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Kaji Dosha (Sand Blessed with the Mantra of Light)

Kaji dosha is sand that has been blessed (kaji) through the recitation of the Mantra of Light (Kōmyō Shingon). The Mantra of the Light of Great Consecration of Amoghapāśa Vairocana Buddha (Taishō No. 1002) teaches that sand blessed 108 times with this mantra should be scattered at the resting place of the deceased. It says that wherever the deceased may be, even in the realms of hell, hungry ghosts, asuras, or animals, the power of the blessed sand lets the light reach them, removes the karmic consequences of their wrongdoing, and brings them to rebirth in the Pure Land of Bliss in the west. In the Kamakura period, the monk Myōe Shōnin wrote the Kōmyō Shingon Dosha Kanshinki (1228) and spread devotion to the blessed sand. He taught that its merit reaches not only the departed in their next life but also the living in this present life. The kaji dosha of Byōdō-ji is blessed during the Dosha Kaji ceremony performed in the main hall. Please use it as a memorial offering for your loved one, placing it in the coffin at a funeral or scattering it on the grave. It may also be kept as an omamori (protective charm), carried with you or kept close at hand.