Potalaka- Buddhist LocationLocation · Landmark"Abode of Avalokiteshvara"

The Mountain in the Southern Sea

The Gandavyuha Sutra tells the story of Sudhana, a young pilgrim who visits fifty-three teachers on his path to awakening. When he reaches Potalaka, he finds Avalokiteshvara seated on a diamond rock on the western slope of a mountain rising from the sea. Bodhisattvas fill the mountainside around him. He is teaching the dharma of great compassion.

The Karandavyuha Sutra fills in what Sudhana saw. Wish-fulfilling trees grow on the slopes, and the ground is made of lapis lazuli. Celestial music plays without instruments. Avalokiteshvara is not in retreat. He sits in the open, receiving anyone who comes. The sutra insists that Potalaka is not a distant buddha-field like Sukhavati, unreachable until death. It exists somewhere in the southern ocean of this world, and the devoted can find it.

The Sealed Boats

Japanese monks took the sutras at their word. From the Kumano coast on the Pacific, beginning in the ninth century and continuing for nearly a thousand years, monks boarded small wooden boats pointed south toward Fudaraku, the Japanese name for Potalaka. The boats were sealed shut. There was no way to steer and no intention to return. The monks carried sutras, incense, and enough food for thirty days. They believed Kannon waited at the end of the water.

Temple records at Fudarakusan-ji in Nachi preserve the names of those who sailed. The practice was rare but persistent. Each departure was a funeral and a prayer at the same time.