Kukai
Kūkai (空海) or also known posthumously as Kōbō-Daishi (弘法大師) , 774–835 C.E.: Japanese monk, scholar, and artist, founder of the Shingon or "True Word" school of Buddhism. Kūkai is famous as a calligrapher (see Shodo), engineer and is said to have invented kana, the syllabary in which, in combination with Chinese characters (Kanji) the Japanese language is written. His religious writing, some 50 works, expound the esoteric Shingon doctrine. Kūkai is also said to have written the iroha, one of the most famous poems in Japanese, which uses every phonetic kana syllable.
Biography
Early years
Kūkai was born in 774 in the province of Sanuki on Shikoku island in the present day town of Zentsūji. His family were members of a declining aristocratic family. At age fifteen, he began to receive instruction in the Chinese Classics under the guidance of his maternal uncle. In 791 Kūkai went to "the capital", (probably Nara), to study at the government university, the graduates of which were chosen for prestigious positions as bureaucrats. However, at some point Kūkai became disillusioned with the course of study at the university and resigned to take up a life of mendicancy.
Kūkai was born in a period of political turmoil with Emperor Kammu (r. 781-806) seeking to consolidate his power and to extend his realm. In 784 Kammu shifted his capital from Nara to Nagaoka in a move that was said to be intended to edge the powerful Nara Buddhist establishments out of state politics Then, in 794 Kammu suddenly shifted the capital again, this time to Heian-kyō, which is modern day Kyoto. Biographies of Kūkai suggest that he became disillusioned with his studies. Kūkai was also imbibing something of Buddhism. Kūkai went through a decisive transformation while at university that led to him abandoning his studies and becoming a wandering mendicant. During this period Kūkai frequently sought out isolated mountain regions where he chanted the Ākāsagarbha mantra relentlessly. But he also must have frequented the large monasteries of Nara. We know this because his first major literary work, Sangō shiiki (三教指歸; Indications of the Goals of the Three Teachings), composed during this period at the age of 24, quotes from a remarkable breadth of sources, including the classics of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Indications gives the first hint of the way that Kūkai will transform Japanese society away from essentially importing Chinese culture wholesale and toward the emergence of a truly Japanese culture. He establishes, to his own satisfaction at least, that Buddhism is the highest of the available spiritual teachings .
Travel and study in China
How Kukai managed to be included on a government sponsored mission to China is uncertain, but he set sail in 804. It was in 805 that Kukai finally met Master Hui-kuo (Jap. Keika) (746-805) the man who would initiate him into the esoteric Buddhism tradition. Hui-kuo came from an illustrious lineage of Buddhist masters, famed especially for translating Sanskrit texts into Chinese, including the Mahavairocana Sutra. Hui-kuo immediately bestowed Kukai first level Abhisheka or esoteric initiation. Whereas Kukai had expected to spend 20 years in China studying, in a few short months he was to receive the final initiation, and become a master of the esoteric lineage. In other words Kukai would have mastered the complex rituals involving combinations and mudra, mantra, and visualisations associated with each of the deities in the two mandala, amounting to several dozen distinct practices.Kukai was the only one who received the entire teaching of both the Garbhakosha and the Vajradhatu mandalas. Hui-kuo also gifted Kukai a number of ritual implements and art works. Kukai arrived back in Japan in 806.
Kukai and Saicho
However in Kukai's absence Emperor Kammu had died and was replaced by Emperor Heizei who had no great enthusiasm for Buddhism. Saicho, the founder of the Tendai school, was a court favourite however, and these two factors seemed to have contributed to the lack of interest shown by the court in Kukai's return. Saicho had travelled to China at the same time, and he was also initiated into esoteric Buddhism (by Shun-hsiao), and also returned with esoteric Buddhist texts. Indeed he can rightly claim priority in introducing esoteric Buddhism to Japan. Esoteric Buddhism became an important aspect of the Tendai school which was primarily focused on the Lotus Sutra, an exoteric text. Saicho 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 Kukai returned to Japan. Kukai was in quite a difficult position in that he was a relative unknown, up against the rising star of Saicho, in a field of opportunities strictly limited by draconian state control of religious practice. However with the demise of Emperor Kammu, Saicho's fortunes began to wane. But we know that he and Kukai corresponded frequently and that Saicho was a frequent borrower of texts from Kukai. Saicho also requested, in 812, that Kukai give him the introductory initiation, which Kukai agreed to do. Kukai also bestowed a second level initiation on Saicho, but refused to grant the final initiation because Saicho had not completed the required studies. Their friendship could be said to end when Kukai refused to lend one scripture saying that Saicho could not learn what he needed from a text, but only through a proper initiation into the teachings.
Kukai and Emperor Saga
We know little about Kukai's movements until 809 when the court finally responded to Kukai'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 interesting because it is the first attempt by Kukai to distinguish the new form of Buddhism from that already practised in Japan. Late in 809 Kukai finally received the courts response which was an order to reside in the Takaosanji (later Jingoji) Temple in the suburbs of Kyoto. This was to be Kukai's headquarters for the next 14 years. The year 809 also saw the retirement of Heizei due to illness and the succession of Emperor Saga who supported Kukai. During the three year period after his return from China there was little that Kukai could do, but he seems to established himself as a calligrapher of note, for Saga often invited Kukai to the palace where he would write letters on the Emperor's behalf. They also exchanged poems and other gifts.
In 810 Kukai emerged as a public figure when he was appointed administrative head at Tōdaiji Temple in Nara. Tōdaiji was the central temple in Nara and therefore the most important in the country. To get the appointment Kukai needed not only the support of the Emperor, but also of the powerful Nara clergy.
Shortly after his enthronement Saga was seriously ill and while he was recovering Heizei fomented a rebellion, which had to be put down by force and resulted in much bloodshed on both sides. Eventually Saga won the day, but the political crisis, combined with his illness made this a very difficult period. And it seems that Kukai was one of his mainstays at the time. In any case in 810 Kukai 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". And his petition was granted.
Mount Kōya
The emperor granted the mountain to Kukai free from all state control. Kukai's vision for Mt. Koya was that it become a representation of the two mandalas which form the basis of Shingon Buddhism: with 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 Kongōbuji - the Diamond Peak Temple. At the centre of the Temple complex sits an enormous statue of Mahavairocana Buddha who is the personification of Ultimate Reality.
The Toji Period
When Kammu had moved the capital, he had not permitted the powerful Buddhists from the temples of Nara to follow him. He did commission two new temples: Toji (Eastern Temple) and Saiji (Western Temple) which flanked the road at southern entrance to the city which were intended to protect the capital from evil influences. 1n 824 Kukai was appointed to the administrative body that oversaw all the Buddhist monasteries in Japan, the Soogoo, or 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 Sogo was the Senior Director (Daisoozu). Kukai's appointment was to the position of junior director (Shoosoozu). In addition there was a Vinaya Master (Risshi) who was responsible for the monastic code of discipline. The year 828 saw Kukai open his School of Arts and Sciences (Shugei shuchi-in). The school was a private institution which was open to all regardless of social rank.
Final years
Kukai completed his magnum opus The Ten Stages of the Development of Mind in 830. A simplified summary, The Precious Key to the Secret Treasury followed soon after. 831 brought the first signs of the illness that eventually killed Kukai. He sought to retire but the emperor would not accept his resignation, and instead gave him sick leave. Towards the end of 832 Kukai was back on Mt. Koya 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 which 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 prior to his death Kukai was finally granted permission to annually ordain three Shingon monks at My Koya - the number of new ordainees being still strictly controlled by the state. This meant that Koya had gone from being a private institution to a state sponsored one.
Finally Kukai sensed the end approaching and is said to 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) Kukai breathed his last breath at the age of 62. Emperor Nimmyō (r. 833-50) sent a message of condolence to Mt. Koya, expressing his regret that he could not attend the cremation due to the time lag in communication caused by My Koya's isolation. However Kukai was not given the traditional cremation, but instead was interred in accordance with his will, on the Eastern peak of Mt Koya.
Legend has it that Kukai has not died but entered into an eternal samadhi (or deeply concentrated meditation) and is still alive on Mt Koya, awaiting the appearance of the next Buddha Maitreya. Kukai came to be regarded as a Bodhisattva who had come to earth in order to bring relief from suffering to the time between Shakyamuni Buddha, and Maitreya, which is said to be characterised by increasing disorder and decay.
Thought and Works
Bachground
The esoteric
The Mahāvairocana-sūtra is an esoteric text. Esoteric Buddhism is "a complex system of icons, meditative rituals, and ritual languages, all of which aim at enabling the practitioners to immediately grasp abstract Buddhist doctrines through actual ritual experiences". [Abé p.1] Shingon Buddhists distinguish, largely on the basis of Kukai's thinking, esoteric texts from exoteric which rely on conventional use of language to elucidate Buddhist doctrines. So the Mahāvairocana-sūtra, although beginning with a doctrinal statement, is largely made up of descriptions of elaborate ritual practices, which include the silent recitation of mantra, the adoption of ritual hand gestures (mudra), and the visualisation of mandalas, and the figures of various Buddha's and Bodhisattvas. The rituals are designed to give the practitioner a direct experience of the doctrine set out. This is what professor Abé means when he suggests that the Mahāvairocana-sūtra acted as a bridge between practice and scholarship. The Mahāvairocana-sūtra was to become one of two central texts in Shingon Buddhist, the other being the Sarvatathāgata-tattvasamgraha, part of the Vajrasekhara-sūtra cycle of texts. Associated with each is a mandala consisting of many Buddhist mythic figures (the word deities is often used, however they are not gods in the sense that the word is used in English - they are Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas which were, and still are, a distinct category of being in Buddhist cosmology).
However it is not likely that Kūkai was aware of the full significance of the Mahāvairocana-sūtra as an esoteric text when he first met it. Esoteric Buddhism had yet to be systematically imported into Japan and existed in a fragmentary condition, and he would have only had such a partial understanding and a standard Mahāyāna perspective from which to understand the sūtra. Indeed many of the terms such as mandala, samaya, and abhisheka would have been unfamiliar to him. Esoteric scriptures were available, indeed the practice of chanting the Ākāsagarbha mantra which Kūkai had been practising is from an esoteric text. However Professor Abé strongly argues that the relevant teachings, the keys to unlocking the secrets of the esoteric texts were not available. These texts could only have been viewed from the Mahāyāna perspective.
Kukai's significance to Japanese culture
Religion
Shingon was to be the dominant Japanese Buddhism school until the Kamakura period (1185-1333) which saw the arising of the Pure Land school started by Hōnen (1133-1212) and Shinran (1173-1263). The 12th and 13th centuries saw the introduction of Chinese Ch'an (Jap. Zen).
Professor Abé argues that Kukai's true contribution lay not just in his bringing a new form of Buddhist teaching to Japan, although that in itself led to major changes in Japan Buddhism: but also in his introduction of a new spiritual and political discourse which enabled the Japanese to establish the first truly Japanese culture. The Japanese had always relied on imported Chinese Culture, especially Confucianism. Kukai's new religious discourse allowed the Japanese to free themselves from a rigid approach to statehood. Essential to this new discourse was Kukai's theory of mantra which suggests that words are saturated with meaning, and that especially mantra are manifestations of the ultimate truth according to Buddhism. As part of this discourse Kukai insisted that the Sanskrit writing system, which is syllabic and phonetic, was better suited to conveying the truth than the Chinese writing systems ideograms. This led to the introduction of a phonetic writing system for Japanese: the kana. Kukai is popularly accorded the credit for inventing the kana, but scholars have cast doubt on this. Never-the-less, it was Kukai's efforts in learning, importing, and teaching the Sanskrit essential for the understanding of esoteric texts which paved the way for the adoption of the kana. As we have seen, Kukai, from an early age rejected Confucianism, and sought to establish esoteric Buddhism as the supreme religious teaching - and this constitutes his first attack on the imported Chinese political system of the day.
Just as Kukai personally experienced a gap between his textual studies and his spiritual practices before going to China, it can be said the Buddhism in Nara Japan was in a similar state. Without the esoteric doctrines, the rituals and practices current were divorced from the intense academic study that predominated in Nara Buddhism. Kukai managed to bridge this gap for himself, but also for Japanese Buddhism as a whole. Kukai's esoteric discourse also provided for the integration of indigenous Shinto beliefs. The central figure of esoteric Buddhism, Mahavairocana (literally: the Great Sun) was able to be identified with the Shinto Sun Goddess Amaterasu. Which in turn also helped to identify the emperor with Mahavairocana.
The result of Kukai's efforts was to replace Confucianism with Buddhism as the official state ideology. Kukai's great work, the Ten Abiding Stages, can be seen as not simply a vindication of Shingon's superiority, but as a manifesto for the ideal state, based, not so much on the Confucian heaven, but on the Buddhist Pure Land. The emperor began to be seen as the Universal Monarch described in Buddhist scripture, rather than the Son of Heaven. This was a crucial factor in the future development of Japanese society during the medieval state, and in particular the Heian period.
Abé says : "Japanese Esoteric Buddhism, and its ritual system in particular, functioned as a practical technology that had a direct bearing on medieval politics and economy as well as literary production. It served as a pivotal matrix for the integration of medieval society's diverse fields of science, art and knowledge in general; an integration that, in turn, gave rise to the religious, political, and cultural discourse characteristic of the medieval Japanese intellectual constellation...In short, the Kukai of medieval Japan was major cultural icon illustrative of the deep cultural assimilation in which Buddhism constituted, almost transparently, the nucleus of Japanese society". [Abé p.2-3]
Kūkai's main contribution to Buddhist thought was in synthesising all the existing teachings into a coherent whole. Over more than 1000 years Buddhist teachings had multiplied enormously, and many seemingly contradictory teachings were available. Kūkai created a hierarchical approach to spiritual practice which included Confucianism and Daoism as lower stages on the path - this was published in 830 as Jujushinron (Ten Stages of Mind Development). He placed the Mahavairocana Sutra (actually an early Tantric text) at the pinnacle of teachings. Shingon is stronly influenced by the Tathāgatagarbha Doctrine, also known as 'Buddha Nature' which says that all beings are inherently pure from the very beginning. The highest attainment according to Shingon is the union of the individual's mind and body with the mind and body of the Dharmakaya Buddha, Mahavairochana.
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ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Abé, Ryuichi. 2000. The Weaving of Mantra: Kūkai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse. Columbia University Press.
- Hakeda, Yoshito S. 1984. Kukai and His Major Works. Columbia University Press.
- 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)]
External links
- Kukai's Sokushin-Jobutsu-Gi (Principle of Attaining Buddhahood with the Present Body)
- another biography.
- Kyoto Museum Exhibition many images related to Shingon Buddhism.
fr:Kobo Daishi ja:空海 ru:Кукай de:Kūkai
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