KoyaQuest

Konpon-daitō

Konpon-daitō 根本大塔こんぽんだいとう

The Great Stupa