Meet My Newest Obsession: Zukō (Patreon)

Let me introduce you the ancient practice of zukō (塗香).

This is something I've seen before at temples and Buddhist shops, but somehow had never really stopped to think about, or properly grasp, or think that I could actually do it myself. I'm smitten. This is so ME. Okay. Back up.

Zukō literally means something like "applying fragrance" or "anointing with incense". It's a finely ground powder of wonderfully smelling blended barks, roots, and herbs that is kept in a small container until ready to use. No flame, no smoke. You put a tiny bit on your hands and rub it in, wrists, neck, wherever.

It's a Buddhist practice that originated in India and came to Japan along with Buddhism. The Shingon sect really likes it because they feel it is important to purify the body before rituals. And they love fancy rituals. But it's also used for people before they copy Buddhist sutras by hand (which is an often practiced Buddhist, erm, practice that even lay people do). Here's one kind of zukōiri (塗香入）-- container for powdered incense.

You pull out that little wooden plug thing and tap out a small amount into your hands.

Like so...

The powder can come in any container. You just transfer it into the super cool container.

Somehow, I stumbled across some zukōiri that were carved from some dark heavy wood...

Here's mine. You can't really tell but it's a dragon in the clouds.

How does it open? Well, let me show you!

Just twist off the top. That is not a coke spoon. But it certainly could be, I guess. That is the tiny spoon you use to scoop out your incense.

I got two kinds of powdered zukō. The first one is just 100% white sage.

The second one, however...

This one was a little expensive 😅, but smells like the best thing I've ever smelled ever in my entire life. And a tiny bit goes a long way, too. Very powerful.

The paper talks about it purifying both body and mind.

This particular blend is a combination of sandalwood, agarwood, clove, aromatic tumeric, and borneol. that last one is ryūnō (龍脳) in Japanese which translates to dragon brain! Objectively, a fantastic name for an incense ingredient, don't you think?

It smells divine, too.

One thing on the little explanatory paper that caught my attention and I had no idea about is that in Buddhist language, suffering and passions that trouble us are called as netsunō (熱悩), something like "burning afflictions". These could be anxiety, anger, fear, attachment, craving...all the things that churn up and make us suffer are imagined as a kind of heat.Purification brings coolness.

The paper uses the phrase Seiryō no shō wo eru (清涼の性を得る) or to attain a state/nature of coolness and clarity.

I just love that image.

You take a tiny pinch of zukō, rub it between your hands and breathe in the fragrance. Perhaps the powder itself doesn't magically erase your anger and anxiety and passions, but the physical act becomes a reminder to cool the heat, clear the mind, come back to yourself.

Also, the powder on the skin gives off the fragrance when your skin warms, so ironically...when you get all heated up over something, the perfume released reminds you to chill out.

Or, that's my take on it.

Anyway, it just sort of showed up in my life when I needed it. Dealing with some people I can't really distance myself from but oof! the negativity. I was reading reviews of different fragrances and one woman said she uses the sage before going out into crowds of people and feels protected. Well, that makes sense. And that container is so cool, too.

This is probably a better explanation.

Anyway, I just wanted to share this little find. Maybe you've heard of it before? More soon, XOXO,

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