Kukai
Encyclopedia
Kūkai also known posthumously as , 774–835, was a Japanese
monk, civil servant, scholar, poet
, and artist
, founder of the Shingon or "True Word" school of Buddhism
. Shingon followers usually refer to him by the honorific titles of and .
Kūkai is famous as a calligrapher
(see Japanese calligraphy
) and engineer
. Among the many achievements attributed to him is the invention of the kana
, the syllabary in which, in combination with Chinese characters (kanji
) the Japanese language
is written, a claim which is no longer taken seriously in scholarly circles, despite its persistence in popular belief. Also according to tradition, the Iroha
, which uses every phonetic kana syllable just once and is one of the most famous poems in Japanese
, is attributed to him but again, this is popular belief and nowhere attested to. His religious writings, some fifty works, expound the esoteric Shingon doctrine. The major ones have been translated into English by Yoshito Hakeda (see references below).
precincts in the province of Sanuki
on the island of Shikoku
. His family were members of the aristocrat
ic Saeki family, a branch of the ancient Ōtomo clan. There is some doubt as to his birth name: Tōtomono (precious one) is recorded in one source, while Mao (True Fish) is recorded elsewhere. Mao is generally used in modern studies. Kūkai was born in a period of important political changes with Emperor Kanmu (alt. Kammu, r. 781–806) seeking to consolidate his power and to extend his realm, taking measures which included moving the capital of Japan from Nara
ultimately to Heian
(modern-day Kyoto
).
Little more is known about Kūkai's childhood. At the age of fifteen, he began to receive instruction in the Chinese Classics
under the guidance of his maternal uncle. During this time, the Saeki-Ōtomo clan suffered government persecution due to allegations that the clan chief, Ōtomo Yakamochi, was responsible for the assassination of his rival Fujiwara Tanetsugu. The family fortunes had fallen by 791 when Kūkai journeyed to Nara, the capital at the time, to study at the government university, the . Graduates were typically chosen for prestigious positions as bureaucrats. Biographies of Kūkai suggest that he became disillusioned with his Confucian
studies, but developed a strong interest in Buddhist studies instead.
Around the age of 22, Kūkai was introduced to Buddhist practice involving chanting the mantra
of the Bodhisattva
Ākasagarbha (Kokuzō)
. During this period Kūkai frequently sought out isolated mountain regions where he chanted the Ākasagarbha mantra relentlessly. At age 24 he published his first major literary work, Sangō Shiiki
, in which he quotes from an extensive list of sources, including the classics of Confucianism, Taoism
, and Buddhism
. The Nara temples, with their extensive libraries, possessed these texts.
During this period in Japanese history, the central government closely regulated Buddhism through the and enforced its policies, based on the Ritsuryō
system. Ascetics and independent monks, like Kūkai, were frequently banned and lived outside the law, but still wandered the countryside or from temple to temple.
During this period of private Buddhist practice, Kūkai had a dream, in which a man appeared and told Kūkai that the Mahavairocana Sutra is the scripture which contained the doctrine Kūkai was seeking. Though Kūkai soon managed to obtain a copy of this sūtra which had only recently become available in Japan, he immediately encountered difficulty. Much of the sūtra was in untranslated Sanskrit
written in the Siddham script. Kūkai found the translated portion of the sūtra was very cryptic. Because Kūkai could find no one who could elucidate the text for him, he resolved to go to China to study the text there. Professor Abe suggests that the Mahavairocana Sutra bridged the gap between his interest in the practice of religious exercises and the doctrinal knowledge acquired through his studies.
In 804 Kūkai took part in a government-sponsored expedition to China in order to learn more about the Mahavairocana Sutra. Scholars are unsure why Kūkai was selected to take part in an official mission to China, given his background as a private, not state-sponsored, monk. Theories include family connections within the Saeki-Ōtomo clan, or connections through fellow clergy or a member of the Fujiwara clan.
The expedition included four ships, with Kūkai on the first ship, while another famous monk, Saichō
was on the second ship. During a storm, the third ship turned back, while the fourth ship was lost at sea. Kūkai's ship arrived weeks later in the province of Fujian
and its passengers were initially denied entry to the port while the ship was impounded. Kūkai, being fluent in Chinese, wrote a letter to the governor of the province explaining their situation. The governor allowed the ship to dock, and the party was asked to proceed to the capital of Chang'an (present day Xi'an
), the seat of power of the Tang Dynasty
.
After further delays, the Tang court granted Kūkai a place in the Ximingsi temple
where his study of Chinese Buddhism began in earnest as well as studies of Sanskrit
with the Gandhara
n pandit Prajñā
(734-810?) who had been educated at the Indian Buddhist university at Nalanda
.
It was in 805 that Kūkai finally met Master Hui-kuo
(746 – 805) the man who would initiate him into the esoteric Buddhism tradition at Changan's Qinglong Monastery (青龍寺). Huiguo came from an illustrious lineage of Buddhist masters, famed especially for translating Sanskrit texts into Chinese, including the Mahavairocana Sutra. Kūkai describes their first meeting:
Huiguo immediately bestowed upon Kūkai the first level Abhisheka or esoteric initiation. Whereas Kūkai had expected to spend 20 years studying in China, in a few short months he was to receive the final initiation, and become a master of the esoteric lineage. Huiguo was said to have described teaching Kūkai as like "pouring water from one vase into another". Huiguo died shortly afterwards, but not before instructing Kūkai to return to Japan and spread the esoteric teachings there, assuring him that other disciples would carry on his work in China.
Kūkai arrived back in Japan in 806 as the eighth Patriarch of Esoteric Buddhism, having learnt Sanskrit and its Siddham script
, studied Indian Buddhism, as well as having studied the arts of Chinese calligraphy
and poetry
, all with recognized masters. He also arrived with a large number of texts, many of which were new to Japan and were esoteric in character, as well as several texts on the Sanskrit language and the Siddham script.
However in Kūkai's absence Emperor Kammu had died and was replaced by Emperor Heizei
who exhibited no great enthusiasm for Buddhism. Kukai's return from China was eclipsed by Saichō, the founder of the Tendai school, who found favor with the court during this time. Saichō had already had esoteric rites officially recognised by the court as an integral part of Tendai, and had already performed the abhisheka, or initiatory ritual, for the court by the time Kūkai returned to Japan.
Later, with Emperor Kammu's death, Saichō's fortunes began to wane.
Saichō requested, in 812, that Kūkai give him the introductory initiation, which Kūkai agreed to do. He also granted a second-level initiation upon Saichō, but refused to bestow the final initiation (which would have qualified Saichō as a master of esoteric Buddhism) because Saichō had not completed the required studies, leading to a falling out between the two that was not resolved, this feud later extended to the Shingon and Tendai sects.
Little is known about Kūkai's movements until 809 when the court finally responded to Kūkai's report on his studies, which also contained an inventory of the texts and other objects he had brought with him, and a petition for state support to establish the new esoteric Buddhism in Japan. That document, the Catalogue of Imported Items, is the first attempt by Kūkai to distinguish the new form of Buddhism from that already practiced in Japan. The court's response was an order to reside in the Takaosan (later Jingo-ji
) Temple in the suburbs of Kyoto. This was to be Kūkai's headquarters for the next 14 years. The year 809 also saw the retirement of Heizei due to illness and the succession of the Emperor Saga
, who supported Kūkai and exchanged poems and other gifts.
In 810 Kūkai emerged as a public figure when he was appointed administrative head of Tōdai-ji
, the central temple in Nara
, and head of the .
Shortly after his enthronement Saga became seriously ill, and while he was recovering Heizei fomented a rebellion, which had to be put down by force. Kūkai petitioned the Emperor to allow him to carry out certain esoteric rituals which were said to "enable a king to vanquish the seven calamities, to maintain the four seasons in harmony, to protect the nation and family, and to give comfort to himself and others". The petition was granted. Prior to this, the government relied on the monks from the traditional schools in Nara to perform rituals, such as chanting the Golden Light Sutra
to bolster the government, but this event marked a new reliance on the esoteric tradition to fulfill this role.
With the public initiation ceremonies for Saichō and others at Takaosan in 812, Kūkai became the acknowledged master of esoteric Buddhism in Japan. He set about organizing his disciples into an order - making them responsible for administration, maintenance and construction at the temple, as well as for monastic discipline. In 813 Kūkai outlined his aims and practices in the document called The admonishments of Konin. It was also during this period at Takaosan that he completed many of the seminal works of the Shingon School:
All of these were written in 817. Records show that Kūkai was also busy writing poetry, conducting rituals, and writing epitaphs and memorials on request. His popularity at the court only increased, and spread.
Meanwhile, Kukai's new esoteric teachings and literature drew scrutiny from a noted scholar-monk of the time named Tokuitsu
, who traded letters back and forth in 815 asking for clarification. The dialogue between them proved constructive and helped to give Kūkai more credibility, while the Nara Schools took greater interest in esoteric practice.
as a retreat from worldly affairs. The ground was officially consecrated in the middle of 819 with rituals lasting seven days. He could not stay, however, as he had received an imperial order to act as advisor to the secretary of state, and he therefore entrusted the project to a senior disciple. As many surviving letters to patrons attest, fund-raising for the project now began to take up much of Kūkai's time, and financial difficulties were a persistent concern; indeed, the project was not fully realised until after Kūkai's death in 835.
Kūkai's vision was that Mt. Kōya was to become a representation of the two mandalas
that form the basis of Shingon Buddhism: the central plateau as the Womb Realm
mandala, with the peaks surrounding the area as petals of a lotus; and located in the centre of this would be the Diamond Realm
mandala in the form of a temple which he named Kongōbu-ji
— the Diamond Peak Temple. At the center of the temple complex sits an enormous statue of Mahavairocana Buddha who is the personification of Ultimate Reality.
task, that of restoring a reservoir, which survives to this day. His leadership enabled the previously floundering project to be completed smoothly, and is now the source of some of the many legendary stories which surround his figure. In 822 Kūkai performed an initiation ceremony for the ex-emperor Heizei. In the same year Saichō died.
When Emperor Kammu
had moved the capital in 784, he had not permitted the powerful Buddhists from the temples of Nara to follow him. He did commission two new temples: Tō-ji
(Eastern Temple) and Sai-ji
(Western Temple) which flanked the road at southern entrance to the city, protecting the capital from evil influences. However, after nearly thirty years the temples were still not completed. In 823 the soon-to-retire Emperor Saga asked Kūkai, experienced in public works projects, to take over Tō-ji and finish the building project. Saga gave Kūkai free rein, enabling him to make Tō-ji the first Esoteric Buddhist centre in Kyoto, and also giving him a base much closer to the court, and its power.
The new emperor, Emperor Junna
(r. 823-833) was also well disposed towards Kūkai. In response to a request from the emperor, Kūkai, along with other Japanese Buddhist leaders, submitted a document which set out the beliefs, practices and important texts of his form of Buddhism. In his imperial decree granting approval of Kūkai's outline of esoteric Buddhism, Junna uses the term for the first time. An imperial decree gave Kūkai exclusive use of Tō-ji for the Shingon School, which set a new precedent in an environment where previously temples had been open to all forms of Buddhism. It also allowed him to retain 50 monks at the temple and train them in Shingon. This was the final step in establishing Shingon as an independent Buddhist movement, with a solid institutional basis with state authorization. Shingon had become legitimate.
In 824 Kūkai was officially appointed to the temple construction project. In this same year he was appointed to the Office of Priestly Affairs. The Office consisted of four positions, with the Supreme Priest being an honorary position which was often vacant. The effective head of the Sōgō was the . Kūkai's appointment was to the position of . In addition there was a who was responsible for the monastic code of discipline. At Tō-ji, in addition to the main hall (kondō) and some minor buildings on the site, Kūkai added the lecture hall in 825 which was specifically designed along Shingon Buddhist principles, which included the making of 14 Buddha images. Also in 825, Kūkai was invited to become tutor to the crown prince. Then in 826 he initiated the construction of a large pagoda
at Tō-ji which was not completed in his lifetime (the present pagoda was built in 1644 by the third Tokugawa Shogun, Iemitsu). In 827 Kūkai was promoted to be Daisōzu in which capacity he presided over state rituals, the emperor and the imperial family.
The year 828 saw Kūkai open his School of Arts and Sciences (Shugei shuchi-in). The school was a private institution open to all regardless of social rank. This was in contrast to the only other school in the capital which was only open to members of the aristocracy. The school taught Taoism and Confucianism, in addition to Buddhism, and provided free meals to the pupils. The latter was essential because the poor could not afford to live and attend the school without it. The school closed ten years after Kūkai's death, when it was sold in order to purchase some rice fields for supporting monastic affairs.
Kūkai completed his magnum opus
, The in 830. Because of its great length, it has yet to have been fully translated into any language. A simplified summary, followed soon after. The first signs of the illness that would eventually lead to Kūkai's death appeared in 831. He sought to retire, but the emperor would not accept his resignation and instead gave him sick leave. Toward the end of 832 Kūkai was back on Mt. Kōya and spent most of his remaining life there. In 834 he petitioned the court to establish a Shingon chapel in the palace for the purpose of conducting rituals that would ensure the health of the state. This request was granted and Shingon ritual became incorporated into the official court calendar of events. In 835, just two months before his death, Kūkai was finally granted permission to annually ordain three Shingon monks at Mt. Kōya — the number of new ordainees being still strictly controlled by the state. This meant that Kōya had gone from being a private institution to a state-sponsored one.
With the end approaching, he stopped taking food and water, and spent much of his time absorbed in meditation. At midnight on the 21st day of the third month (835) he died at the age of 62. Emperor Ninmyō (r. 833-50) sent a message of condolence to Mount Kōya, expressing his regret that he could not attend the cremation due to the time lag in communication caused by Mount Kōya's isolation. However, Kūkai was not given the traditional cremation, but instead, in accordance with his will, was entombed on the eastern peak of Mount Kōya. It was discovered that his body did not decay several years after his death.
Legend has it that Kūkai has not died but entered into an eternal samadhi
and is still alive on Mount Kōya, awaiting the appearance of the next Buddha Maitreya. Other legends state that he was reborn in the Tushita
Heaven to wait upon Maitreya
Bodhisattva; hence the mantra of Maitreya as well as his Siddham seed syllable often is shown alongside the image of Kūkai.
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
monk, civil servant, scholar, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, and artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, founder of the Shingon or "True Word" school of Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. Shingon followers usually refer to him by the honorific titles of and .
Kūkai is famous as a calligrapher
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
(see Japanese calligraphy
Japanese calligraphy
is a form of calligraphy, or artistic writing, of the Japanese language. For a long time, the most esteemed calligrapher in Japan had been Wang Xizhi, a Chinese calligrapher in the 4th century but after the invention of Hiragana and Katakana, the Japanese unique syllabaries, the distinctive...
) and engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
. Among the many achievements attributed to him is the invention of the kana
Kana
Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...
, the syllabary in which, in combination with Chinese characters (kanji
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
) the Japanese language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
is written, a claim which is no longer taken seriously in scholarly circles, despite its persistence in popular belief. Also according to tradition, the Iroha
Iroha
The is a Japanese poem, probably written in the Heian era . Originally the poem was attributed to the founder of the Shingon Esoteric sect of Buddhism in Japan, Kūkai, but more modern research has found the date of composition to be later in the Heian Period. The first record of its existence...
, which uses every phonetic kana syllable just once and is one of the most famous poems in Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, is attributed to him but again, this is popular belief and nowhere attested to. His religious writings, some fifty works, expound the esoteric Shingon doctrine. The major ones have been translated into English by Yoshito Hakeda (see references below).
Early years
Kūkai was born in 774 in the present-day Zentsū-jiZentsū-ji
The is a temple of the Shingon sect in Zentsūji, Kagawa, Japan.It was established by Zentsū Saeki who was Kūkai's father in 813.The east academy and the west academy exist un Zentsu-ji precincts. The west academy is Kūkai's birthplace....
precincts in the province of Sanuki
Sanuki Province
was an old province of Japan on the island of Shikoku, with the same boundaries as modern Kagawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called .It faced the Inland Sea and bordered on Awa and Iyo Provinces. Across Naruto strait it bordered Awaji Province too. Administratively it was included as a part of...
on the island of Shikoku
Shikoku
is the smallest and least populous of the four main islands of Japan, located south of Honshū and east of the island of Kyūshū. Its ancient names include Iyo-no-futana-shima , Iyo-shima , and Futana-shima...
. His family were members of the aristocrat
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
ic Saeki family, a branch of the ancient Ōtomo clan. There is some doubt as to his birth name: Tōtomono (precious one) is recorded in one source, while Mao (True Fish) is recorded elsewhere. Mao is generally used in modern studies. Kūkai was born in a period of important political changes with Emperor Kanmu (alt. Kammu, r. 781–806) seeking to consolidate his power and to extend his realm, taking measures which included moving the capital of Japan from Nara
Nara, Nara
is the capital city of Nara Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. The city occupies the northern part of Nara Prefecture, directly bordering Kyoto Prefecture...
ultimately to Heian
Heian-kyo
Heian-kyō , was one of several former names for the city now known as Kyoto. It was the capital of Japan for over one thousand years, from 794 to 1868 with an interruption in 1180....
(modern-day Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
).
Little more is known about Kūkai's childhood. At the age of fifteen, he began to receive instruction in the Chinese Classics
Chinese classic texts
Chinese classic texts, or Chinese canonical texts, today often refer to the pre-Qin Chinese texts, especially the Neo-Confucian titles of Four Books and Five Classics , a selection of short books and chapters from the voluminous collection called the Thirteen Classics. All of these pre-Qin texts...
under the guidance of his maternal uncle. During this time, the Saeki-Ōtomo clan suffered government persecution due to allegations that the clan chief, Ōtomo Yakamochi, was responsible for the assassination of his rival Fujiwara Tanetsugu. The family fortunes had fallen by 791 when Kūkai journeyed to Nara, the capital at the time, to study at the government university, the . Graduates were typically chosen for prestigious positions as bureaucrats. Biographies of Kūkai suggest that he became disillusioned with his Confucian
Confucianism
Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...
studies, but developed a strong interest in Buddhist studies instead.
Around the age of 22, Kūkai was introduced to Buddhist practice involving chanting the mantra
Mantra
A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation"...
of the Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...
Ākasagarbha (Kokuzō)
Akasagarbha
Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattva is one of the eight great bodhisattvas. His name can be translated as "boundless space treasury" or "void store" as his wisdom is said to be boundless as space itself...
. During this period Kūkai frequently sought out isolated mountain regions where he chanted the Ākasagarbha mantra relentlessly. At age 24 he published his first major literary work, Sangō Shiiki
Sango Shiiki
is a dialectic allegory written by Kūkai in 794. It is Japan's oldest comparative ideological critique.At the time of writing, Kūkai was 24 years old. It is his debut work.-Contents:...
, in which he quotes from an extensive list of sources, including the classics of Confucianism, Taoism
Taoism
Taoism refers to a philosophical or religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish harmony with the Tao , which is the mechanism of everything that exists...
, and Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. The Nara temples, with their extensive libraries, possessed these texts.
During this period in Japanese history, the central government closely regulated Buddhism through the and enforced its policies, based on the Ritsuryō
Ritsuryo
is the historical law system based on the philosophies of Confucianism and Chinese Legalism in Japan. The political system in accord to Ritsuryō is called "Ritsuryō-sei"...
system. Ascetics and independent monks, like Kūkai, were frequently banned and lived outside the law, but still wandered the countryside or from temple to temple.
During this period of private Buddhist practice, Kūkai had a dream, in which a man appeared and told Kūkai that the Mahavairocana Sutra is the scripture which contained the doctrine Kūkai was seeking. Though Kūkai soon managed to obtain a copy of this sūtra which had only recently become available in Japan, he immediately encountered difficulty. Much of the sūtra was in untranslated Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
written in the Siddham script. Kūkai found the translated portion of the sūtra was very cryptic. Because Kūkai could find no one who could elucidate the text for him, he resolved to go to China to study the text there. Professor Abe suggests that the Mahavairocana Sutra bridged the gap between his interest in the practice of religious exercises and the doctrinal knowledge acquired through his studies.
Travel and study in China
The expedition included four ships, with Kūkai on the first ship, while another famous monk, Saichō
Saicho
was a Japanese Buddhist monk credited with founding the Tendai school in Japan, based around the Chinese Tiantai tradition he was exposed to during his trip to China beginning in 804. He founded the temple and headquarters of Tendai at Enryaku-ji on Mt. Hiei near Kyoto. He is also said to have...
was on the second ship. During a storm, the third ship turned back, while the fourth ship was lost at sea. Kūkai's ship arrived weeks later in the province of Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
and its passengers were initially denied entry to the port while the ship was impounded. Kūkai, being fluent in Chinese, wrote a letter to the governor of the province explaining their situation. The governor allowed the ship to dock, and the party was asked to proceed to the capital of Chang'an (present day Xi'an
Xi'an
Xi'an is the capital of the Shaanxi province, and a sub-provincial city in the People's Republic of China. One of the oldest cities in China, with more than 3,100 years of history, the city was known as Chang'an before the Ming Dynasty...
), the seat of power of the Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
.
After further delays, the Tang court granted Kūkai a place in the Ximingsi temple
Xi Ming Temple
Xi Ming Monastery is a famous monastery located in Chang'an, the capital of Tang Dynasty in Chinese history. The Temple is located in Chang'an, current day Xi'an, which was located at the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, and placed within a cosmopolitan metropolis. Ximing was established by Tang...
where his study of Chinese Buddhism began in earnest as well as studies of Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
with the Gandhara
Gandhara
Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
n pandit Prajñā
Prajna (Buddhist Monk)
Prajñā , was an important 9th century Buddhist monk from Gandhara, born in the area of modern Kabul, Afghanistan.He visited China during the Tang dynasty, and contributed several important translations of Sanskrit sutras into Chinese...
(734-810?) who had been educated at the Indian Buddhist university at Nalanda
Nalanda
Nālandā is the name of an ancient center of higher learning in Bihar, India.The site of Nalanda is located in the Indian state of Bihar, about 55 miles south east of Patna, and was a Buddhist center of learning from the fifth or sixth century CE to 1197 CE. It has been called "one of the...
.
It was in 805 that Kūkai finally met Master Hui-kuo
Hui-kuo
Hui-kuo was a Buddhist monk during Tang Dynasty China, particularly in the recently imported Tantric Buddhist tradition from India. Later, he would become the teacher of Kukai, who in turn founded the Shingon school in Japan. Hui-Guo was one of two Buddhist masters at Ximing Temple, the other...
(746 – 805) the man who would initiate him into the esoteric Buddhism tradition at Changan's Qinglong Monastery (青龍寺). Huiguo came from an illustrious lineage of Buddhist masters, famed especially for translating Sanskrit texts into Chinese, including the Mahavairocana Sutra. Kūkai describes their first meeting:
Huiguo immediately bestowed upon Kūkai the first level Abhisheka or esoteric initiation. Whereas Kūkai had expected to spend 20 years studying in China, in a few short months he was to receive the final initiation, and become a master of the esoteric lineage. Huiguo was said to have described teaching Kūkai as like "pouring water from one vase into another". Huiguo died shortly afterwards, but not before instructing Kūkai to return to Japan and spread the esoteric teachings there, assuring him that other disciples would carry on his work in China.
Kūkai arrived back in Japan in 806 as the eighth Patriarch of Esoteric Buddhism, having learnt Sanskrit and its Siddham script
Writing
Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...
, studied Indian Buddhism, as well as having studied the arts of Chinese calligraphy
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
and poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, all with recognized masters. He also arrived with a large number of texts, many of which were new to Japan and were esoteric in character, as well as several texts on the Sanskrit language and the Siddham script.
However in Kūkai's absence Emperor Kammu had died and was replaced by Emperor Heizei
Emperor Heizei
, also known as Heijō-tennō. was the 51st emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Heizei's reign lasted from 806 to 809.-Traditional narrative:...
who exhibited no great enthusiasm for Buddhism. Kukai's return from China was eclipsed by Saichō, the founder of the Tendai school, who found favor with the court during this time. Saichō had already had esoteric rites officially recognised by the court as an integral part of Tendai, and had already performed the abhisheka, or initiatory ritual, for the court by the time Kūkai returned to Japan.
Later, with Emperor Kammu's death, Saichō's fortunes began to wane.
Saichō requested, in 812, that Kūkai give him the introductory initiation, which Kūkai agreed to do. He also granted a second-level initiation upon Saichō, but refused to bestow the final initiation (which would have qualified Saichō as a master of esoteric Buddhism) because Saichō had not completed the required studies, leading to a falling out between the two that was not resolved, this feud later extended to the Shingon and Tendai sects.
Little is known about Kūkai's movements until 809 when the court finally responded to Kūkai's report on his studies, which also contained an inventory of the texts and other objects he had brought with him, and a petition for state support to establish the new esoteric Buddhism in Japan. That document, the Catalogue of Imported Items, is the first attempt by Kūkai to distinguish the new form of Buddhism from that already practiced in Japan. The court's response was an order to reside in the Takaosan (later Jingo-ji
Jingo-ji
is a Buddhist temple in Kyoto. It stands on Mount Takao to the northwest of the center of the city. The temple adheres to Shingon Buddhism. Its honzon is a statue of Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of Healing or "Medicine Buddha"....
) Temple in the suburbs of Kyoto. This was to be Kūkai's headquarters for the next 14 years. The year 809 also saw the retirement of Heizei due to illness and the succession of the Emperor Saga
Emperor Saga
was the 52nd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Saga's reign spanned the years from 809 through 823.-Traditional narrative:...
, who supported Kūkai and exchanged poems and other gifts.
Emerging from obscurity
Todai-ji
, is a Buddhist temple complex located in the city of Nara, Japan. Its Great Buddha Hall , the largest wooden building in the world, houses the world's largest bronze statue of the Buddha Vairocana, known in Japanese simply as Daibutsu . The temple also serves as the Japanese headquarters of the ...
, the central temple in Nara
Nara, Nara
is the capital city of Nara Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. The city occupies the northern part of Nara Prefecture, directly bordering Kyoto Prefecture...
, and head of the .
Shortly after his enthronement Saga became seriously ill, and while he was recovering Heizei fomented a rebellion, which had to be put down by force. Kūkai petitioned the Emperor to allow him to carry out certain esoteric rituals which were said to "enable a king to vanquish the seven calamities, to maintain the four seasons in harmony, to protect the nation and family, and to give comfort to himself and others". The petition was granted. Prior to this, the government relied on the monks from the traditional schools in Nara to perform rituals, such as chanting the Golden Light Sutra
Golden Light Sutra
The ' , is a Buddhist text of the Mahayana branch of Buddhism...
to bolster the government, but this event marked a new reliance on the esoteric tradition to fulfill this role.
With the public initiation ceremonies for Saichō and others at Takaosan in 812, Kūkai became the acknowledged master of esoteric Buddhism in Japan. He set about organizing his disciples into an order - making them responsible for administration, maintenance and construction at the temple, as well as for monastic discipline. In 813 Kūkai outlined his aims and practices in the document called The admonishments of Konin. It was also during this period at Takaosan that he completed many of the seminal works of the Shingon School:
- Attaining Enlightenment in This Very Existence
- The Meaning of Sound, Word, Reality
- Meanings of the Word Hūm
All of these were written in 817. Records show that Kūkai was also busy writing poetry, conducting rituals, and writing epitaphs and memorials on request. His popularity at the court only increased, and spread.
Meanwhile, Kukai's new esoteric teachings and literature drew scrutiny from a noted scholar-monk of the time named Tokuitsu
Tokuitsu
was a scholar-monk of the Hossō sect of Buddhism in Japan. He is best known for his debates with other leading Buddhists of the time, Kūkai and Saichō, and for asserting a more orthodox view of Mahayana Buddhism based on the state-sanctioned schools of Nara, Japan.- Biography :Little is known about...
, who traded letters back and forth in 815 asking for clarification. The dialogue between them proved constructive and helped to give Kūkai more credibility, while the Nara Schools took greater interest in esoteric practice.
Mount Kōya
In 816, Emperor Saga accepted Kūkai's request to establish a mountain retreat at Mount KōyaMount Koya
is the name of mountains in Wakayama Prefecture to the south of Osaka. Also, Kōya-san is a modifying word for Kongōbuji . There is no one mountain officially called Kōya-san in Japan....
as a retreat from worldly affairs. The ground was officially consecrated in the middle of 819 with rituals lasting seven days. He could not stay, however, as he had received an imperial order to act as advisor to the secretary of state, and he therefore entrusted the project to a senior disciple. As many surviving letters to patrons attest, fund-raising for the project now began to take up much of Kūkai's time, and financial difficulties were a persistent concern; indeed, the project was not fully realised until after Kūkai's death in 835.
Kūkai's vision was that Mt. Kōya was to become a representation of the two mandalas
Mandala of the Two Realms
The Mandala of the Two Realms , also known as the Mandala of the Two Divisions , is a set of two mandalas depicting both the Five Wisdom Buddhas of the Diamond Realm as well as the Five Wisdom Kings of the Womb Realm...
that form the basis of Shingon Buddhism: the central plateau as the Womb Realm
Womb Realm
In Vajrayana Buddhism, the Womb Realm is the metaphysical space inhabited by the Five Wisdom Kings. The Womb Realm is based on the Mahāvairocana Sutra...
mandala, with the peaks surrounding the area as petals of a lotus; and located in the centre of this would be the Diamond Realm
Diamond Realm
In Vajrayana Buddhism, the Diamond Realm is a metaphysical space inhabited by the Five Wisdom Buddhas...
mandala in the form of a temple which he named Kongōbu-ji
Kongobu-ji
Kongōbuji is the ecclesiastic head temple of Koyasan Shingon Buddhism, located on , Wakayama prefecture, Japan. Its name means Temple of the Diamond Mountain...
— the Diamond Peak Temple. At the center of the temple complex sits an enormous statue of Mahavairocana Buddha who is the personification of Ultimate Reality.
Public Works
In 821 Kūkai took on a civil engineeringCivil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
task, that of restoring a reservoir, which survives to this day. His leadership enabled the previously floundering project to be completed smoothly, and is now the source of some of the many legendary stories which surround his figure. In 822 Kūkai performed an initiation ceremony for the ex-emperor Heizei. In the same year Saichō died.
Tō-ji Period
Emperor Kammu
was the 50th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Kammu reigned from 781 to 806.-Traditional narrative:Kammu's personal name was . He was the eldest son of Prince Shirakabe , and was born prior to Shirakabe's ascension to the throne...
had moved the capital in 784, he had not permitted the powerful Buddhists from the temples of Nara to follow him. He did commission two new temples: Tō-ji
To-ji
is a Buddhist temple of the Shingon sect in Kyoto, Japan. Its name means East Temple, and it once had a partner, Sai-ji . They stood alongside the Rashomon, the gate to the Heian capital. It is formally known as which indicates that it previously functioned as a temple providing protection for the...
(Eastern Temple) and Sai-ji
Sai-ji
or the West Temple was one of the two large Buddhist temples established in Kyoto, Japan.-History:Sai-ji was founded in the early Heian period. The temple dates from 796, two years after the capital moved to Heian-kyō. Sai-ji was established together with the other temple, Tō-ji...
(Western Temple) which flanked the road at southern entrance to the city, protecting the capital from evil influences. However, after nearly thirty years the temples were still not completed. In 823 the soon-to-retire Emperor Saga asked Kūkai, experienced in public works projects, to take over Tō-ji and finish the building project. Saga gave Kūkai free rein, enabling him to make Tō-ji the first Esoteric Buddhist centre in Kyoto, and also giving him a base much closer to the court, and its power.
The new emperor, Emperor Junna
Emperor Junna
was the 53rd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Junna reigned from 823 to 833.-Traditional narrative:Junna had six Empresses and Imperial consorts and 13 Imperial sons and daughters...
(r. 823-833) was also well disposed towards Kūkai. In response to a request from the emperor, Kūkai, along with other Japanese Buddhist leaders, submitted a document which set out the beliefs, practices and important texts of his form of Buddhism. In his imperial decree granting approval of Kūkai's outline of esoteric Buddhism, Junna uses the term for the first time. An imperial decree gave Kūkai exclusive use of Tō-ji for the Shingon School, which set a new precedent in an environment where previously temples had been open to all forms of Buddhism. It also allowed him to retain 50 monks at the temple and train them in Shingon. This was the final step in establishing Shingon as an independent Buddhist movement, with a solid institutional basis with state authorization. Shingon had become legitimate.
In 824 Kūkai was officially appointed to the temple construction project. In this same year he was appointed to the Office of Priestly Affairs. The Office consisted of four positions, with the Supreme Priest being an honorary position which was often vacant. The effective head of the Sōgō was the . Kūkai's appointment was to the position of . In addition there was a who was responsible for the monastic code of discipline. At Tō-ji, in addition to the main hall (kondō) and some minor buildings on the site, Kūkai added the lecture hall in 825 which was specifically designed along Shingon Buddhist principles, which included the making of 14 Buddha images. Also in 825, Kūkai was invited to become tutor to the crown prince. Then in 826 he initiated the construction of a large pagoda
Stupa
A stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, typically the remains of Buddha, used by Buddhists as a place of worship....
at Tō-ji which was not completed in his lifetime (the present pagoda was built in 1644 by the third Tokugawa Shogun, Iemitsu). In 827 Kūkai was promoted to be Daisōzu in which capacity he presided over state rituals, the emperor and the imperial family.
The year 828 saw Kūkai open his School of Arts and Sciences (Shugei shuchi-in). The school was a private institution open to all regardless of social rank. This was in contrast to the only other school in the capital which was only open to members of the aristocracy. The school taught Taoism and Confucianism, in addition to Buddhism, and provided free meals to the pupils. The latter was essential because the poor could not afford to live and attend the school without it. The school closed ten years after Kūkai's death, when it was sold in order to purchase some rice fields for supporting monastic affairs.
Final years
Masterpiece
Masterpiece in modern usage refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship....
, The in 830. Because of its great length, it has yet to have been fully translated into any language. A simplified summary, followed soon after. The first signs of the illness that would eventually lead to Kūkai's death appeared in 831. He sought to retire, but the emperor would not accept his resignation and instead gave him sick leave. Toward the end of 832 Kūkai was back on Mt. Kōya and spent most of his remaining life there. In 834 he petitioned the court to establish a Shingon chapel in the palace for the purpose of conducting rituals that would ensure the health of the state. This request was granted and Shingon ritual became incorporated into the official court calendar of events. In 835, just two months before his death, Kūkai was finally granted permission to annually ordain three Shingon monks at Mt. Kōya — the number of new ordainees being still strictly controlled by the state. This meant that Kōya had gone from being a private institution to a state-sponsored one.
With the end approaching, he stopped taking food and water, and spent much of his time absorbed in meditation. At midnight on the 21st day of the third month (835) he died at the age of 62. Emperor Ninmyō (r. 833-50) sent a message of condolence to Mount Kōya, expressing his regret that he could not attend the cremation due to the time lag in communication caused by Mount Kōya's isolation. However, Kūkai was not given the traditional cremation, but instead, in accordance with his will, was entombed on the eastern peak of Mount Kōya. It was discovered that his body did not decay several years after his death.
Legend has it that Kūkai has not died but entered into an eternal samadhi
Samadhi (Buddhism)
In Buddhism, samādhi is mental concentration or composing the mind.-In the early Suttas:In the Pāli canon of the Theravada tradition and the related Āgamas of other early Buddhist schools, samādhi is found in the following contexts:* In the noble eightfold path, "right concentration" In Buddhism,...
and is still alive on Mount Kōya, awaiting the appearance of the next Buddha Maitreya. Other legends state that he was reborn in the Tushita
Tushita
' or Tusita is one of the six deva-worlds of the Kāmadhātu, located between the Yāma heaven and the heaven. Like the other heavens, is said to be reachable through meditation...
Heaven to wait upon Maitreya
Maitreya
Maitreya , Metteyya , or Jampa , is foretold as a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. In some Buddhist literature, such as the Amitabha Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, he or she is referred to as Ajita Bodhisattva.Maitreya is a bodhisattva who in the Buddhist tradition is to appear on...
Bodhisattva; hence the mantra of Maitreya as well as his Siddham seed syllable often is shown alongside the image of Kūkai.
See also
- Shingon BuddhismShingon Buddhismis one of the mainstream major schools of Japanese Buddhism and one of the few surviving Esoteric Buddhist lineages that started in the 3rd to 4th century CE that originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra...
- Shikoku PilgrimageShikoku PilgrimageThe or is a multi-site pilgrimage of 88 temples associated with the Buddhist monk Kūkai on the island of Shikoku, Japan. A popular and distinctive feature of the island's cultural landscape, and with a long history, large numbers of pilgrims still undertake the journey for a variety of ascetic,...
- VajrayanaVajrayanaVajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...
- Huiguo
- PadmasambhavaPadmasambhavaPadmasambhava ; Mongolian ловон Бадмажунай, lovon Badmajunai, , Means The Lotus-Born, was a sage guru from Oddiyāna who is said to have transmitted Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan and Tibet and neighbouring countries in the 8th century...
- Shinnyo-en
- Shinjo ItoShinjo Itois the founder of the reputed Buddhist school Shinnyo-en.He was born in Yamanashi Prefecture in Japan. After a career as an aeronautic engineer, he dedicated himself to a religious life...
Additional sources
- Skilton, A. 1994. A Concise History of Buddhism. Birmingham: Windhorse Publications.
- Wayman, A and Tajima, R. 1998 The Enlightenment of Vairocana. Delhi: Motilal Barnasidass [includes Study of the Vairocanābhisambodhitantra (Wayman) and Study of the Mahāvairocana-Sūtra (Tajima)].
- White, Kenneth R. 2005. The Role of Bodhicitta in Buddhist Enlightenment. New York: The Edwin Mellen Press (includes Bodhicitta-śāstra, Benkenmitsu-nikyōron, Sanmaya-kaijō)
External links
- another biography.
- Kyoto Museum Exhibition many images related to Shingon Buddhism.
- Kitaro Shikoku Peace Bell Project