Array Temple by Ihilani

Array Temple is designed as a space for Nichiren Buddhist practice. The piece is by Ihilani Phillips, a graduate of the University of Florida Architecture program and practicing design professional. The temple is based on the principles of Nichiren meditation and organized for maximum focus. This space is curated to use light and sound as mediums which translate the meaning of the Nichiren Buddhist chant, “Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.” By using a physical space to enhance an experiential meditative practice involving light as a shrine, this temple blends the traditions of western and eastern spiritual ideologies.

In Buddhist tradition, darkness is used to enhance focus, while in western tradition, light is used to represent divinity. When understanding the relationship between dark and light to design a sacred space, this becomes a universally appreciated creation. Array temple is a physical form expressing light, sound, space and personal experience as mediums for understanding a spiritual concept.

Ihilani Phillips is an artist, architect and designer born and raised in Hawaii, the halfway point between east and west. Her education and design style show that she has an overlapping experiential understanding of western and eastern culture which influences her ability to translate concepts from a broad perspective. Both have affected this particular interpretation of the ideology of divinity. This creates a specific and unique explanation of divine connection. In western culture divinity is expressed as a light source, or an image related representation of God and God’s message translated through visual symbolism. (M. Jeffra, 2018) In Buddhist culture the Buddha is shown in darkness, for better focus of meditation; the shrine becomes the focus and external light is a distraction. (Ihilani, 2018)

Given the artist’s personal background, raised in Hawaii and educated from Florida to China, the space marries the two ideals into a literal experience of divine connection within oneself as experienced through environment.

The entrance of the building is a cone, leading to an asymmetrical cylinder, a tight space, which holds the anticipation of the visitor before releasing them into the convex, open area of the main room. As the architect describes it, “You are compressed from whatever you were outside, getting ready to receive information from your highest self” (Ihilani, 2018). The focal point or shrine of the temple is a circular skylight, or oculus, located in the roof, that uses mirrors to reflect and refract light throughout the building. Light enters the oculus, is contained within a swollen, convex space and then refracted through a concave shape into the temple itself. Rays of light change location throughout the day, giving those inside a particular area of focus and visual representation of time passing. “Architecture, as with all art, is fundamentally confronted with questions of human existence in space and time; it expresses and relates man’s being in the world” (The Eyes of the Skin, 19). Array Temple gives a linear and experiential definition to human existence using light, sound and space as mediums. The focus on existence as a vibration is enhanced by the linear patterns of the ceiling, walls and floor, which all extend out from the central oculus location and return energy in the form of light and sound back to the devotee.

Nichiren Buddhism is made manifest through the experience of this temple. It started in 13th century Japan by the priest Nichiren. Basic principles of Nichiren Buddhism include the teachings of the Lotus Sutra and the practice of chanting Nam-Myōhō-Renge-Kyō. The studies are of Nichiren’s writings called “Gosho” and generally focus on the concepts that support the undertaking of faith, and that anyone can reach enlightenment within their current physical state and current lifetime (Soka Gakkai International). The design and use of traditional Japanese style Mortise and Tenon joints simplify the construction. Broken down into parts, the meditation essentially means “I commit myself to being in the space of the seen and unseen, simultaneously experiencing cause and effect through vibration.” Literally that translation is: Nam; I am, Myo; (the mystic) the unseen, Ho; the seen (what is tangible), Renge; the Lotus flower (simultaneousness of cause and effect), Kyo; vibration or energy. More simply, Nam is being, Myoho is the balance and contrast of light and dark, convex and concave, Renge is central, the circular source of cause and effect, which are all experienced through the vibration of Kyo. In the design process, form came from Myoho, structure came from Renge, techtonics came from Kyo. (Ihilani, 2018) So as a building it says, I am here, in light and dark, creating cause and effect through physical vibration.

Essentially, the way that a visitor experiences this temple is the physical representation of the development of curated energy, which is then used to create a specific vibration. In Buddhism, energy is a form of connection of all types of existence. Whether physical or spiritual, it is the path through which one activates their practice. “Mindfulness, concentration, and insight are the energies of Buddhism similar to the Holy Spirit being the energy of God.” (tnhaudio.org) In Nichiren Buddhism, this would be the physical vibration exerted through chanting.

The shapes used in the space create the balance of concave and convex, they convey the darkness of a traditional buddhist temple, creating an area free of distraction, balanced with the divine light of a western chapel. The light becomes the shrine itself and the sectional arrangement of the main room reverberates the sound waves of the vibration to create one emanating meditative energy from within the temple when devotees practice the chant together. As the architect explains the experience in reference to the ideology of the chant, “I am devoted to the mystic law of the simultaneity of cause and effect, doing two things at once, through the teachings of sound.” (Ihilani, 2018) This existentially says that the balance of actions and the vibration emitted creates the reality experienced.

The entrance and anticipation bring the person into the present moment, preparing them to receive the wisdom of the shrine in a focused space, which is a reflection of the energy that they are emitting. The devotee enters a small, enclosed space, collapsing whatever they were outside; a dark, concave womb building the anticipation of waiting for the reveal of the teachings from their highest self. Next, the devotee moves through the asymmetrical arch into the main temple itself, expanding into the realm of learning. This is where one experiences the expansion of the internal self, opening up to receive the messages or vibration of the shrine and the chant. The oculus is optimized for the date which Shakyamuni Buddha achieved enlightenment, a day during which many devotees chant for hours.

When understanding light as a medium, attention is particularly important when examining the oculus. The idea that each person is a work in progress translates through as the facets of the mirrors being a physical representation of the facets of our individual selves. The only thing actually lit in this space is the shrine. In this sect of Buddhism, there is no figure on a shrine; the divine scroll itself is simply a mirror in which the devotee learns from and clears a new facet of themselves. Nichiren Buddhism believes that within each person is a state of buddhahood that is pure divine light (Ihilani, 2018). That light is like a faceted crystal or diamond. Sides of the diamond become dirty but as we live through lifetimes we polish off each facet to reach our highest self (Ihilani, 2018). Simply stated, this external space is a reflection of the internal space of the devotee during the time of creation. This is an example of how the design combines the traditional ideology of God as light from the western cathedrals to the focus of light as a shrine integrated with the traditional ideology of a dark buddhist temple. When in a Cathedral, the shrine is often a well lit figure, in a Buddhist temple, the shrine is a figure set in a dark space. In western ideology God is light, in Buddhist practice, the shrine is the focus of spiritual energy. By simply making the shrine light, and excluding a divine figure, Array Temple achieves inclusion of both ideologies, simultaneously.

When understanding sound as a medium, the intention of the chant and the ideal space to practice the chant is that the devotee can meditate to the point that the physical space evolves into an intangible entity. “Reaching a state where you separate from the ho (the seen) and enter the myo (the unseen)” (Ihilani, 2018) The goal of the meditation is to transcend into a state where the physical and spiritual experience combines through sound vibrations. “When body and mind dissolve, they do not exist anywhere, any more than musical notes lay heaped up anywhere,” (The teachings of the Buddha, 18). The temple is a physical area in which the devotee can remove the barrier between tangible reality and spiritual reality, creating a singular experience of the senses where the physical body becomes irrelevant. On a communal level, it is the ultimate oneness within a building. It is designed to create a space where each individual’s chant reverberates back into the group’s sound and escapes out of the temple into a larger world. If such a practice happened in Array Temple, the shape of the walls would harness the tones of each individual chant and reverberate them back to create one solid sound.

The architect’s own experience influenced the result of this design heavily. She was experiencing massive amounts of pain. During her studies she was subjected to a traumatizing attack. She took a break from school, and returned seeking the clarity and results of reaching a higher version of oneself. This idea of being able to renew the soul within a lifetime and creating karma through meditation became a practice of persistent and necessary healing.

As a woman, the pregnant belly of the concave shape within the oculus and the anticipation of experiencing the concave shape within the cone entrance magnify the expression and universal connection reached through the convex explosion of space and sound within the main temple. Ihilani states that the expansion, compression, anticipation and further expansion of the internal is represented in the darkness, a large and expanding darkness of endless possibility, similar to the universe itself. The tension created between the light and dark, yin and yang, seen and unseen, balance and friction equate to a systematic repetition of anticipation and balance. The convex space of the pregnant oculus is another form of anticipation. As light enters the oculus and reflects among the mirrored facets it is creating anticipation for the beams to filter into the temple itself. On a personal level, it metaphorically induces the disconnect from a current reality, reevaluation and introduction to an intentional, beautiful reality.

This space simply examines the reliance on physical vibration to carry message/information/energy. It suggests that it is not relevant what you believe, but simply that you produce a vibration. Be whoever, do whatever, say whatever, there is no enforced dogma, all that matters is that you make that vibration. As you make it you are simultaneously experiencing the result of it. (Ihilani, 2018). Nichiren states that “We create our own present and future by the choices we make in each moment.” Understood in this way, the law of cause and effect empowers us, as our every action can serve as a cause that will contribute to creating a better world, both for ourselves and for all around us” (Soka Gakkai International). This idea of creating our Karma instantaneously allows for immediate results and accountability for the way that we interact with the world around us.

When understanding the design as a physical shape, the temple is modeled after the Lotus flower. The lotus is expanding and contracting, it is dark and it is light. You are multifaceted and all your meditation does is guide you to find a way to clear the next facet of your diamond-shining self. This balance and centricity of the structure show the simultaneity of cause and effect. The interconnectedness of everything, further supporting the concept that when you do something you are already experiencing its effects.

All a visitor can hope for is the nuanced spatial inception of certain emotions to guide them to reach a similar conclusion to that intended of the creator, as if the space itself is saying to those who enter: I am here, I am experiencing the simultaneity of light and dark, chanting and physically growing through vibration, making my way to my desired karmic experience. Array temple is simply a physical interpretation of this, giving those who wish for it, a space to explore Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, a time to be connected to their highest self, a chance to interact with pure energy. The energy that they choose to emit combines with the energy of a community, without definitions or separation. It is about the universal energy and what each individual offers to it. Nam Myoho Renge Kyo is the path upon which anyone can achieve enlightenment, and which everyone can, together, in Array Temple.

Sources

Energies of Buddhism. Thich Nhat Hanh Dharma Talks. September 2011, tnhaudio.org Accessed May 3, 2018

Ikeda, Daisaku, President. Soka Gakkai International. April 2018, sgi.org.

Accessed 12 April, 2018

Kornfield, Jack. The Teachings of the Buddha. Adapted from the Visuddhimagga, translated by Henry Clarke Warren.

Pallasmaa, Juhani. The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses. John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., 2012

Phillips, Ihilani. Personal Interview. 12 April. 2018.

Copyright, Kaycee Phillips 2018