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Wound theology/mikkyo
The Siddham syllable "A" as used in the iconography of Ajikan (阿字觀, "meditating on the letter A")
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese密教
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinmì jiào
Japanese name
Kanji密教
Kanaみっきょう
Transcriptions
Romanizationmikkyō
Part of a series on
Buddhism in Japan
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Key topics

Mikkyō (密教), also himitsu bukkyō (秘密佛教), is the Japanese transmission of Vajrayāna Buddhism. Mikkyō was incredibly influential in medieval Japanese culture and has had a lasting influence on Japanese literature.[1]

Kūkai and the development of Heian esotericism

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In 804, Saichō and Kūkai left Japan for Tang China on the same four-vessel flotilla, eventually transmitting lineages which integrated Chinese Esoteric doctrine: Tendai (Tiantai) and Shingon (Zhenyan).[2][3]

Shingon and Tendai did not begin to differentiate as separate schools until the eleventh century.[4] During the early Heian period, monks would study under various schools.[5]

Saichō received abhisheka from Shunxiao (順暁) of Longxing Temple, though the nature of this initiation is unclear.[6] Saichō later conferred abhisheka on several Nara priests in 805 under the patronage of emperor Kanmu.[7]

Kūkai received transmission of Esoteric Buddhism from the Chinese tantra master Huiguo, a disciple of Amoghavajra,[8] becoming the Eight Patriarch of his school and leaving for Japan in the year 806.[9] Kūkai held to the superiority and independence of the esoteric over the exoteric teachings[10] and published a a tract entitled The Difference between Exoteric and Esoteric Buddhism in 814 or 815.[11] He identified mikkyō with the teachings of the cosmic Mahāvairocana:

The doctrine revealed by the Nirmanakaya Buddha [Shakyamuni Buddha] is called Exoteric; it is apparent, simplified, and adapted to the needs of the time and to the capacity of the listeners. The doctrine expounded by the Dharmakaya Buddha [Mahāvairocana] is called Esoteric; it is secret and profound and contains the final truth.[12]

Kūkai classified his own school separately from every school in Japan at the time:

The first three [Vinaya, Abhidharma, Satyasiddhi] belong to the Hinayana, the second four [Yogacara, Madhyamika, Tendai, Kegon] correspond to the Mahayana, and the last one [Shingon] is the Vajrayana of secrecy.[13]

The assertion that the esoteric doctrines were not the teaching of the historical Buddha was a new innovation, probably introduced first by Huiguo.[14][5]

Saichō recieved abhisheka from Kūkai in 812, and Saichō often petitioned Kūkai for esoteric literature to copy. In 813, Kūkai refused to loan a commentary to Saichō on the grounds that master-student transmission was vital to understanding Shingon and that pure textual study was a violation of the precepts.[15]

Saichō held esoteric Buddhism as equal to the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, which along with Tiantai constituted the "two courses" of Tendai education.[16] Tendai leaders who followed him, such as Ennin, Enchin, and Annen, systematized the disparate esoteric elements, which juxtaposed tantra to the more "traditionally Tientai" exoteric Lotus Sutra teachings.[17]

Influence on Japanese culture

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Mikkyō "functioned as a practical technology that had a direct bearing on medieval politics and economy".[18] Fabio Rambelli interprets mikkyō "as an ensemble of knowledge [...] implemented through interpretive strategies, repertoires of metaphors, and a general structuring of knowledge."[19]

Buddhism justified writing in the Japanese language, whereas earlier periods favored Classical Chinese.[20] Medieval Mikkyō understood native Japanese waka poetry as sacred literature analogous to mantras, and many prominent waka poets, such as Henjō and Saigyō, were Esoteric Buddhist clergy.[21] Kūkai is traditionally attributed with the invention of the kana syllabary and composing the Iroha.[22] Ton'a relates a legend (among many circulating in medieval Japan) that Kūkai developed the kana to facilitate the work of carpenters who were building the stupa at Mount Koya.[23] While certainly apocryphal, "the systematic importation of Sanskrit...encouraged the emergence of the native script of kana characters", the derivation of the gojūon from siddhaṃ "point[s] to the reason underlying the belief widespread in the medieval period that Kūkai was the inventor of the kana syllabary."[24]

See also

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Schools and lineages

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Concepts and philosophy

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Pantheon

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  1. Fudō (Acala)
  2. Shaka (Sakyamuni)
  3. Monju (Manjushri)
  4. Fugen (Samantabhadra)
  5. Jizō (Ksitigarbha)
  6. Miroku (Maitreya)
  7. Yakushi (Bhaisajyaguru)
  8. Kannon (Avalokitesvara)
  9. Seishi (Mahasthamaprapta)
  10. Amida (Amitabha)
  11. Ashuku (Akshobhya)
  12. Dainichi (Vairocana)
  13. Kokūzō (Akasagarbha)

Rituals and practices

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Figures

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  1. ^ Abé 2000, p. 1: "...Mikkyō (literally, secret teaching) enjoyed a wide diffusion throughout all walks of medieval Japanese society."
  2. ^ Knutsen 2011, p. 84.
  3. ^ Proffitt 2023, p. 108.
  4. ^ Proffitt 2023, p. 30.
  5. ^ a b Orzech, Sørensen & Payne 2011, p. 702.
  6. ^ Orzech, Sørensen & Payne 2011, p. 700.
  7. ^ Orzech, Sørensen & Payne 2011, pp. 700–701.
  8. ^ Proffitt 2023, p. 109.
  9. ^ Hakeda 1972, pp. 32–33.
  10. ^ Hakeda 1972, p. 62: "Esoteric Buddhism contains in itself all Exoteric teachings and, without losing its own identity, synthesizes them from a higher and more comprehensive standpoint."
  11. ^ Hakeda 1972, p. 62.
  12. ^ K.Z., I, 474; quoted in Hakeda 1972, p. 63
  13. ^ KZ 2:164--165, quoted in Abé 2000, p. 199
  14. ^ Hakeda 1972, pp. 81–82.
  15. ^ Orzech, Sørensen & Payne 2011, p. 701.
  16. ^ Orzech, Sørensen & Payne 2011, p. 752.
  17. ^ Payne 1998, pp. 220–221.
  18. ^ Abé 2000, p. 2.
  19. ^ Rambelli 1994, pp. 374.
  20. ^ Abé 2000, p. 3:"Second, Buddhism justified writing in Japanese, a medium considered more effective in describing and sustaining the medieval social order than the learned yet foreign classical Chinese language and its ideographic letters, which had been relied upon in earlier periods. A case in point is the aforementioned 'waka-mantra' theory, which was the counterpart in the realm of writing of the belief in Shinto gods, the progenitors of the emperor's pedigree, as avatars of Buddhist divinities. That is, just as the emperor ultimately descended from Buddhist divinities, Japanese language also 'descended' from Buddhist ritual language."
  21. ^ Abé 2000, p. 2: "Waka was treated as an analog of mantra, a ritual language in Japanese, and composing it was regarded by both Buddhists and Shintoists as an act as sacred as the ritual manipulation of mantra [...] Not surprisingly, many of the most eminent waka poets were Esoteric Buddhist priests -- among them Henjō (816-890), Saigyō ( 1118-1190 ), Jien (1155-1225), Ton'a (1298-1372), and Sōgi (1422-1502)."
  22. ^ "Kūkai was also said to have invented kana, the Japanese phonetic orthography, and the Iroha, the kana syllabary. In the Iroha table, the kana letters are arranged in such a manner as to form a waka that plainly expresses the Buddhist principle of emptiness."
  23. ^ Abé 2000, p. 113.
  24. ^ Abé 2000, pp. 113–114.
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