JAPANESE CULTURE, EXPLAINED
真言宗
Shingon brings together Buddhist traditions rooted in the esoteric teachings transmitted by Kūkai. It has several branches; Kōyasan Shingon is one of them, rather than another name for the whole tradition.
In the early Heian period, Kūkai travelled to Tang China and studied with Huiguo in Chang’an. He brought back scriptures, ritual texts and implements and organised their transmission in Japan. Tōji and Mount Kōya became major centres. Shingon refers to true words, understood within the tradition as expressions of Buddhist truth.
The Buzan branch’s history connects Kakuban’s revival of study, Negoroji and Raiyu’s medieval Shingi teaching. Warfare later scattered monks from Negoro. Senyō developed the Buzan lineage at Hasedera, while Gokokuji became an Edo-period centre. Branch history thus involves interpretation, teaching institutions and networks of temples, as well as individual founders.
At Kōyasan, modern reforms changed the institution as well as its land and access. Two temples merged under the name Kongōbuji in 1869, and temple estates were returned to the state in 1871. The ban on women’s entry ended in 1872; official permission to reside followed in 1905. The Kōyasan Shingon denomination was established in 1946, with Kongōbuji as its head temple.
Kōyasan’s account groups affiliations under Kogi Shingon, Shingi Shingon and Shingon Ritsu, with separate denominations and temples. Negoroji dates the public name of its present Shingi Shingon denomination to 1953, distinct from medieval teaching. Japanese esoteric Buddhism also includes Tendai traditions: Tendai’s history uses Taimitsu for its esotericism and Tomitsu for Shingon.
Mudra
Mantra
Meditation
The three mysteries coordinate body, speech and mind: forming mudra, reciting mantra and concentrated contemplation. Kōyasan’s Fudōin explains their purpose as bringing the practitioner’s actions into accord with the Buddha’s. It presents the world, including oneself, as Dainichi Nyorai’s activity; recognising this within one’s present body is the religious aim called sokushin jōbutsu.
| Left / centre / right | Wisdom Kings / Buddhas (Dainichi central) / bodhisattvas |
|---|---|
| Outer figures | Heavenly guardians |
Tōji presents the Womb Realm and Diamond Realm mandalas as visual expressions of teaching. Its lecture hall gives such relationships three-dimensional form: Dainichi Nyorai occupies the centre of an arrangement of buddhas, bodhisattvas, wisdom kings and heavenly guardians. Identifying one statue is only part of reading the ensemble.
No. Its own account identifies it as one of several principal branches.
Through visual relationships among religious figures.
Bodily gestures, spoken mantra and concentrated contemplation work together within the religious practice.