Kobo Daishi, also known as "Kukai", was the man who introduced the Shingon Teachings to Japan. Richard Hooker 1. writes that:
Although Mt. Hiei was the most significant Buddhist monastery in early Japanese history, Kukai (774-835) is perhaps the most significant individual in the history of Heian Buddhism. Unlike Saicho, Kukai was native Japanese; he came from an aristocratic family. He was a brilliant and creative man, and as a young man he began by studying Confucianism, but soon mastered Taoism and Buddhism as well.
Shingon in Japanese means "True Words," a translation of the Sanskrit Mantrayana. The "True Words" school believed that there were three mysteries of Buddhism: the body, speech, and mind. Each and every human being possesses these three faculties. Each of these faculties contain all the secrets of the universe, so that one can attain Buddhahood through the use of any one of these three. Mysteries of the body apply to various ways of positioning the body in meditation; mysteries of the mind apply to ways of apprehending truth; finally, the mysteries of speech are the true words which were secretly spoken by Buddha. In Shingon, these mysteries are passed on in the form of speech (true words) from teacher to student; none of these true words are written down or available to anyone outside this line of transmission (hence the term Esoteric Buddhism).[For more on esotericism, it's origins and "place, see this link: esoteric.html.]
Despite this extraordinarily rigid esotericism, the Shingon Buddhism of Mt. Hiei became a vital force in Japanese culture. Kukai believed that the True Words transcended speech, so he encouraged the cultivation of artistic skills: painting, music, and gesture. Anything that had beauty revealed the truth of the Buddha; as a result, the art of the Hiei monks made the religion profoundly popular at the Heian court and deeply influenced the development of Japanese culture that was being forged at that court. For this reason, although the monks of Mount Hiei became the most powerful Buddhists at court, esoteric Shingon Buddhism was the most important religion of the Heian period and the early feudal period.1
Kukai was born in 774 in Sanuki Province on Shikoku. His birth name was Saeki no Mao. His father's family were local aristocracy. The clan had produced many administrators and scholars. Kukai who was regarded as a gifted child, was given the best education available at the time. He was sent to the capital at fourteen to study under his maternal uncle, the tutor to the crown prince. At seventeen he succeeded in entering the university, where he studied Tso's Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals and China's Five Classics (the Classic of Changes, Classic of History, Classic of Poetry, Collection of Rituals, and Spring and Autumn Annals). He acquired both a beautiful calligraphic style and a talent for poetry at that time that was to serve him in good stead later in life, both when he visited China and in courting the Japanese Court.2 He seems to have had the ability to ingratiate himself with others that served him well when dealing with court nobles or other priests.
The Emperor Kammu sent Kukai to China along with Saicho in 804. They travelled on seperate Ships, but they evidently had a relationship and seem to have known each other.3 Later in Life Kobo Daishi refers to a promise they had shared during that trip, to share the teachings of the Lotus Sutra when they returned:
I never forget for even a moment that we promised to share the seat of Prabh�ta-ratna Tathagata [Taho Buddha] and help propagate the Lord �hakyamuni�s teaching.4The teachings that Dengyo Daishi and Kobo Daishi had promised to propagate were the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. This makes the above quote all the more surpising when compared to what Kobo Daishi wrote about the Lotus Sutra following Dengyo Daishi's death.
The origin legends of Shingon assert that Kukai had developed an interest in Tantric teachings before his trip to China and had abandoned a university career to live as a monastic, but in any case, he was sent to China in the first of the diplomatic ships as a diplomatic envoy to Tang China. In 804 he arrived in northeastern Fukien province. Kukai, in the train of the ambassador, eventually reached the T'ang capital after a long and arduous journey. Ch'ang-an was then one of the greatest cities on the earth. The Chen-yen (Shingon) school of esoteric Buddhism was the most popular of all the Buddhist schools in the capital, particularly through the efforts of the famed esoteric master, Amoghavajra, who had translated and circulated a large number of esoteric texts, surpassing even Vajrabodhi and Shubhakarasimha, and who had received the Buddhist vows of three successive emperors.5
On his arrival in Ch'ang-an, Kukai went first to study Sanskrit under the north Indian masters Prajna and Munisri. Mastery of Sanskrit was essential for the study of esoteric Buddhism. He also seems to have found time to dazzle the Chinese Court with his mastery of classics and poetry. He then visited Ch'ing-lung temple where he became the disciple of Hui-kuo (746-805), one of the most significant Buddhist teachers in China at the time. From Hui-Kuo, Hui-Kuo was also dazzled by his brilliance. Kukai himself records in the memorial presenting a record of newly imported sutras and other items that as soon as Hui-Kuo saw him, the latter cried out:
"I have long known that you would come. For such a long time I have waited for you! How happy I am, how happy I am today, to look upon you at last. My life is reaching its end, and there has been no one to whom I could transmit the teachings. Go at once to the initiation platform with incense and flowers!"From Hui-Kuo, he seems to have received extensive training in Shingon and to have mastered it's teachings fairly quickly. Kukai received the initiation ritual of the Womb-Store Realm. The next month he was initiated into the Diamond Realm, and in the following month, he received the final ritual, the transmission of the teachings. [When Dengyo Daishi asked about how long this would take he was told two years]5 Thus in just three months, Kukai received from his master formal transmission of the major esoteric teachings. Hui-kuo, who had said on the first meeting that his life was running out, died near the end of that year, aged fifty-nine, having transmitted the dharma to Kukai. The Shingon sect claims, for this reason, that the direct line of Chen-yen transmission thus crossed the sea to Japan. Nichiren comments on the influence of Chen-yen on the Chinese Court in one of his Gosho, and we'll discuss this later.
Dengyo Daishi, founder of Japanese Tendai Buddhism at Mt. Hiei in Japan, had developed interested in Shingon teachings as well during his visit to China. (See dengyo.html), and had received a more limited transmission of mostly the "Matrix" Mandala from the priest Shun-hsiao in Lung-Ssu (near Yueh-chou). Dengyo had been primarily interested in the teachings of T'ien-t'ai (Chi'hi) when he went to China, but had been impressed with Shun-hsiao's esoteric teachings and wanted to add them to his school. Dengyo didn't feel comfortable with his level of understanding and sought out more transmissions from Kukai. This initiated a period in their relationships in which Dengyo virtually became Kukai's disciple, and they only broke it off when the fundamental tension between Dengyo's belief in "transmission via writing" collided with Kukai's belief in "transmission via face to face interaction." (See http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publications/jjrs/pdf/438.pdf for more).
Saicho (Dengyo) had learned as much of the Matrix Mandala as he could, but after he was initiated into that, Kobo insisted that he needed to be initiated into the Daimond World Mandala Separately and that this would take three years. Saicho had figured he could learn it in three months. Probably because it had taken Kobo Daishi about that much time himself. The source of the article says that he misunderstood the difficulty, and indeed Dengyo was having trouble mastering Sanskrit and acknowledged that. But Kobo Daishi himself had not taken three years to master this teaching as he had only been in China the same amount of time as Saicho had been, and could not possibly have taken three years. But even granting that Kobo had himself taken three years to master the Daimond World Matrix teachings, Dengyo Daishi felt that this was too much time to take. His feelings were amplified by Kobo Daishi's response to his efforts to master these teachings on his own through books.
Dengyo Daishi (Saicho) believed that he could continue to study Buddhism through the texts of the teachings. However, Kobo Daishi did not believe this. Kobo Daishi believed that the transmission of Buddhist teachings couldn't be properly done through texts. Indeed, the Mahavairochana and Matrix World Teachings require significant meditation and master/disciple interaction to grasp fully because the texts are not meant to be taken literally. They involve several levels of "Abisekhas" or transmittals, and often involve years of intense study and interaction to fully master. He eventually issued an ultimatum to Dengyo Daishi insisting:
As I mentioned to you before, it requires personal instruction to transmit the teaching of the scriptures you asked to borrow. Let me state again my principle [for teaching Mikky�]: It requires a special occasion to reveal the profound Dharma of the mandalas; it takes beings of exceptional capacity to promulgate it. The great masters [Shingon patriarchs] who established the method of transmitting the Dharma left admonishments to the followers of latter ages not to violate the samaya. Thus it is not my will that grants or deprives you of [the Mikky� transmission]; it is your own mind that either attains or loses it. My only wish is to demonstrate with my own hands to you the mudras, to convey to you mantras through my own mouth, and to transmit [Dharma] to your mind. I hope you clearly realize this principle.
And later:
It is my hope that you will rectify your mind with wisdom, cease your attachment to sophistry, and listen to the true words of the path to truth preserved in Mikky�.
Considering that Dengyo Daishi was older, had mastered other Buddhist teachings, and was fully equal to Kobo Daishi in both wisdom and understanding. Only the unique view of "esotericism" could have given him justification to state such a thing. If Dengyo Daishi had taken the time to "fully master" Kobo's teachings then Dengyo could have criticized him from within, because it was not a matter that should have taken two years, but even if it had, Dengyo would have profited from being an equal authority. As it was Kobo was claiming his authority based on his having mastered esoteric teachings and having the "material" basis to transmit them to Dengyo, and because Dengyo had agreed to study Mikkyo (Esoteric Shingon) under him. On a superficial basis he might have felt justified. Yet, one mans "sophistry" is another mans "adherence to correct Dharma." These words must have grated on Dengyo's nerves.
And finally the author of the article I'm quoting quotes Kobo Daishi as writing:
Are you enlightened or unenlightened? If you are enlightened, then your Buddha wisdom is already perfect and complete and there is nothing further for you to pursue�. If you are unenlightened, you must observe the Buddhas� admonitions. To obey the Buddhas� teachings, you must commit yourself to samaya. Once the samaya is violated, there exists no merit in either instructing or receiving the teaching. Whether the Secret Treasury [Mikky�] rises or falls depends completely on the transmission between you and me. If you receive it improperly and if I give it to you inappropriately, how would it be possible for the practitioner of the future to understand the authentic path to pursuing the Dharma?
Furthermore, the deepest truth of the Secret Treasury cannot be expressed in writing. It can only be transmitted from one mind to another. Writing is dregs, nothing but broken tiles. If you receive the transmission of dregs and broken tiles, you will lose the ultimate truth. To discard the real and hold fast to the unreal is the way of the fool, the way you must not follow, the way you must not aspire to. Those of the distant past pursued the path for the sake of the path. Those of the present follow it merely for fame and fortune.
The Author explains:
K�kai concludes his letter with a repeated plea:
I urge you: Do not transgress the samaya, protect it as if it were your life, strictly observe the four precepts (shij�kin vb8)33 and cherish them as if they were your own eyes. If you pledge to practice in accord with the teaching, the �ve wisdoms of the Tath�gata will be immediately granted to you. Who, then, would hide from you the bright jewel of the universal monarch [i.e., the Path to Truth]?34 (KZ 3, pp. 547�52)
K�kai presses Saich� to fundamentally change his approach, or attitude, to studying Mikky�. For K�kai, Mikky� requires a unique pedagogical discipline that places more emphasis on personal instruction than on reading texts. It is ultimately menju s4 (face to face transmission), the personal transmission from master to disciple of the ritual meditative experience, that ensures the proper understanding of the texts, and not vice versa. AB�: Saich� and K�kai 127
The fundamental precepts of Esotericism are contained in the pledge of Samaya that it's initiates must give at the beginning of their instruction. Ryuchi Abe writes:
The term samaya (Jpn. sanmaya) in the letter refers to an initiate�s pledge at the abhi�eka to uphold the Mikky� precepts (Himitsu sanmaya bukkaigi �OX*�Mw�, KZ 2, pp. 140�49). Transgression of the samaya�known as otsu sanmaya �X*� or opp�zai ��&�is the most serious misconduct for a Mikky� practitioner, and includes such acts as
- teaching Mikky� meditative practices to noninitiates,
- reciting and inscribing mantras without the knowledge of Sanskrit and the Siddham script,
- and reading scriptural texts without the guidance of a master."
This is an "esoteric approach" since it restricts the practitioner from broadly disseminating his understanding before he has fully mastered it himself, or from disseminating it to non-initiates. It makes the Shingon Sect something like the Shriners or Masons.
Saicho replied to this ultimatum by rewriting a work he had already authored to include the Shingon Sect in it's critiques. As quoted in the Article:
Earlier in 813 Saich� had composed the Ehy� tendaish� (DZ 1, pp. 343�66), which argues that the principal Buddhist masters of China and Korea all relied on T�ien-t�ai doctrine in composing their own works. By identifying numerous references to and quotes from T�ient�ai treatises in the works of Chi-tsang �� of the San-lun X� school, Chih-chou J: of the Fa-hsiang �o school, Fa-tsang �� of the Huayen T� school, I-hsing of Mikky�, and other prominent teachers, Saich� asserted that T�ien-t�ai formed the foundation for all major Buddhist schools in East Asia. In 816, however, Saich� added a new introduction to the work. This introduction chides Sanron, Hoss�, and Kegon�the leading schools of Nara Buddhism�for ignoring the in�uence of T�ien-t�ai on the works of their Chinese patriarchs, but its criticism of Shingon stands out: �The esoteric Shingon Buddhist, the newcomer, went so far as to deny the validity of transmission through writing (hitsuju �4)� (DZ 3, p. 344).
Late in life, Dengyo had finally caught on to two things. One was that Kobo Daishi had no intentions of teaching Shingon as an adjunct to Tendai Teachings. And the second thing was that Mikkyo/Tantric teachings were, in their esotericism, fundamentally flawed in their emphasis on "face to face transmissions" and such intensive interaction. Such teachings assume that humans must achieve a stage of perfection before they can begin to save others, and this flies in the face of the fact that few people have the time or the energy to complete their studies in a monastery. It leaves out the vast majority of such people. By denying the validity of "transmission via text" it allows the egoism of teachers to interject itself between the student and the Dharma, which in the hands of a "good" person may not be bad, but in the hands of self serving people can be very bad indeed. Without the ability to corrobrate or verify a teachers words and transmissions, one is completely at the mercy of the teacher.Dengyo died soon after he revised his work, and there was little he could do about Kobo Daishi by then, as he was already ingratiating himself with the Japanese Court and had done so with his own disciples.
Dengyo had been fascinated by Shingon teachings and wanted to incorporate some of them into his Tendai Transmissions -- as adjunct practices or help in understanding deeper ideas of Buddhism. However, Kobo's approach to esotericism was patriarchal and the teachings he was teaching were incompatible with those that Dengyo was coming to understand. Unfortunately, by the time he realized that Kobo Daishi wasn't interested in supporting his exoteric approach to Buddhism (written), he already had most of his disciples either initiated into Mikkyo teachings or completely under Kobo Daishi's spell -- and he was getting on in age. By the time he revised his work, he had already seen defections by some of his chief disciples such as "Taihan" and few of them seemed to support or even understand his criticisms of the other sects of Buddhism. Dengyo was older than Kobo was, and died before him. This Gave Kobo the chance to criticize him unanswered, as even Dengyo's own disciples were unwilling to confront this "great teacher". Indeed later they would go all the way to China to receive their own version of the same basic teachings and one of them Jikaku Daishi, would basically incorporate Kobo's teachings into his own.
Kobo Shows his real feelings
Kobo Daishi had shown his real hand after the break with Dengyo and expecially after Dengyo Daishi died. Once he had thoroughly ingratiated himself with Nara, the Imperial Court, and Dengyo's own disciples he could show his real feelings about the "Exoteric" teachings of the Tendai Sect. The teacher Nichiren writes, (in the same Gosho):
The Great Teacher Dengyo passed away on the fourth day of the sixth month of the thirteenth year of Konin (822), during the reign of Emperor Saga. From the fourteenth year of the same era (823), Kukai served as teacher to the sovereign. He established the Shingon sect, was given supervision of the temple known as To-ji, and was referred to as the Shingon Priest. Thus Shingon, the eighth sect of Buddhism in Japan, had its start.
Kukai commented as follows on the relative merit of the teachings of the Buddha's lifetime: "First is the Dainichi Sutra of the Shingon sect, second is the Kegon Sutra, and third are the Lotus and Nirvana sutras.
"In comparison to the Agon, Hodo and Hannya sutras, the Lotus is a true sutra, but from the point of view of the Kegon and Dainichi sutras, it is a doctrine of childish theory.
"Though the Lord Shakyamuni was a Buddha, in comparison to the Buddha Dainichi or Mahavairochana, he was still in the region of darkness. The latter is as exalted as an emperor; the former, by comparison, is as lowly as a subjugated barbarian.
"The Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai is a thief. He stole the ghee of the Shingon and claimed that the Lotus Sutra is ghee."
Dengyo was teaching a Buddhism with a new "praxis" or method of practice. Thus it was incompatible with the other six sects because its "exoteric" or open teachings were incompatable. However, Esotericism being "secret" can be practiced side by side with any other form of monastic discipline. Not only that but Kobo Daishi was clever enough to understand the extreme Syncreticism of the Japanese, their thirst for magic and secrets, so he transmitted Shingon teachings to teachers in the old Temples of Nara as well as to Dengyo's own disciples. While Dengyo had won the debates, Kobo won over the allegiance of all the temples by seducing them with Shingon's mysticism. He couldn't confront Tendai logically -- but he didn't have to.
Kobo and the older Sects
As Kuyo Sonada writes:
Kukai did not exhibit the belligerence toward the older sects that Saicho did. His attitude was one of temporary compromise, awaiting a time when he could bring others around to his position. In 822, a Shingon chapel, Nan-in, was established at Todaiji. This became a means of spreading Shingon from within the stronghold of Nara Buddhism. Among the many priests who came under Kukai's influence through Nan-in was the former crown prince Takaoka, who had lost his position after being implicated in a conspiracy to put the retired emperor, Heizei, back on the throne (810), and had become a priest with the name of Shinnyo at Todaiji in 822. It did not take much time for all the Nara sects to be completely dominated by esoteric Buddhism.7
Kobo Daishi was doing more than making "temporary compromises" since his method of propagation allowed people to put his teachings side by side with other teachers "exoteric" teachings, and in effect was a means for coopting the teachers, the elites, and excluding others. It was more effective then Dengyo's approach, because it allowed the various traditions to keep teaching whatever they wanted to. He could do this precisely because his teachings were elitist and only transmitted to the select. This esoterism could run side by side with exoterism taught to the "masses". That it goes against the heart of Mahayana and falls within the very criticisms leveled by Mahayana against the "Arhats" and "Pratekyabuddhas" who failed to follow the Bodhisattva Path and save others, was justified by the notion that one could only begin to teach such things after one had thoroughly mastered them. In the meantime the masses could be placated with precepts, "mantras" or chants, "mudras" or hand signs, devotion to particular Gods or Amida Buddha, or with "lower" exoteric teachings taught by his now allied schools. These schools also leaped at the chance to ally with a teaching that could claim to be superior to the Tendai Sect, which had shown how the earlier T'ien-t'ai teachings had been appropriated and misapplied to their own teachings.
Kobo and the Court
Kukai's brilliance also ingratiated him with the court of the new emperor, Saga and made it all the easier for him to ingratiate them further by giving them ceremonies and low level "transmissions" (Abhisekhas) that would bedazzle them with brilliant ideas and befuddle their minds. In the winter of 809, Kukai had already answered the emperor's request to write calligraphy on a pair of folding screens. Exchanges between the emperor and Kukai continued; Kukai presented the emperor with books of poetry copied in his own hand (811), brushes and writings (812), books on Sanskrit and poetry (814), and screens with calligraphy on them (816). The real friendship between the two is apparent in a poem included in the Collection of National Polity, an anthology of prose and verse in Chinese compiled in 827. It includes a poem entitled "A Farewell to Kukai, Departing for the Mountains":
- Many years have passed
- Since you chose the path of a priest.
- Now come the clear words and the good tides of autumn.
- Pour no more the scented tea;
- Evening is falling.
- I bow before you, grieving at our parting,
- Looking up at the clouds and haze.
Saga wrote this poem after he had abdicated in 823 to spend his time in cultural pursuits. There is no sense of ruler and subject here. Kukai and Saga were renowned, with Tachibana no Hayanari, as the greatest calligraphers of their time, and the three were called collectively the Three Brushes. Historians of calligraphy see a marked influence of Kukai in the emperor's style of writing.8
The apparent magic and practicality of Shingon teachings was readily obvious to the Court nobles and later to the Warriors who formed the "Bakufu" government in Kamakura. They took like fish to inititations to he Matrix World and the Diamond Realm Mandalas and consistantly asked for Shingon prayers for rain, end of epidemics and even victory in Battle. That these prayers weren't particularly effective didn't seem to bother them. That everywhere where people have relied on esotericism and mantras, the land has suffered foreign invasion and dismembership, hasn't phased those beguiled by ornate words and beautiful ceremonies, to this day.
Kobo and Tendai
He had the most success with Dengyo's own disciples. Many of his immediate disciples, including Encho, Konen, Tokuzen, and Kochu, had received "abhisekha" along with Dengyo in 815 CE. This pattern continued after Dengyo's death, and eventually led to Shingon rituals being adopted wholesale within the Tendai Tradition and placed alongside the "Hokke" teachings that Tendai Taught for the general public and the many other syncretisms that Tendai practiced. (Mt. Hiei was also a location for Shinto).
The second generation disciple, Jikaku Daishi, completely ignored Dengyo's warning about "The newcomer, the Shingon Sect,..." and adopted Shan Wu Wei's interpretaiton that placed the Mikkyo Teachings alongside the Lotus Sutra and asserted that they were superior "in terms of practice" to the Lotus Sutra. Esotericism was very seductive. For more on this visit this page jikaku.html.
If even Jikaku Daishi who was one of Dengyo's own disciples and had actually met him when he was young was unable to resist the seduction of Mikkyo, one shouldn't wonder that by the Kamakura era, both Shingon and Tendai esotericism were dominating public life all over Japan. Jikaku even (mis) interpreting a dream as part of his justification for this.
Notwithstanding the warnings of Dengyo Daishi's "Eho Tendaishu Ron" his own disciples in effect converted to Shingon and went against his warnings in that work.
Nichiren and Dengyo's critique of Mikkyo
Nichiren criticizes Kobo with these criticisms of the above passages:
This is the sort of thing that Kukai, or Kobo Daishi, wrote. As a result, though people may previously have believed that the Lotus is the greatest of all sutras, after hearing of Kobo, they no longer regarded it as worthy of notice.
I will set aside the heresies propounded by Brahmans in India. But these pronouncements of Kukai are certainly worse than those put forward by the priests of northern and southern China who declared that, in comparison to the Nirvana Sutra, the Lotus Sutra is a work of heretical views. They go even farther than the assertions of those members of the Kegon school who stated that, in comparison to the Kegon Sutra, the Lotus Sutra represents the "branch teachings." One is reminded of that Great Arrogant Brahman of India who fashioned a tall dais with the deities Maheshvara, Narayana and Vishnu, along with Shakyamuni Buddha, as the four legs to support it, and then climbed up on it and preached his fallacious doctrines.
Since T'ien-T'ai, could not have "stolen the ghee of the Shingon Sect, as during his day there was no Shingon Sect in China, and there probably weren't even the Mahavairochana or related Sutras on which it was based, Kobo could only have been responding (and doing so in a tricky manner as he waited until Saicho was dead before saying anything) to Saicho's stinging criticisms of the Shingon Sect in his last revision of the Ehyo TendaiShu. Basically, Kobo Daishi was engaging in the age old practice of "if one is going to tell a lie do it baldfacedly and loudly and people will believe you." His was the "Big lie." And it worked so well his statues are still enshrined throughout Asia. And no one had challenged him in this writing. Everyone he knew loved him so much, that only Dengyo had dared to stand up to him, and Dengyo had nearly lost all of his disciples as a consequence of their infatuating with esotericism. Dengyo's handwriting must have seemed pedestrian, his reliance on sutras boring. No wonder Nichiren saw him as the epitome of the three powerful enemies and fundamental darkness.
Magical Thinking and Fiction as Sutras
That Buddhism teaches that Buddhism is not magic, seems to have excaped all of these people. After all, the notion of deep, profound, and life inspiring teachings is often the very reason people become involved in Buddhism. That such teachings could be faulty, convenient, or "ivory towered" didn't occur to them. That Buddhism might be both more simple and harder to practice in the "real world" didn't appeal to people seeking an excape from this world. That these teachings might even be an invention of later day teachers didn't occur to them, despite the fact that Dengyo implied it, as Nichiren indicates when he writes of the Shingon teachers in China:
This is even more evident when we consider that, after the death of Shan-wu-wei and Chin-kang-chih, the Shingon patriarch Pu-k'ung went to India, where he met Bodhisattva Nagabodhi. Nagabodhi informed him that there were no treatises or commentaries in India that made clear the Buddha's intent, but that in China there was a commentary by a man named T'ien-t'ai that enabled one to distinguish correct from incorrect teachings and to understand the difference between partial doctrines and those that are complete. He exclaimed this in admiration and repeatedly begged that a copy of the work be brought to India.
This incident was reported to the Great Teacher Miao-lo by Pu-k'ung's disciple Han-kuang, as is recorded at the end of the tenth volume of Miao-lo's Hokke Mongu Ki. It is also recorded in Dengyo's Ebyo Shu. From this it is perfectly evident that the Great Teacher Dengyo believed the Dainichi Sutra to be inferior to the Lotus Sutra.
Nichiren is implying that these teachings (which were unknown in India as well as China during the days of Miao-lo) were later inventions and had nothing to do with the historical Shakyamuni. He doesn't come out and say they are apocryphal but he is implying that that is the case. Kukai believed in these teachings, and moreover felt in his heart that they were superior to all the teachings that preceeded them.
Truth and Falsehood
Nichiren and Dengyo, both saw value in the Mikkyo Teachings, as long as they knew their place and weren't taught as things superior to the great teachings of T'ien-t'ai. But they both specifically rejected the notion of an exclusive "transmission outside of the texts" of Buddhist teachings. For more on this see my page on Nichiren; nichiren.html. If all people have the Buddha nature, and that there is really no specific property that should be passed only orally or "mind to mind" for that matter.
Looking at this subject from a more universal perspective, we see the wisdom of Saicho (Dengyo) rejecting Kobo Daishi's admonishments. How can Buddhism be a teaching "transmitted outside the texts?" How can it be universal if it's teachings are so esoteric that even scholars who have studied other teachings for years have to spend years and years to understand it? How can it save ordinary people or be transmitted broadly if it is so elite a teaching? Worse, how can one guarantee the authenticity of teachings that can't be transmitted using Texts. Saicho, must have seen the dangerous foolishness of this very approach. As Nichiren says later when talking about Zen,
"Even the followers of Zen, who advocate these views, themselves make use of words when instructing others. In addition, when one is trying to convey an understanding of the Buddhist Way, he cannot communicate the meaning if he sets aside words and phrases. Bodhidharma came to China from the west, pointed directly to people's minds, and declared that those minds were Buddha. But this principle is enunciated in various places even in the provisional Mahayana sutras that preceded the Lotus Sutra, such as the Kegon, Daijuku and Daihannya sutras. To treat it as such a rare and wonderful thing is too ridiculous for words. Alas, how can the people of our time be so distorted in their thinking! They should put their faith in the words of truth spoken by the Tathagata of perfect enlightenment and complete reward, who embodies the principle of the Middle Way that is the true aspect of all things." (See this Gosho for the referrence: Conversations between a Sage and an Unenlightened man part II.
Oral Teachings must be harmoneous with written ones
It is one thing to value "additional knowledge" or engage in scriptural interpretation, or even to take a teaching to a whole knew level. However, by denying the validity of transmission through writings, esoteric Buddhism ignores the body of works that it is supposed to be based on. In the end teachers of esotericism tend to fail to give proper respect to and attribution to teachings other than their own. In their effort to kill their own ego they inflate the egos of their teachers. In their effort to discover truth within, they endanger "getting it wrong" as well. That is what is meant when someone says that oral or esoteric teachings slander the exoteric teachings. It is one thing to say something is superior to another -- if in fact it is. It is another to throw out an entire corpus of wisdom on the basis of teachings that don't really benefit everyone unless they are treated as part of a general corpus or context and are kept "within the community."
And if oral teachings or esoteric teachings heap abuse on the explicit teachings of the community they are taught in, then they harm those who don't have the ability or access to them and tend to destroy the legitimacy of those "exoteric" or public teachings by confusing people. The Lotus Sutra contains "esoteric" teachings as well, but these are meant to be shared with everyone and are only "esoteric" because they are difficult to understand, not because they are intended for only an elect. Esotericism, if taught by ambitious teachers, thus is very dangerous. It supposes powers to messiahs and masters that they cannot possibly actually have. Thus, in much the same way that Zen Buddhism does by denying all the sutras and teaching a direct transmittal "mind to mind." or the Pure Land Sects do by teaching that people lack the capacity for enlightenment in this world and must pray to a Western Buddha/Savior for rebirth in the pure land. They actually can hurt the aspirations to enlightenment of those who embrace them or are affected by them.
Nichiren, continues quoting the "Ebyo Shu" follows up on these critiques, and writes in Repaying Debts of Gratitude:
In a work called the Ebyo Shu, however, he clearly states that the Shingon school stole the correct doctrines of the Hokke-Tendai school and incorporated them into its interpretation of the Dainichi Sutra, thereafter declaring that the two schools were equal in terms of principle. Thus the Shingon school had in effect surrendered to the Tendai school.
But of course, these monks didn't have the attitude of modern scholars, you would never see them listing their sources -- at least few of them prior to Nichiren himself. And because the monks were confused about who actually taught what, most of even the Tendai School came to believe that the doctrine of "attaining Buddhahood in ones present form" came from the Dainichi Sutra. They were so bedazzled by Kobo's brilliance and befuddled by his B.S. For more on this visit jikaku.html or my page titled "deceit.html"
Kobo's deification
After he passed extraordinary stories were made up about Kukai, and his name was changed to "Kobo Daishi" (Kobo Great teacher) posthumously. Stories of him throwing a Daimond Pounder across the Sea of Japan, doing all sorts of good deeds, and other extraordinary accomplishments were made up about him. The result is that Shingon believers have his image on their altars to this day, and he is revered as a reincarnation of one of the Shingon Deities. Mt. Koya rivaled Mt. Hiei as a center for Buddhist study and power, and only Mt. Hiei's Warrior monks and adoption of Mikkyo and "Sanno" (early form of Shinto) cult practices for itself kept it dominant in the competition for the affection of the rulers of Japan. Shingon prayers were used for bringing rain, the safety of the nation, and for other purposes.
The Fruit of Magical Thinking is inevitable disaster
The result was as Nichiren recounts in his "Kito Sho" (On Prayer):
In the third year of the Jokyu era (1221), the year with the cyclical sign kanoto-mi, on the nineteenth day of the fourth month-around the time of the disturbance between the court and the barbarian warriors --by command of the Retired Emperor of Oki, altars were set up and the fifteen secret ceremonies were carried out for the first time by forty-one practitioners of such secret ceremonies in an attempt to overcome the Kanto government through the power of incantation.
These ceremonies included the one-character gold-wheel ceremony (carried out by the Tendai chief priest Jien, the administrator of monks, and twelve attendant priests at the command of Imperial Regent Motomichi); the ceremony of the Four Heavenly Kings (carried out by the imperial administrator of monks of Joko-ji temple [Shinsho] with eight attendant priests at the Hirose Palace at the command of Lady Shumeimon�in); the ceremony of Fudo Myoo (carried out by the administrator of monks Joho and eight accompanying priests at the command of Lord Kazan�in Zemmon [Fujiwara Tadatsune]); the ceremony of Daiitoku (carried out by the administrator of monks Kangon with eight accompanying priests at the command of Lady Shichijoin); the ceremony of the wheelturning king (carried out by the administrator of monks Joken with eight accompanying priests at the command of the same person as above); the ten-altar ceremony of Daiitoku (carried out by the ten priests--the administrator of monks Kakucho, the Dharma seal Shunsho, the Dharma seal Eishin, the Dharma seal Goen, the supervisor of monks Yuen, the administrator of monks Jiken, the supervisor of monks Kenjo, the supervisor of monks Senson, the supervisor of monks Gyohen and the Dharma eye Jikkaku--along with six attendant priests each, carried out for the most part at the main temple-building); the ceremony of Nyoirin (carried out by the administrator of monks Myokoin with eight accompanying priests at the command of Lady Gishumon�in); and the ceremony of Bishamon (carried out by the administrator of monks Jojuin [Roson] of Mii with six accompanying priests at the command of Shichin).
And there were also objects of worship that were fashioned in a single day. The secret ceremonies based on them included the ceremony of Aizen�o of the prescribed method (carried out by the head of Ninna-ji temple in the Shishin-den palace from the third day of the fifth month and for the following fourteen days); the ceremony of the Buddha eye (carried out by the administrator of monks Daijo for twenty-one days); the ceremony of the six characters (carried out by the supervisor of monks Kaiga); the ceremony of Aizen�o (carried out by the administrator of monks Kangon for seven days); the ceremony of Fudo (carried out by Kanju-ji temple�s administrator of monks with eight accompanying priests, all holding supervisory posts in the priesthood); the ceremony of Daiitoku (carried out by the administrator of monks Aki); and the ceremony of Kongo Doji (carried out by the same person). This completes the list of the fifteen ceremonies performed before altars.
On the fifteenth day of the fifth month, Iga Taro Hogan Mitsusue was attacked and defeated in the capital. On the nineteenth day of the same month, word of this reached Kamakura. When the news arrived in the capital that a large force of troops had been dispatched on the twenty-first day to attack the capital, the remainder of the ceremonies were performed, beginning on the eighth day of the sixth month. These consisted of the ceremony of the Honorable Star King (Performed by the administrator of monks Kakucho), the ceremony of Taigen (Performed by the supervisor of monks Zou), the ceremony of the five altars (performed by the administrator of monks Daijo, the Dharma seal Eishin, the supervisor of monks Zenson, the supervisor of monks Yuen and the supervisor of monks Gyohen), and the ceremony of the Shugo Sutra (presided over by the head of Ninna-ji, it was the second time this ceremony was performed in our country).
On the twenty-first day of the fifth month, the governor of Musashi [Hojo Yasutoki (1183-1242)], started for the capital on the Tokaido road, while the leader of the Genji clan of Kai set out on the Tosando road, and Lord Shikibu advanced via the Hokuriku road. On the fifth day of the sixth month the defending forces at Otsu were defeated by the Genji of Kai, and on the thirteenth and fourteenth days of the sixth month the two sides engaged in battle at the Uji Bridge. On the fourteenth the defenders of the capital suffered defeat, and on the fifteenth of the same month the governor of Musashi entered the Rokujo headquarters along with his followers.
As Nichiren recounts the "prayers fell back on them" and the Imperial court was defeated by the "ignorant half-barbarian" warriors of the Kanto region in 1222. It was this incident that was one of the things that sparked Nichiren's interest in critiqueing the Buddhism of his time. Tantric practices had not only not saved the nation, but had brought about the imperial downfall. As Nichiren recounts:
On the eleventh day of the seventh month the Retired Emperor Gotoba was banished to the island province of Oki, the Retired Emperor Tsuchimikado was banished to the province of Awa, and the Retired Emperor Juntoku was banished to the island province of Sado. In addition, seven members of the court were put to death.
But of course that had no effect on the fame or attraction of Tantric teachings. Despite the fact that they had been of no assitance to the Lords and Emperor that the rude feudal rulers of the Kanto (eastern region) had just defeated, those teachings simply spread to that region. Nichiren believed that the resulting civil wars in Japan and the invasion by the Mongols was related to the superstitious use of these incorrect Buddhist teachings. I wonder if the same critique can be applied to the Tantric teachings of Tibet? Nichiren Continues:
The great evil doctrine of these ceremonies over the years steadily made its way to the Kanto region, where it was embodied in the form of the superintendents or attendant priests of various temples who repeatedly performed these ceremonies. The performers of these ceremonies from the beginning could not distinguish between correct and heretical teachings, between superior and inferior doctrines, but assumed that it was sufficient merely to revere the three treasures. So without a thought they employed these ceremonies. And now not only the provinces of Kanto but the chief priests and superintendents of Mount Hiei, To-ji and Onjo-ji have all come under the jurisdiction of the Kanto authorities, so that as a result, the latter are in the position of supporting these ceremonies.
The results of misunderstanding "esotericism" are magical thinking and the deification of its teachers. This is a general pattern not just in Buddhism, but other places where esotericism has been taught.(See esoteric and deceit.html)
Conclusion
Nichiren also demonstrated how those same "Shingon" teachings had brought down a Chinese Emperor. Indeed at the time that Dengyo and Kobo Daishi visited Japan, Shingon teachings were at their height there, and the Government was in the middle of civil unrest. What is it about Esotericism that causes such unrest? Perhaps in modern terms it is the fact that it encourages elites to think they actually are superior to the common folks (and thus insulates them from their decisions) that causes "internal unrest". And, likewise, those involved in Tantric Practices come to think that the results of those teachings will be enlightenment -- and that they need to wait for that result before teaching, converting or helping others. The result is that people involved in tantra tend to become isolated from those who are not -- again leading those left out to announce that they aren't going to be left out in the cold forever. Buddhism is at it's best when it is being used to help others. From a 10 worlds point of view, the life condition of people engaged in Tantra is that of Self enlightenment and Study, and so is a limited enlightenment that can't be compared with complete and final enlightenment. People need to be practicing both for oneself and for others to be living the "Bodhisattva" and "Mahasattva" model. Tantric teachings are tremendously attractive because they offer deep insights into the life of the mind and the nature of reality. But ultimately, if not seen in perspective, they are distracting from the kinds of teachings that can be shared with others on a broader basis -- That is teachings "transmitted through the text." Ultimately esotericism is sterile unless it's goal is to be ultimately disseminated widely and made "exoteric" -- and it is free from master-deification (Messianism or hero worship) and magical thinking.
A Brilliant Man, not a Monster
Kobo Daishi was a brilliant man, who dazzled all who came into contact with him with his brilliance. The esoteric teachings he taught appealed to people in China and Japan, and the approach he taught is also echoed in Zen, and now even in the schools who initially criticized him (Including among some of Nichiren's own disciples), and are identical to what you will learn from modern Zen masters or Tantric teachers from India or Tibet. The notion that deep wisdom and true enlightenment can only be transmitted by face to face, person to person encounters, is appealing to intellectuals, monks, and almost anyone seeking enlightenment. Yet Dengyo's words still ring true in this day and age. It is not good to rely on "person" in transmitting the Dharma. Teachers in such traditions are all too tempted to seek to infanticize their disciples and prevent them ever truly growing up. The teachings in such traditions tend to be aimed at a select elite, and thus to invite corruption of a purely materialistic kind. Such teachers tend to find themselves driving cars donated by their disciples and living in pallaces built on the backs of ignorant well wishers. Rulers and others in charge of such countries may start to think that these teachers can use magic spells to save them from foreign invasion and disaster. The magic is all with stage props and is empty. The founder of Nichirenism taught that Shingon teachings would lead to "foreign invasion" and epidemic. In his mind it was because they "slandered the Dharma". To a more modern sensibility, it is because they lead the countries that embrace them to have a smugness, elitism, and delusory sense about what Buddhism can and cannot do. The fact that all countries that have embraced the Shingon Sect or it's cousins have been invaded or suffered internal strife is a consequence of that smugness and elitism. If Buddhism is for the masses it must be exoteric not esoteric. Esotericism only invites abuse, triumphalism, and arrogance. Kobo Daishi was a man who was mesmerized by Shingon as much as he mesmerized others.
Footnotes
- Richard Hooker at this site: http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/ANCJAPAN/KUKAI.HTM
- Information in this paragraph is from: http://www.asunam.com/kukai_page.htm
- http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publications/jjrs/pdf/438.pdf
- Ibid. This is a reference to the Lotus Sutra itself and to "Taho Buddha" who sat side by side with Shakyamuni in the Treasure Tower in the 16th Chapter of the Lotus Sutra
- http://www.asunam.com/kukai_page.htm
- In the Nanzen article, when Dengyo Daishi asked Kobo Daishi how long it would take for him to master the higher level of the Abisekhas that Kobo had promised to transmit to him he was told it would take at least two years. He is said to have left the monastery at that point, and there-after, shortly the two had their break. I don't think it's a coincidence that Kukai only took three months to "master" the entire teachings. It wasn't his extraordinary ability, it was that it really doesn't take so long to get the idea if the teacher is really serious about transmitting it.
- http://www.asunam.com/kukai_page.htm
- ibid
More Links and references
This page is skeletal and I'll add more information later
Links and further information
- Article on Dengyo the Great
- This Timeline is more biographical
- "Buddhism Comes to Japan, including Tendai relationship with Martial Arts through the "Sohei" Warrior Monks of Mt. Hiei
- Timeline of Japanese Buddhism
- Another Timeline
- From an essay called "know the time
- Picture and Map of Mt. Hiei
- An essay on how Nichiren too, appropriated Mikkyo Teachings in formulating his Buddhism
- Some words attributed to this Master of Teachings