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Pilgrimages---Canton to Chichibu

Pilgrimages to Kannon and Jizo Bosatsu---East and West

Mark W. MacWilliams, Author
Honzon Group, page 4 of 4
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Sacred Space


Examples of sacred spaces, both Western and Japanese. Lourdes,located in south-western France, is depicted on the left, while on the right w see Temple 75 of the Shikoku Pilgrimage route in Japan.

Overview

Human beings have strong ties to the spaces they inhabit. Nowhere is this more true than in the spaces that have been recognized as sacred. While a lot of research has been conducted on specific sacred sites, there has been a noticeable lack of work done in defining what exactly a sacred space is. We do, however, find a functional definition of sacred space in  Belden C. Lane's Landscapes of the Sacred. While the primary focus of his work is on American sacred spaces, he devotes an entire introductory section to the task of defining sacred space.

Understanding the Link Between People and Places

Much of Lane's introduction to sacred space focuses on the link between people and places. He writes that "Understanding the sacredness of a place requires
an understanding of the interplay between the cultural, religious, and
ecological forces that shape the identity of the space." Thus we come to see that any discussion of sacred space must involve not only the physical landscape but also the human factor. 

Lane supports his claim by drawing on the works of Heidegger and Kierkegaard, each of whom argued that places serve as anchors of human existence. In a sense, where we are determines who we are and we cannot separate meaningful experience from place. We come then to understand sacred space as storied space. Places are recognized as sacred because of the stories and rituals associated with them. It is through these stories and rituals that the profane and the numerous come in contact, and it is this liminality that marks the space as sacred.

The Axioms of Sacred Space

Lane concludes his introduction to sacred space by proposing four axioms of sacred space. They are as follows:
  • Sacred place is not chosen, it chooses.
  • Sacred place is ordinary place, ritually made extraordinary
  • Sacred space can be tread upon without being entered
  • The impulse of sacred space is both centripetal and centrifugal, local and universal
The first axiom means that sacred space can never be constructed; it already exists and can only be discovered. The second axiom means that the common is made grand through ritual action. The third axiom speaks to the liminal nature of sacred space and the inextricable link between sacred space and story; one can share geographical space with a sacred space, but the space remains mundane without proper understanding of the associated stories. The last axiom is the most complex. Here Lane argues that we are simultaneously drawn to, and away from, sacred sites. Human beings are constantly moving between sacred spaces as their lives dictate. As such, the sacred cannot be confined to specific spaces.
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