Kūkai

Kōbō-Daishi (弘法大師, July 31st 774 - April 22nd 835), more known under the name of Kūkai (空海), is the saint founder of the Shingon; it is also an outstanding figure of the history of the Japan: its universal spirit strongly influenced the culture and civilization Japanese women. He was not only one large monk, but also an eminent man of letters, a philosopher, poet and calligrapher. All its life it expressed a great benevolence for all the beings, and for this reason it is still, nowadays, if popular in Japan.

Birth and childhood

It was born into 774, at the village of Byōbuga-ura, in the island of Shikoku. Its family was prosperous, her father had exerted the role of governor of province. He was the third child and accepted the first name of Mao, who means “Poisson of truth”. Very early it expressed a remarkable intelligence, then, it was called Tōtomono, the “invaluable one”. Already in its plays, it showed a deep attraction for the religion because it was accustomed to working clay Buddhas for then requesting them on small furnace bridges. To the 15 years age, it went to the capital, Kyoto, near his uncle, scientist famous, tutor at the court, to study the beautiful Chinese letters and the texts of the Confucianism. Registered with the governmental college at 18 years, he studied assiduously during two years; in front of her brilliances results the family hoped that he would become senior official with the capital, but the Kūkai young person was interested more in Buddhism than with his career. He also studied the old texts of traditional Buddhism of Nara. Including/understanding the vanity of its laic studies, it left the college in spite of the strong opposition of its entourage.

Practice of the Buddhism

The end of VIIIe century is marked in Japan by great political changes. The clan of Fujiwara seizes the power and the Kanmu emperor transfers the capital from Nara to Kyoto. This total renewal increases the loads which weigh on the people which suffer from misery. From its major nature, Kūkai had felt that in Buddhism the solution of the essential problems of the life of the men was. It thus chooses food as a wandering ascetic, to look further into his faith by the religious practice. He was the disciple of a Master of temple, the Gonzō priest, who initiated it with the ritual of Gōmonji, although he was not officially monk. He practiced this ritual intensively and lived sometimes in huts at the top of the mountains, sometimes in caves at the edge of the ocean. Thus one day, he saw the Venus star paddle to descend it on him, and to enter his mouth bringing the Illumination to him. At twenty four years, he wrote “Sangō Shiiki”, the final truth of the three lesson, comparing with it the three ideals of the Confucianism, the Taoism and Buddhism, to conclude that this last is deeper and ready to save the beings, since he solves the basic problems of the human life. He answered thus the reproaches of his entourage which showed it not to want to serve its country, and consequently he devoted himself entirely to the study of the Way.

The esoteric discovery of Buddhism (Mikkyō)

In spite of its studies in the temples of Nara, it was not yet satisfied. One day it made a dream, inviting it to go in the temple of Kumedera. There, he discovered a text still little known in Japan, the Dainichi-kyō . As it could not include/understand it, it decided to go to China to look further into this teaching there. From 24 to 31 years, i.e. until its departure in China, we do not have documents on its life, but it is very probable that it had much to study and to improve in Chinese.

The departure for China

In 804, at 31 years, thanks to the support of its family, it accepted the authorization to leave for China with an ambassador. Right before its departure it accepted officially the ordination of monk and took the name of Kūkai which means “Ocean of Vacuity”. Another famous monk in the history of Japan, Saichō, left at the same time as him on another boat. He had already founded in Hieizan, in the north of Kyoto, a monastery of the Tendaï and brilliantly began under protection from the Kanmu emperor. After more than one month of voyage, difficult, due to the storms, the ambassador and Kūkai unloaded in China, very far from the capital Chang' year. On the four boats of the flotilla, only two had arrived and theirs was in a state so miserable that the authorities took them for pirates. It is only when they transfer the splendid penmanship of Kūkai which they recognized their error. No pirate could have written with such a nobility. They crossed China by overland route, for finally arriving at Chang' year the international city most cultivated and most prosperous of the world at the time. China of Tang was with its apogee and, tradesmen, philosophers and monks of the whole world côtoyaient themselves in its capital. Kūkai grows rich in contact with this expansion by ideas and so different cultures. It went famous to the court of the emperor for the beauty of his penmanships. They became now National treasures of Japan, he visited many temples and knew various large Masters. He thus learned Sanskrit near an Indian Master. However its most important meeting was that with Keika-Ajari, (Hui-go) the disciple of Fūkū-Sanzō (Amoghavajra), the largest venerated Master of the Chinese esotericism.

Esoteric initiation with Buddhism

As of the first meeting in May 805, Keika-Ajari recognized Kūkai: “I knew that you would come. I had waited so a long time. What a pleasure of seeing you! but alas my life finishes and I do not know if I would have time to transmit my teaching to you. ” Keika-Ajari initiated it with the ceremonies of dedication “Kanjō” during which the disciple, the bandaged eyes, must discover with which divinity it with greatest affinity. On this occasion, the flower which Kūkai launched on a mandala (symbolizing diagram universe) fell twice from following the medium, with the site of the principal Buddha (Dainitchi-Nyorai). Thus it accepted the title of Henjō-Kongō (diamond which illuminates all). In a few months, it accepted all the lesson of Keika-Ajari as one pours the water from one vase to another. The Master then made actively prepare with his intention the mandalas and the objects necessary to the practice of ritual and many crowned texts were recopied. After this period of intensive transmission, the Master died in the end of the year. Kūkai was its last disciple and it was, among all, that which had received the most complete lesson. It is undoubtedly for this reason that was indicated it to write his epitaph.

The return to Japan

The following year, he united with the new ambassador to go back to Japan in August 806. Until the end of its stay, it recopied and gathered documents in the various fields of the Chinese culture. As of its arrival, it sent to the emperor the list of the many objects and documents which it reported of China. Thanks to its long preparation carried out in Japan, it had been able to very quickly assimilate not only the Buddhist lesson, but also of full knowledge of general culture, in letters, penmanship, medicine, work of art, structures, etc However it had left for China with an official delegation and it had been agreed that there were to remain 20 years there. Its premature return embarrassed the authorities. It had to remain approximately four years with the Temple of Kanzéonji in the island of Kyûshû, in the south of Japan, before receiving the authorization to join the capital.

Beginnings of Shingon

On the order of the emperor, it remained with the temple of Takaosanji in the North of Kyoto, where it started to give the lesson of Shingon. During this period, serious political disturbances shook the country, and Kūkai made ceremonies to alleviate the civil war. At thirty six years, it accepted the permission of the emperor, to found the Shingon school. It in short characteristic points as follows: “Shingon is the major teaching of the Mahayana. It is devoted has to ensure the peace of the country by the prayer, has to save all the beings by driving out misfortunes and while bringing happinesses. Its ideal, it is to become Bouddha, in this life, with this body, which means food in the truth”. At this period, it initiated the Saichō monk (Kogyo Daishi) and some of its disciples, with the ceremony of oiling and dedication called “Kanjō”. Saichō had remained nine months in China and as of its return to Japan, it founded the Tendai school with the Hiei mount. (The Tendai doctrines, were an esotericism interfered lesson nonesoteric resting on the Sûtra of the Lotus. It also presented to the emperor Kanmu, a collection of what it reported, and its success came partly owing to the fact that it was considered that the esotericism was integral part of its doctrines. Not having received the major lesson he then asked Kūkai to transmit in writing certain books to him to structure his doctrines. This one accepted partly, only refusing to transmit to him what, in its eyes was to pass by an initiation over several years. Disciples of Saicho having decided to remain with Kūkai made that the relations between the two men stopped. To died of Saichō, its disciples direct turned over to China to deepen Mikkyō, and thus gave its final form to the Tendai school, which currently represents in Japan semi-ésotérique Buddhism, of Tendai will develop then, the amidism, the Zen and the school of the lotus. Buddhism was represented at the period Héian (794-1192) by the six schools of Nara plus the two new religions: Shingon and Tendai. In 813, the Saga emperor invited the large Masters of the eight schools in his palate, for a public discussion of the respective merits their doctrines. All except Kūkai, said that the state of Buddha asked for very many lives to be carried out. Kūkai gave the essence of its teaching to this occasion.

Sokushin-Jōbutsu

(“To become Buddha in this life with this body”)

In the discussion which opposed it to the other schools, it developed the thought of following Sûtra:

“The man must know his own heart such as it is. That which knows the origin of its own heart such as it is, knows the heart of the Buddhas. That which knows the heart of the Buddhas can know the heart of all the beings. It can know the Truth of the Universe and become one with him. It can become Bouddha in this life with this body. It is the state or the three sources of the karma, the body, of the word, and of the thought of the men, become one with the Three Mysteries, of the body, the word, and the heart of the Buddha. If the man seeks the Wisdom of the Buddha, and maintains his thought in him constantly, it can quickly carry out the state of Buddha with this body born of his parents”.

In front of the skepticism of the other monks, it made the gestures crowned with the hands (will mûdra), repeated will mantras them (shingon), and contemplated on the Buddha Large Sun, “Dainitchi-Nyorai”. With surprised of all, it expressed a state of very deep Samadhi, its body became very luminous and took the form of the Buddha, sitting on a lotus with eight petals. Kūkai was not only one large monk but also a man extremely cultivated, enriched by all knowledge which it reported of China. A reciprocal friendship was born with the new Saga emperor, who was also a man of letters and an eminent calligrapher.

Foundation of the monastery of the Kōyasan Mount

In 816, it accepted from the emperor the permission to build a monastery on the mount Kōyasan. He had recognized this wild site, when wandering ascetic he pérégrinait through the country. Located at 850 m of altitude, this plate surrounded by eight mountains evoked for him the Kingdom of the Matrix, the lotus with eight petals where seat the Buddha. Its insulation and its splendid vegetation made of it a place privileged for the meditation, but the building work encountered difficulties due cold, with persistent snow and the distance of any other dwelling. However, gradually, a monastery was built. The temple was called the top of Vajra, “Kongōbuji”. In 832, Kūkai celebrated the ceremony of offering of 10.000 lights for the happiness of all the beings. In 834, started the construction of the principal Stupa, Daitō, kind of temple reliquary, high of fifty meters, container of the statues of Buddha, like that of Saitō (stupa of the west). Kōbō-Daishi will not live long enough to see the completion of all the projects which it had conceived. But its disciples will continue his work and currently Kōyasan is the center most important of Shingon, famous in all the country and visited each year by thousands of pilgrims.

The Temple of Tōji

In 832, the emperor offered to Kūkai one of the two large temples of the capital, located at the East of Kyoto, the Tō-ji. He devoted this temple for the spiritual protection of the country, and made the temple of it sits of Shingon. There, for the first time, about fifty monks studied the esoteric doctrines exclusively. In little time, other buildings were built and the construction of a large pagoda on five floors (Gojû-No-tō) amorça. Under its direction, artists carved statues to express the essential truths of the esotericism. Among the twenties and one masterpieces which one can admire today, all national treasures, fourteen go back to this period. Tōji remains today one of the largest temples of Shingon where, at the beginning of each year, the principal large Masters of the Shingon find themselves, and during one week practice the ritual ones for the protection of the emperor, the country and all the beings.

Social activities of Kūkai

During all its life, Kūkai worked to relieve misery of the people. Its human qualities and its exemplary control made a model for all of it; its reputation of born leader made that the rebuilding of a dam was entrusted to him, that the engineers did not manage to clog. This rock-fill dam in vault is undoubtedly oldest of the world. In 828, it opened close to Tōji, the first school of teaching popular in Japan. It is at that time that it also composed one of the first dictionaries of Japan. Many legends were spread in all Japan, on the miracles or the virtuous exploits of Kūkai. After its death, the monks sought to build the people and to spread his doctrines. Certain Shingon temples can be prevailed to have a visible trace of its passage: here he discovered a source, meditated in a cave; there, it carved in the tree a Buddha, painted its image on silk while being looked in the water of a lake; realities and legends mix narrowly but contain an invaluable teaching to include/understand its doctrines and to determine its personality. At all events, its social activity was intense and certain think that it is because of that he died of exhaustion to the task. The emperor and the dignitaries often asked him to request for their health, the protection of the country, or, in period of dryness, to make come the rain. Everywhere its reputation was large, so much it was venerated so much by the nobility, the clergy and the people. Most remarkable, it is that despite everything that he undertook one knows him only few enemies of alive sound. Undoubtedly because it put this sentence into practice that it kept always written with its with dimensions: “Never not to say evil of whoever, never not to say a good of oneself”.

Artistic and literary work

Kūkai gave to Japan the genius which was going to enable him to release itself from the Chinese cultural yoke. Poet, calligrapher, man of letters, philosophize, skilful policy, this spirit universal left a considerable literature.

Doctrines

Here analysis of its principal philosophical works:

Sango Shiki (797). In this work, which is one of the oldest tests of compared Philosophie, it compares the respective merits of the Taoïsme, the Confucianisme and the Bouddhisme. The gasoline of the Confucianism is to give a philosophical base to morals and the daily policy. The taoism, because it rises with the metaphysical principle (CAT), is higher to him. But Buddhism, through the doctrines of the Karma and the Réincarnation includes three times and opens on the eternal truth, thus exceeding the taoism.
Benkenmitsunikyo-ron “comparison of Buddhisms esoteric and exoteric”, 816. It shows the superiority of the esotericism there on the exoterism of the other schools. This superiority comes from the experiment which it gets and on which are based the dogmas, while the exoterism explains the dogmas without arriving at the experiment.
Himitsu Mandala Jugu Shinron “ten stages of the awakening of the secret mandala”, 830. In this chief of work of maturity, Kukai widens its comprehension of the other schools and religions. He thinks that all spiritual philosophies of Asia (of the Confucianisme to the Hindouisme) are the expression of a religious awakening of the reality which the Mandala symbolizes. The rōle of Buddhism esotericism which is universal philosophy, is to reveal the common base of the religious experiment of all the schools.

This revelation is explained through the systematic talk of the ten stages or stages of the spirit.

1°) the spirit of the goat. The goat symbolizes the sexual appetite. At this stage, the man is unaware of all the eternal truth. He lives under the dominant influence of his bestial instinct, he does nothing but undergo the law of the Karma, a such animal.

2°) the spirit of the ignorant child. The child symbolizes the seed of the spirit which must develop. The spirit wakes up with the conscience and endeavors to carry out a moral life still stripped of religious purpose. It is represented by the Confucianisme.

3°) the spirit of the child without fear. He is symbolized by a child seeking his mother. The man recognizes the existence of the religion and research the sky to find there peace interior and the happiness. He is represented by the Taoïsme.

4°) the spirit recognizes the existence of the Aggrégat S. This spirit is symbolized by the state of Arhat, the buddhist monk. The Bouddhisme hinayana corresponds to him.

5°) the released spirit of seed of the cause of the karma. This spirit is symbolized by the Patryeka-Buddha. There are no more traces of karmic ignorance, but there remains still a root of self-centredness, a lack of altruism.

6°) the spirit Mahayana symbolized by the Bodhisattva Maitreya. The practitioner Yogacara who reaches this stage recognizes that all the phenomena are an illusion of its spirit. Its compassion develops. This philosophy is exposéee by Vasubhandu.

7°) the spirit realizes that the spirit was not born yet. This stage is symbolized by the bodhisattva Manjusri and is explained by philosophy Madhyamika of Nagarjuna. The eightfold negation puts an end to the useless speculations. The truth of the vacuity is acquired. The spirit which reaches this stage is serene and its happiness is indefinable.

8°) the spirit is really harmonizes some with the single track. It is symbolized by Avalokiteshvara and is explained by the Sutra of the lotus and philosophy Tendai. The man recognizes the unit and the paramount purity who is the nature even of his spirit. The subject and the object unify.

9°) the major Buddhist spirit is conscious of its not-immutable nature. It is symbolized by the smile of Samantabhadra and is explained by the school Kegon. The spirit realizes that it is not immutable, but similar to water that the wind makes undulate. The eternal truth, the Dharma itself is not immutable. Although it represents the highest stage of the exoterism, one should not stop there.

10°) the glorious spirit, most secret, more hidden. It is symbolized by the Tathagata maha Vairocana and is explained by the school Shingon. If the exoterism took off the veil of the spirit and looked after its various diseases, teaching esoteric reveals now the hidden treasure (see also Ibn Arabi) which becomes manifest.

Kukai names its ten stages “revelations with astonishment stage by stage”.

Together, they form a systematic sum of philosophy of the religion from the point of view esoteric gradualist for Buddhism and a true phenomenology of the religious conscience. These doctrines are also explained in:

Hizo Hoyaku “the invaluable key of the secret Treasury”, 830.
Joujoushin-ron “ten levels of development of the spirit”.

Concerning the heart of the doctrines Shingon, Kukai exposes it in:

Sanbu sho “the three books”, 819:

Sokushinjō- butsu-GUI “teaching to become Buddha in this life with this body”.
Shoji Jisso Gi “significance of the word, the sound and reality”.
Unji Gi “esoteric significance of the syllable (Bija) " HUM" ”.

Based on the experiment of the Meditation, the thought of Kukai does not reveal the contents of its own experiences, but releases some only the philosophical significance.

According to Kukai, the meditation is the unification of the body meditating (Microcosme) with the movement of the universe (Macrocosme). This unification with several aspects. With the hands (Mudra), with the mouth (Mantra) with the spirit (Samadhi). The fundamental stucture of the spirit unified with the universe is represented by the Mandala. Around the Tathagata Vairocana located at the center of the mandala, revolve innumerable Bodhisattva and Devata (divinities) organized hierarchically. All the Buddhas and divinities of all let us panthéons them are one out of gasoline, but spread mysterious center to the animals. In the final stage of the illumination, where the conscience is decompartmentalized, the man can try out all the stages freely. There is no difference between Bouddha and the universe. The fact that the illumination is reached in this body existence implies the integration and not the rejection of the various aspects of the fashionable existence. This integration thus implies the sounds (will mantra) and the images (mandala) of the natural world which symbolize the truth that the directions do not perceive. Finally, all the visual and auditive symbols concentrate and unify in will mantra Om, the last letter of the alphabet Sanskrit, the complete sound which symbolizes the source from where all the sounds and all the words come.

Its departure

At fifty eight years, it fell sick and had to withdraw public affairs. It turned over to Kōyasan to look after themselves and deal with its disciples. However it obtained the permission to request in a temple of the imperial palace, for the protection of the country and the health of the emperor. During seven days, it practiced from January 8th to 14th 835, the ceremonies of the “Mishuhō” whose tradition is always maintained by the largest Masters of Shingon in Tōji. March 21st, 835, old sixty two years, it enters the samadhi eternal. In 921, it accepted the posthumous title of Kōbō-Daishi, the Large Instructor who spread the law.

Its radiation nowadays

Behind the temple of Okuno-in Kōyasan, its tomb is; but the faithful ones and the monks think that it is always alive and that it takes care on them. Its body which remained intact known as is contemplated while waiting for the arrival of next Bouddha Maitreya. In spite of the centuries which pass, he is always also liked and present in the hearts. In all Japan, large or small temples are devoted to him, such those of Nishiarai-Daishi, Kawasaki-Daishi close to Tōkyō where all the day a worship is returned to him, and during the ritual ones of fire, one calls upon his name so that it exauce the prayers. One of the places where it more is requested, is certainly its native island of Shikoku. A circular pilgrimage is devoted to him, eighty eight principal temples and twenty secondaries are distributed like the grains of a chain on the periphery of the island, thus reaching the figure symbolic system of 108. Each year, of the million Japanese go there to request and profit from the grace of the Buddhas, but also because it is says one an incomparable means to prepare with dead and to reappear with the paradise close to the Saint. Reverend Yukai

Source

http://thmodin.club.fr/francais/shingon/kukai1.htm with agreement of the webmaster

External bonds

Temple of Komyo-In France

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