Stones on a shrine site

Some people take stones from the site when visiting a shrine. Even the shrine permits to do so, why would they take it,? Do these people think that they could take home some good luck?

If a god spirit had been watching you take a stone, he/she will be sadden by your poor heart. You might accidently take a small stone stuck on your shoes. There is no problem if you didn’t do it consciously. It is wrong to consciously take the stone thinking that this might bring you good luck. If the stone has good energy, all the more, you should realize that the stone needs to stay in the sacred ground.

On the other hand, there are people who would take garbage home found on a sacred site. They want to keep the shrine clean and sacred because they care and have respect for the god spirits. They are acting on giving a gift of good environment for the god spirits, and taking away negative energy by picking up the garbage.

Picking a stone from a sacred ground that turns into something ugly and picking garbage from the sacred ground turning into a treasure like stories are told in fairy tales all over the world. Spiritually, this is true. Then, there are fairy tales about those who hear about it and intentionally go to collect garbage visiting many shrines knowing it will turn into treasures.

Looking from a kenzoku point of view, this is a very dangerous act. If you are an innocent child, you will immediately get sick with high fever and you will know that you had done something wrong. But if you are an adult who has been pilling up many wishful thoughts, your senses have become dull and you may not be able to see the truth right away. Later, bad things start to happen. It is best to return the stone where it belongs. If the place is too far away and you are not able to return it to the original location, take it to a sacred site, a shrine site or put it in a river.

In Shinto teachings, we say god resides in every natural element. When I visit the Izawa-no-miya of Ise Jingu, although the sacred path to the shrine is actually very short, it feels like hundreds of meters long. What I am trying to say is that the stone may look very small in this World of Reality, but it could be a very large rock in the World of the Gods’ dimension. You should not underestimate the power of a small stone.

Ikashite-itadaite Arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live