Shingon Buddhism

From Buddhist Encyclopedia

Shingon (眞言,真言), also called Japanese Esoteric Buddhism, is a major school of Japanese Buddhism, and one of two major sub-schools of Vajrayana Buddhism, the other being Tibetan Buddhism. The word Shingon is a Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese term Zhenyan literally meaning "true words", which itself is a translation of the Sanskrit word mantra.

History

Shingon arose in Japan's Heian period (794-1185) when the monk Kukai went to China in 804 where he studied tantric practices and returned armed with many texts and art works. In time, he developed his own synthesis of esoteric practice and doctrine, centred on the universal Buddha Vairocana (or, more accurately, Mahavairocana Tathagata).

Shingon enjoyed immense popularity during the Heian Period, and contributed greatly to the art and literature of the time. The following excerpt helps to expand on this point:

"Its [Shingon's] emphasis on art appealed to the well-developed aesthetics of nobles, who also enjoyed the lavish rituals associated with its sacred words and gestures. Even the Tendai communities on Hieizan where deeply influenced, taking over its images and ceremonial."

(Mason, Caiger A History of Japan, Revised Ed. pg. 106-107)

However with the rise of Zen and the Pure Land Buddhist schools in the Kamakura Period, it's popularity waned somewhat. However, throughout Japanese history, Shingon continued to contribute to Japanese life and art and even today is still an important part of the culture and maintains a sizeable following.

During the initial stages of his predication in Japan, the Catholic missionary Francis Xavier was welcome by the Shingon monks since he used the word Dainichi for the Christian God. As Xavier learnt more about the religious nuances of the word, he changed to Deusu from the Latin and Portuguese Deus. The monks also realized by that point that Xavier was preaching a rival religion.

Teachings

The teachings of Shingon are based on the Mahavairocana Sutra and the Vajrashekhara Sutra. These two mystical teachings are shown in the main two mandalas of Shingon, namely, the Womb Realm mandala and the Diamond Realm mandala. Vajrayana Buddhism is concerned with the ritual and meditative practices leading to enlightenment. According to Shingon, enlightenment is not a distant, foreign reality that can take eons to approach but a real possibility within this very life, based on the spiritual potential of every living being, known generally as Buddha-nature. If cultivated, this luminous nature manifests as innate wisdom. With the help of a genuine teacher and through properly training the body, speech, and mind, we can reclaim and liberate this enlightened capacity for the benefit of ourselves and others.

Kukai also systematized and categorised the teachings he inherited into ten stages or levels of spiritual realisation. He wrote at length on the difference between exoteric (both mainstream Buddhism and Mahayana) and esoteric (Vajrayana) Buddhism. The differences between exoteric and esoteric can be summarised as:

1. Esoteric teachings are preached by the Dharmakaya Buddha which Kukai identifies with Mahavairocana. Exoteric teachings are preached by the Nirmanakaya Buddha, also known as Gautama Buddha, or one of the Sambhoghakaya Buddhas.
2. Exoteric Buddhism holds that the ultimate state of Buddhahood is ineffable, and that nothing can be said of it. Esoteric Buddhism holds that it is not ineffable, and that it is readily communicated via esoteric rituals which involve the use of mantras, mudras, and mandalas.
3. Kukai held that exoteric doctrines were merely provisional, skillful means on the part of the Buddhas to help beings according to their capacity to understand the Truth. The esoteric doctrines by comparison are the Truth itself, and are a direct communication of the "inner experience of the Dharmakaya's enlightenment".
4. Some exoteric schools in late Nara and early Heian Japan held that attaining Buddhahood is possible but requires a huge amount of time (three incalculable aeons) of practice to achieve, whereas esoteric Buddhism teaches that Buddhahood can be attained in this lifetime by anyone.

Kukai held, along with the Huayan (Jp. Kegon) school that all phenomena were 'letters' in a 'world-text'. Mantra, mudra, and mandala are special because they constitute the 'language' through which the Dharmakaya (i.e. Reality itself) communicates. Although portrayed through the use of anthropomorphic metaphors, Shingon does not see the Dharmakaya Buddha as a god, or creator. The Dharmakaya is in fact a symbol for the true nature of things which is impermanent and empty of any essence. The teachings were passed from Mahavairocana via a succession of mythic and historical patriarchs.

Mahavairocana Tathagata

Located in Kyoto, Japan, Daigo-ji is the head temple of the Daigo-ha branch of Shingon Buddhism.

In Shingon, Mahavairocana Tathagata is the universal or primordial Buddha that is the basis of all phenomena, present in each and all of them, and not existing independently or externally to them. The goal of Shingon is the realization that one's nature is identical with Mahavairocana, a goal that is achieved through initiation, meditation and esoteric ritual practices. This realization depends on receiving the secret doctrine of Shingon, transmitted orally to initiates by the school's masters. Body, speech, and mind participate simultaneously in the subsequent process of revealing one's nature: the body through devotional gestures (mudra) and the use of ritual instruments, speech through sacred formulas (mantra), and mind through meditation.

Shingon venerates 13 Buddhas and Bodhisattvas altogether, including Shakyamuni Buddha, Amitabha Buddha, Avalokitesvara, Jizo and others. Mahavairocana is the Universal Principle which underlies all Buddhist teachings, according to Shingon Buddhism, so other Buddhist figures can be thought of as manifestations with certain roles and attributes. It's not uncommon to pay homage to Mahavairocana as well as some of these "lesser deities" using special mantras for each. Each Buddhist figure is symbolized by its own Sanskrit "seed" letter as well.

Practices and Features

One feature that Shingon shares in common with the other surviving schools of esoteric Buddhism in Tibet is the use of seed-syllables or bija (bīja) along with antropomorphic and symbolic representations, to express Buddhist deities in their mandalas. There are four types of mandalas: maha-mandala (大曼荼羅, anthropomorphic representation), the seed-syllable mandala or dharma-mandala (法曼荼羅), the samaya-mandala (三昧耶曼荼羅, representations of the vows of the deities in the form of articles they hold or their mudras), and the karma-mandala (羯磨曼荼羅 ) representing the activities of the deities in the three-dimensional form of statues, etc. An ancient Indian Sanskrit syllabary script known as siddham (Jap. shittan 悉曇 or bonji 梵字) is used to write mantras. A core meditative practice of Shingon is ajikan (阿字觀), "Meditating on the Letter 'A'", which uses the siddham letter representing that sound as a visual focus. Other Shingon meditations are Gachirinkan (月輪觀, "full moon" visualization), Gojigonjingan (五字嚴身觀, "visualization of the five elements arrayed in the body" from the Mahavairocana Sutra) and Gosojojingan (五相成身觀, "series of five meditations to attain Buddhahood").

The essence of Shingon Mantrayana practice is to experience Reality by emulating the inner realization of the Dharmakaya through the meditative ritual use of mantra, mudra and visualization of mandala (ie. the three mysteries). In order to accurately reproduce this innermost realization it is necessary to be initiated into the practice by a qualified teacher.

Esoteric Buddhism is also practised, although to a lesser extent, in the Japanese Tendai School founded at around the same time as the Shingon School in the early 9th century (Heian period) as well as by shugenja, practitioners of shugendo, a form of mountain asceticism, also known as yamabushi.

Just as the Tibetans incorporated Bön elements into Buddhism, the Japanese incorporated aspects of their native Shinto religion. In particular the central Buddha figure of Mahavairocana (Jp. Dainichi), whose name means "Great Illuminating Sun", was identified with the sun goddess Amaterasu in popular usage.

Branches of Shingon

• Kōyasan (高野山)
• Chisanha (智山派)
• Buzanha (豊山派)
• Daikakujiha (大覚寺派)
• Shingi
• Zentsujiha
• Omuroha
• Yamashinaha
• Sennyūjiha
• Daigoha
• Sumaderaha
• Kokubunjiha
• Sanbōshū
• Nakayaderaha
• Shigisan
• Inunakiha
• Tōji

External links

• The International Shingon Institute
• Komyo-In Temple France
• Mandala Society in Croatia
• Mandala Vermont, US