earth spirit (dojijin 土地神, doji 土地). All Zen monasteries and temples enshrine the image or spirit tablet of a “god” (kami, shin, jin 神) of the “earth” (tochi, doji 土地), meaning the ground on which the buildings stand, who is supplicated as a protector of the facility. This custom derives from medieval China, where every Buddhist monastery had its own earth spirit, conceived as a deity who held sway over the land occupied by the monastery even before it was built. Since that deity was not originally a follower of Buddha, he needed to be propitiated and converted into a supporter of the dharma, to ensure that he would use his power to protect the monastery rather than destroy it. A similar dynamic had taken place in India, where the native devas had to be turned from potential enemies into protectors of the dharma. In Soto Zen today, the figure of Jōhō Shichirō Daigen Shuri Bodhisattva (Jōhō Shichirō Daigen Shuri Bosatsu 招寶七郎大權修理菩薩) is enshrined in the earth spirit hall of every monastery and temple as a monastery-protecting spirit (gogaranjin 護伽藍神). He was originally the earth spirit of King Ashoka Mountain (Aikuōzan 阿育王山), a large monastery that Dōgen visited in China. He was adopted by Dōgen as a protector of Eiheiji. In Japan, the earth spirits of Zen temples are often local Shinto kami, who are revered as tutelary deities (chinju 鎭守).
earth spirit hall (dojidō 土地堂). In the large Buddhist monasteries of Song China and the medieval Japanese Zen monasteries that were modeled after them, the “hall” (dō 堂) for the “earth spirit” (dojijin 土地神, doji 土地) was a small building located on the east side of the dharma hall. In present day Zen temples, however, it is just a shelf situated on one side of the Sumeru altar inside the main hall (hondō 本堂), on which spirit tablets for the earth spirit, tutelary deities (chinju 鎭守), monastery protecting spirits (gogaranjin 護伽藍神), dharma-protecting devas and benevolent deities (gohō shoten zenjin 護法諸天善神) are enshrined.
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