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[Shaman]

I don't even have the game yet, but at this point it's too intriguing a possibility to not be a definite future acquisition for me. (After I pay off my bills and sell a kidney or something...)

Even though I don't have it yet, I'm the type that researches and plots out a general plan of progress up to 5 years in advance... In fact I've already planned out my language and seminary studies 4 years in advance... but I digress.

This proposal is for a Temple Complex associated with Shinto (神道), Buddhism, and Ainu Shamanism (カムイの道).

===
Particulars of location:
Ideally, this should be remote, and I'm not ruling out sky islands as possible locations.... or even tree-tops... Actually, a giant tree with a village on the branches would be pretty damn awesome. 

Getting there/ annoying griefers:
something of an Epic journey should be required the first time someone visits. Starting point found by radio signal and signs with clues in riddle/puzzle format to lead the way. I've even considered the possibility of having a point in the journey where you come upon 3 stargates with cryptic destinations and only one goes to the right place with others going to perilous places such as open air above a body of water, or the middle of nowhere in a big crater with all surfaces protected...

Then there would be a stargate on a separate network leading from a cooperating town directly to the temple complex (TC for short). There would be a sign at the TC explaining this.

Buildings of the TC:
I have the plans for several Taisha (grand shrine[of Shinto]) and Buddhist Temples that exist in the real world.

The Taisha would consist of several buildings; most importantly, the Honden (the Kami's House). There would also be a Kaguraden (dance hall for sacred dances), Haiden (hall of worship), Heiden (an actual hallway between the Honden and Haiden where offerings are placed), Saisenbako (donation box), Shamusho (Administrative office and amulet shop), Setsumatsusha (smaller tutelary shrines consisting of only the honden), Temizuya (a fountain for washing hands and mouth before entering the shrine), Torii (ceremonial gate to separate sacred and mundane space), Liondogs (perhaps modded golems??), a sacred tree, and some stone lanterns.

The Buddhist Temple would include a rock garden, pagoda, hall of worship, and accommodations for pilgrims. A future add-on if anyone shows interest could be a monastery or perhaps an exclusive area for Yamabushi ceremonies.

Then of course, there's my house. Probably a farm house in the gasshou-zukuri style surrounded by fields and rice paddies.

[Shaman]

Got the game today, it worked about the same as trying to hug a creeper. Working on fixing that...

===

About the temple complex:

I'm currently drawing a series of sketches and maps for a sky island. I designed it with a stargate, but I suppose a rope bridge from a mountain top would do just as well.

This is what I'm basing the Honden on:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Izumo-taisha_scale_model_121281969_6127ff6b17_o.jpg

It's going to be the tallest building on the island.


This is my inspiration for the pagoda:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Horyu-ji09s3200.jpg

It's going to be either 5 or 8 storey. I may make a mirror version under it sticking out of the bottom of the island; hanging onto the bottom upside-down. Kanzeon Bosatsu enshrined in the top Pagoda, and Jizou Bosatsu in the bottom.

Tea House:
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/180555_1555340015614_5032945_n.jpg

This is my own design based on the architectural concepts laid out in "Measure and Construction of the Japanese House" by Heino Engel (...a German Architect with Architecture degrees from the US and Germany who moved to Kyoto after WWII to get away from the hellish leftovers of the war.) This teahouse layout will remain the same, but instead of being in a lake, it's going to be set into the side of the island like a cliff-dwelling... because it's really cool.

My House:
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/61065_1401699534698_4865321_n.jpg

^Since that's waaaay more detail than minecraft can handle, I'll have to go and do something like this:
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/28654_1273764416400_6200572_n.jpg


That's all for today on the architecture.

[SavanahMile]

The old map before this had stargates, I never see you on when are you playing?
Are you still at spawn?

[Shaman]

Shrine Operations:
Omairi (normal Shrine visits)
Misogi Oo Harai (Waterfall Purification Rite)
Shubatsu (basic purification rite)
Chinkon (Meditations)
Selling Omamori (charms to ward off evil, or in this case; health restoration potions)
Ema (placing votive plaques with wishes and prayers)
Jichinsai (ground breaking ceremony for new construction)


The following Matsuri may not be in order because I'm listing them of the top of my head:
New Year's Celebrations and Hatsumode
Dōsojin Matsuri (Fire festival, January 15th, write 大 on a mountain with torches or lanterns)
Setsubun (good luck come in, creepers get out!, feb 3rd, lunar calendar new year's eve)
Hina Matsuri (doll festival)
Cherry blossom viewing (whenever they're in bloom... okay, I admit it, this holiday is an excuse to get drunk and make love while it's raining flower petals...)
Tochigami no Matsuri (Land God's Festival, as yet undetermined... this might be the owner of the server in a sense as he's the "god" of this server. That might be kind of weird. )
Greenery Day (to celebrate nature, May 4th)
Children's Day (fly carp flags at your house then come to the shrine for a blessing, may 5th)
Tanabata (star festival, write a wish on a sign, then toss it into some lava or set it on fire)
Obon (this is where the term "bon fire" came from [o is an honorific], this is a huge festival in honor of the dead. It works on the same principle as day of the dead in Mexico. Fireworks, bon fires, eating fried things, dancing, praying to ancestors, visiting graves of loved ones are all common practices. on the weekend nearest August 15th.)
Shichi-go-san (holiday to bless those boys aged 5 and girls aged 3 and 7)
Niinamesai (Rice Harvest festival, when the rice is ready to harvest in November)
Ōmisoka (dec 31, clean everything and decorate the entrance to your house with green bamboo)

Temple Operations:
Meditations (both silent [garden] and with mantras[n the worship hall]*)
Prayers
reading Sutras
Yamabushi firewalking ceremony (I wonder if lava under glass would simulate that?)
Hana Matsuri (Buddha's Birthday, April 8th)

This song is probably going to be on a jukebox playing in the Upper Pagoda (because Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva = Guanshiyin Pusa = Kanzeon Bosatsu). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DDc1UJqMWM

*like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG_lNuNUVd4

[Shaman]

[ author=SavanahMile link=topic=2436.msg16944#msg16944 date=1362116729]
The old map before this had stargates, I never see you on when are you playing?
Are you still at spawn?
[/]

I'm having technical problems with the game right now so that might explain it. I'm Nocturnal in a real-world sense. Middle of the night or early morning by Eastern Standard Time in the US.

[Shaman]

Temple complex sketches:

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/540767_4581529348456_553014514_n.jpg

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/226903_4581529948471_36891234_n.jpg

[SavanahMile]

Well that should like great when you build it!

[Shaman]

[ author=SavanahMile link=topic=2436.msg16953#msg16953 date=1362187639]
Well that should like great when you build it!

[/]

Well, I know how to get an infinite supply of cobblestones, so it will be fairly easy to build the construction platform... But the floating island might be a bit of a pain... All that dirt...


I have been thinking about griefers, and I think that the bottom of the island should be hollow and full of lava to prevent anyone from tunneling in on a pillar... I should also have it over water and get to it with a long bridge from a mountain top.

[Shaman]

My pumpkin base and items were all lost because of spiders attacking me while I was moving the chest... Anyways, I have no idea how to find that place again, but if Intangir feels like it, he could go back and get that stuff. It's on top of a house out on the plateau above my first base.

Starting over with a well-lit underground base. In a different biome... I was respawned into a tropical biome with a ton of endermen around. I found 3 foundries, about 20 torches, and a workbench just sitting out in the open at an abandoned and mostly destroyed farm.... So I have them in a workshop down underground.

I'm going to build a MOB farm and cobblestone maker as soon as I have enough materials stashed. I need to make a bucket and find lava to do either of those things though... Also need to set up a garden area down there... On the plus side, this location is really resource rich, so it won't be long before I have enough to build a fortification around my mine entrance (I have it plugged with sand right now).

That's all for my Temple construction update.

[Shaman]

Creeper got me again... copied the coordinates though, so I'm building a boat so I can get back there...

Edited to add:

Built the boat and a small mine. I stocked it with some basic items using a small chest in case I end up there again or someone else needs shelter. I posted signs to that effect saying that if someone uses my stuff, they should replace it before they leave. There's a boat and some dirt in the chest, I plan to leave an axe, pickaxe, and sword before I go. I found lava there under a spruce tree. No bucket though so I walled it up and will be back later with a bucket.

It's located on the East Coast of the mushroom Biome.

[Shaman]

I found a great spot for the temple. It's a mountain about 200m above sea level. 20m south and 2311m east of my mushroom biome shelter.

[anoddhue]

If you build and sleep in a bed, you'll re-spawn there so you won't have to start over from scratch when you die.

[Shaman]

Ooh... okay.

===

Construction update:

I've abandoned the site at: x20575 y254 z11126 in the forest cave biome because it was impossible to tunnel to the bottom or build on top. However, there was an incredible supply of glow stones and diamonds there. The mine entrance may be difficult to find; however, if you manage to, there are a ton of supplies there waiting for you in a chest and some other things in the tunnel.

Today, I traveled from Elftheria to Sweetwater Shores, then to Simon the Digger's Canal Trading Post, a mine on the east end of Simon the Digger's Canal (where I took shelter at night after accidentally wrecking the boat, luckily I had another), I continued North-East by boat and found several large islands, then made it to the shore of the island I've named "Forest Island". Forest Island is the location of my Monastery. I made the rest of the trip overland to reach it.

I built 3 more floors on top of the original abandoned brick building and the 5th will be the starting point for a long bridge out to a sky island. Since I found a cave with creepy music at the end of the resource mine under the Monastery, I plugged the hole and will be beginning another mine nearby.

[Shaman]

I've now explored the caves below my Monastery to some extent. I've placed 9 stacks of torches so far and there are still many miles of tunnels to explore. I did find Lava down there a lot sooner than expected, and brought some up to the surface... where I built an infinite cobble-stone maker. This speeds up the process of building a sky island and it can be accessed from inside or outside on the sea level floor of the Forest Island Zen Monastery. The maker stands 2 stories tall and there are 2 maintenance decks surrounding it on the 2nd and 3rd stories of the Monastery. It can be reconfigured to make obsidian, though I intend to build a dedicated obsidian maker at a later date as I do not currently have the diamond pick I would need to harvest it. The lava can be viewed from the guest room through glass blocks in the wall. If you use it, be very careful not to break it or you could die.

I'm going to build a hostile MOB farm today to collect bones, spider threads, arrows, ender pearls, gunpowder, ink sacs, slime balls, etc. It will be accessible to the public but we would like it if you put something into the donation box to help support our temple construction efforts.

===

Our Minecraft Monastery is now accepting prayer requests. Either send them to me in a private message or post them on signs in front of the Monastery.

I'm a Minzoku-Ka (Folk Shaman) of the Watarai school of Shinto-Zen Syncretism. If my paper work and loans come through as planned, I'll become an ordained Kannushi (Shinto Priest) in a few years (after 2 years of language school in Kyoto and 2 years of seminary in Ise). My long-term plan is to revive the Watari school of thought to its former glory and then share it with the world. WWII more or less killed off the majority of adherents and a Meji-era law severely limited its practice in public. Most modern Japanese people practice something very similar to the Watarai school of thought without even realizing it.

[Intangir]

ill have to come check this out just to see how many torches are used in the caves hahaha