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"Stranger, whosoever thou art and whatsoever be thy creed, when thou enterest this sanctuary, remember thou treadest upon ground hallowed by the worship of ages." So reads the notice at the entrance to the monastery of Kotoku-in, the home of the great statue called the Daibutsu Buddha or the Great Buddha of Kamakura.

The statue may be over 13 meters tall and weigh 860 tons, but it is not the scale of it which draws crowds from all over the world to see it; there are indeed much larger statues of the Buddha in Japan which do not draw the same attention. Undoubtedly, it is the serenity and tremendous inner focus captured on the face of the Buddha as he meditates which inspires countless people to come and in turn look within to find their own inner serenity. The Indian spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy sums it up very nicely: "For me, it is one of the most peaceful places on earth. There are thousands of statues of Lord Buddha in existence, but the large statue at Kamakura embodies boundless peace. When you go there, no matter how restless you are, no matter how much your mind has been bothering you the whole day, no matter how involved you are in the hustle and bustle of life, as soon as you stand before the statue, all your inner turmoil is washed away. The statue embodies the most powerful peace you can ever imagine or feel." The statue's grandeur similarly captivated Rudyard Kipling, author of the Jungle Book, and inspired him to write the following lines: "And whoso will, from Pride released, Contemning neither creed nor priest, May feel the Soul of all the East About him at Kamakura."

The statue itself dates back to the 13th century, and was built by the monks of the 'Pure Land' school of Buddhism, which stands out from other Buddhist schools for its simplicity of philosophy and its reliance on childlike faith in the Buddha. Indeed, when one looks at this statue, it is not hard to imagine the Buddha shouldering the problems of all who come to pray to him, and yet still remaining in a state of perfect equanimity.

(Photo credit: Sharani Robins - Sri Chinmoy Centre Galleries)

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