Shingon Buddhism -- A Brief Introduction

Introduction

I wrote this essay to make it easier for Shingon students and priests to communicate with people who are interested in Shingon Buddhism but do not know Japanese. I wrote it in plain, everyday English, with few technical terms. The ones I use are defined in the text. Sanskrit words that are not in common use in English are first printed in italics and then defined before they are used again. Ideas that are discussed in detail in other sections are usually printed in bold type.

I hope this essay will be a tool that you can use to share information about Shingon. I hope it will start a dialogue where the Shingon follower can provide information to anyone interested in this variety of Buddhism.

This essay will be followed by others giving more detail about each of the topics discussed in the third section, Basic Shingon Teachings. Some of these should be available by the end of this year.

Any help you can give with this project will be greatly appreciated. Please contact me by phone, fax, mail, or email.

Don Weiss

24 Aza Sawada

Tosaki-cho

Okazaki City

Aichi-ken Japan 444-0840

(0564) 58-0265 home phone (morning and afternoons are best)

(603) 388-5292 fax in US

henro@mandala.ne.jp (email is usually the best way to contact me)

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Part One: Background

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01 The life of Shakyamuni

The Historical Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama was born in 563 B.C. in Nepal. His father, Shuddhodana, was a leader of the Shakya clan. Buddhism in all its varieties takes it start from his life and teachings.

Soon after his birth, a sage named Asita prophesied that if he stayed within the palace walls, he would become a universal monarch but if he embarked on the religious life he would become an enlightened being. His father wanted him to be king, so young Siddhartha was confined to the palace where he grew up in luxury and had little contact with the outside world.

Despite his father's order, several times he went outside and discovered the inevitability of suffering. One day he went to a plowing festival and saw men and oxen straining to turn over the earth. Sweat dripped from the foreheads of the plowmen and blood dripped from the mouths of the oxen. Sparrows flew down to eat the insects turned over by the plows, and hawks stooped and pounced on the sparrows. This idea of the inevitability of suffering became the first of the Four Noble Truths that form the foundation of Buddhist thought.

Later, he encountered old age, sickness and death. First he saw an old man, bent with great age, hobbling on crutches. Next he discovered someone consumed with disease, with flies feasting on running sores. Finally he saw a funeral procession, the corpse being carried through the streets followed by mourning relatives.

Once he saw a mendicant monk, someone who had left behind the material possessions and troubles of his life. This gave him the courage to believe that there was a solution to the problem of suffering. The idea that there is a solution to the problem of suffering became the third of the Four Noble Truths.

For six years, he searched for the a solution to this universal problem. He studied all the philosophical and religious schools and subjected himself to rigorous ascetic practices, meditating and fasting incessantly. At one point he starved himself until he looked like a decayed corpse. Finally, he realized that neither philosophy nor asceticism provided the answer he sought.

He washed himself, ate a bowl of rice cooked with milk and spices offered to him by a young girl, and sat down comfortably under a tree. He vowed he would sit and meditate until he understood the true nature of reality.

He sat and opened his mind, confronting all the fear, doubt, loathing, confusion and evil he found in the world and in his mind. He confronted sensual desire, seeing images of lusty young women. He confronted desire for power, seeing himself as a king. But each of these thoughts and desires he dismissed as lacking in real substance. Finally, as the morning star appeared, he perceived the truth and attained enlightenment.

For the following 45 years he taught a balanced path known as The Middle Way based on the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.

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02 The next 500 years

The Buddhist community founded by Shakyamuni consisted of dozens of monks and nuns who had renounced the world to seek personal enlightenment. They were supported by contributions from lay people, those who believed in the value of the Buddhist community but didn't want to abandon their own participation in the everyday world.

Later, a movement arose within the Buddhist community to seek a way of giving everyone the possibility of enlightenment. This movement eventually developed into what is now called Mahayana Buddhism, one of the main groupings of the varieties of Buddhism.

Mahayana is a Sanskrit word meaning Great Vehicle, as contrasted with the older form of Buddhism which then became known as the Hinayana or Lesser Vehicle. (The followers of this form of Buddhism call it Theravada, meaning Teaching of the Elders.) The idea behind the name is that the Great Vehicle of the Mahayana can accommodate all people on the journey to enlightenment.

Mahayana Buddhism had its start during the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. and reached full expression in the Lotus Sutra, which was written down about 200 A.D. though it may have been based on an older oral teaching. In this sutra, the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, is transformed from an historical individual to an aspect of the eternal Buddha that is not limited by time or space. Since the Buddha, in this view, is a personification of ultimate reality and since individual human beings are part of this reality, everyone participates in the reality of the Buddha and thus everyone can become enlightened by realizing their true nature. This idea achieved a more complete treatment in the Mahavairocana Sutra, one of the two fundamental sutras of Shingon.

Another crucial development of the Mahayana was the idea of the Bodhisattva. Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who have postponed their own entry into nirvana until all beings are brought to the same stage of perfection. Bodhisattvas helped to make Buddhism more accessible to lay practitioners. Just as Catholic saints are often seen as more readily approachable than God, Bodhisattvas have often been the primary object of devotion by Buddhists for whom they are symbolic representations of the teachings.

The final major development of Buddhism in India was Vajrayana. This school arose during the fifth and sixth centuries and, by the early seventh century, was most influential at a large Buddhist university at Nalanda, in eastern India. From here, it spread to Tibet and China. It was in China that Kobo Daishi became the dharma heir of Hui-kuo and brought Vajrayana to Japan in the form of Shingon.

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03 Early Buddhism in Japan

Buddhism came to Japan in the 6th century and soon received government support as part of a program to modernize the country and make it more like China. The program was guided by Prince Shotoku, who ruled the country from 593 to 621. He ordered the construction of a pair of Buddhist temples in every province and associated the new religion with the welfare of the state, decreeing monthly rituals in every temple for national peace and well-being.

Another tradition developed in parallel with this "official" Buddhism, the tradition of the yamabushi. A yamabushi, literally "a man who lies down on a mountain," seeks enlightenment in the forests and mountains. Instead of studying in a monastery, a yamabushi practices asceticism, meditation and ritual, far from the solemn, ordered life of the state temples.

When the young man now known as Kobo Daishi turned to Buddhism in the late eighth century, he turned in part to this yamabushi tradition and in part to the scholarly tradition of study at the state-supported temples.

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04 Biography of Kobo Daishi

Kobo Daishi was born in 774, in what is now Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. At fifteen, he went to the capital to study with his uncle. At eighteen, he entered the national university. But in 793, when he was twenty years old, he decided to enter the priesthood. In a book written four years later, he explained why he left the university. He told of his dissatisfaction with everyday life and his search for meaning. He described a life of wandering in the mountains, living on wild plants and sleeping where he could with only one thin robe to shelter him in winter. He also told of studying scriptures and practicing esoteric Buddhist rituals. As a Buddhist, he took a new name -- Kukai. The name means Sky (Ku) Sea (Kai). It suggested the void nature of what we take for reality (Ku, the empty sky) and the boundless extent of the Buddhist teachings (as boundless as the sea).

His early Buddhist experience wasn't confined to the mountains. He spent some of his time studying sutras at temples. In one of these temples, Kumedera, he discovered a copy of the scripture known as the Dainichi-kyo. Here he finally discovered an explanation of enlightenment that matched the one he had found in his heart during his time wandering the mountains and practicing the Buddhism of the yamabushi:

"To be enlightened is simply to understand fully the true nature

of your own mind. Understanding fully the true nature of your own

mind is equal to understanding everything."

He studied the sutra intensively, but found it difficult to understand. He couldn't find anyone in Japan who could explain certain parts of the sutra to his satisfaction, so he decided to travel to China, where the text had been translated from the original Sanskrit into the classical Chinese form common in Japan. In 804 he received official permission to study abroad.

Within four months of his arrival he was accepted as a student by the master of esoteric Buddhism, the priest Hui-kuo. During the next six months, Hui-kuo instructed Kukai in esoteric Buddhist theory and practice and gave him the religious name Henjo Kongo meaning "universally illuminating adamantine one." He then selected this young, thirty-two year old Japanese monk as his successor.

Kukai returned to Japan in 806. For the next ten years he taught what he had learned, living first at one, then at another temple near the capital. In 817, he was granted a mountainous tableland known as Koyasan to create a religious center for the training of priests in Shingon doctrine and practice.

He continually emphasized the importance of combining study and practice. This was how he came to his own understanding of truth. He thought it important to create a center where others would have the same opportunity.

Throughout the latter half of his life, Kukai continued to produce essays and poems setting forth Shingon doctrine. Among the most important of these are an essay, The Ten Stages of the Development of the Mind and a shorter work, summarizing the same theme, The Precious Key to the Secret Treasury.

In the first month of 835, he performed a week-long service for the peace and prosperity of Japan inside the Imperial palace. Then, in the second month, he announced his departure from Kyoto and headed for the last time to Koyasan.

When he got to Koyasan, he began a fast which included no grain or flesh and practiced seated meditation. On the 15th day of the 3rd month he called his disciples together and told them that on the 21st day he would pass away. Then, after ritually purifying his body and putting on clean robes, he went to a room where he assumed the lotus position. Then he placed his hands in the mudra (ritual gesture) symbolizing Dainichi Nyorai (the Buddha who, in Shingon, symbolizes ultimate reality), chanted the mantra of Dainichi, and entered the meditation of Maitreya (the Buddha of the future). He remained in this state for seven days until the 21st of the third month in 835, when he passed away, just as he had predicted. He was sixty-two years old. In 919, eighty-six years later, the Emperor Daigo bestowed upon him the posthumous title Kobo Daishi, Great Master of the Propagated Teaching.

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Part Two: The Basics of Buddhism

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05 The Four Noble Truths

ONE

Suffering is universal and inevitable.

Buddhism starts with the observation that suffering is inevitable. Where is the person who is free from sickness and pain, who never experiences the loss of a loved one. Who, finally, is not subject to death?

A story is told of the time when Shakyamuni was teaching and a woman came to him carrying her dead baby. The woman was mad with grief and begged Shakyamuni to restore her child to life. He told her to look for a household that was free of the pain of losing a family member through death and to bring him a mustard seed from that house. The woman went off, thinking she could find the seed and the famous holy man would use it to magically restore her child to life.

What she found, of course, was that there was no such house, no such family. She learned the first of the truths -- that suffering is universal.

TWO

All suffering is caused by unsatisfied desire.

When he looked at suffering and tried to understand its cause, Shakyamuni examined his own mind and the minds of those people who were suffering -- all people. He concluded that the root of all suffering was unsatisfied desire. When you are sick, you desire health. When you lose loved ones, you desire their continued presence. When you yourself are dying, you desire life, a little more life, just not to die now, not quite yet. Even when you are enjoying a pleasurable sensation, you are aware that this will end and this very awareness dilutes the joy.

THREE

There is a way to remove the cause of suffering.

This truth was taught by Shakyamuni on the basis of his own experience. When he had fully examined and understood his own mind as it truly was, he achieved an end to suffering. He taught that everyone could do the same.

FOUR

The way to remove the cause of suffering is to follow The Eightfold Path.

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06 The Eightfold Path

The way to remove the cause of suffering is to practice perfection in every aspect of life. This is expressed in a list of eight perfections:

Perfect Understanding

Perfect Understanding is to see reality as it truly is, recognizing the truth of what you see, hear, taste, smell, touch and think. In Shingon, the definition of Enlightenment is, "To see the mind as it truly is." That is Perfect Understanding.

Perfect Thought

Perfect Thought refers to the contents of the mind. Many thoughts pass through your mind in the course of the day. You must not hold onto these thoughts because this holding clouds the mind and prevents you from thinking clearly.

When these thoughts arise, you can deal with them in one of two ways. You can examine them, learn where they come from, how they arise or you can allow them to disappear by simply not focusing your being on them. By clearing your mind of negative thoughts, you open the way for what is positive, thoughts of love, compassion, and the true nature of reality.

Perfect Speech

Perfect Speech means to speak the truth, but it means more than that. It also means that we must speak the truth in such a way that the listener can rightly understand. There is no value in speaking a truth that is not correctly understood.

Perfect Action

Perfect Action benefits others and sometimes benefits yourself as well. Perfect Action does no harm, like the first rule of medicine in the Western tradition. ("First, do no harm.")

Perfect Livelihood

Perfect Livelihood is an extension of Perfect Action. Your livelihood is receiving money for actions you do, repeatedly, for weeks, months, and years. You should benefit society, build up what is good, and foster the ability of others to live worthwhile lives. You should refrain from basing your live on work that injures or degrades others. Similarly, you should avoid injuring and degrading the environment that supports all life on Earth.

Perfect Effort

Perfect Effort means to persevere. When you have chosen a path or begun studying or meditating, you should continue. Sometimes, while meditating, you may feel pain, or an itch, and think you should stop. Sometimes, over months, you do not seem to be progressing. Perfect Effort is to continue.

Perfect Mindfulness

Perfect Mindfulness is to be aware of exactly where you are and what you are doing. During meditation, you should be aware of your body, your breath, the cushion beneath you, the air and room and world around you. During everyday life, you should also be aware of your body and the world around it. When you eat, you should be aware of the food and how it tastes and feels, and also of where it came from and how it came to be in front of you, on the table.

Perfect Concentration

You mind is filled with thoughts. They lead you in one direction, then another, both awake and asleep. When you try to grasp one thought, it turns into something else and slips away. Concentration is holding fast to one thought, whether that is the thought of a sound, an image, or the nature of thought itself. Shingon teaches the Three Secrets practice of Body, Speech and Mind. This method allows you to coordinate these three aspects of living by concentrating fully during meditation.

Note: It has been traditional in English books about Buddhism to refer to the Eightfold Path as Right Speech, Right Action, etc. However, the word "right" is a misleading translation. The Sanskrit word used in the original texts is "samyak" or "samma" which means "wholeness" or "completeness" rather than "right" which, in English, always has the connotation of "not wrong." What you must strive for is perfection or completeness. In a sense, this goes beyond the simple idea of "right or wrong." Though it may be easier as a beginner to think of practicing "right" speech by telling the truth, you should keep in mind that this is a limited concept that you must later grow out of as you deepen your understanding of "perfect" speech.

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07 Enlightenment

"To be enlightened is simply to understand fully the true nature of your own mind. Understanding fully the true nature of your own mind is equal to understanding everything."

(From the Sutra of Dainichi Nyorai, one of the two fundamental sutras of Shingon)

The English word "enlightenment" is used to translate two different Sanskrit words, bodhi and nirvana. Bodhi means awakened while nirvana means extinction, especially the extinction of desire. Mahayana Buddhists usually use the term bodhi. Theravada Buddhists usually use nirvana. Ultimately, the two are the same. When you understand fully the true nature of your own mind, desire ends. When desire ends, you will truly understand your own mind.

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08 Meditation

Meditation is used in different ways by nearly all religions. It's usually seen as a way to experience a truth that cannot be perfectly expressed in words. Psychologists who study meditation and its effects on the mind divide meditation into two general types, concentration and insight. In the first, you fix your mind on certain sounds, images, actions or ideas or a combination of these. In the second, you observe your own mind. In either case, the desired result is both a calming of your mind and increased clarity of thought.

The various Buddhist traditions have developed a wide variety of meditative techniques, all designed to lead the practitioner to enlightenment. The Buddhist meditation techniques best known in the West are varieties of insight meditation.

Most Shingon meditation techniques involve concentration. You become involved with the activities of body, speech and mind and, by attuning their actions to the actions of the Buddha, you come to understand your own mind as it truly is. That is, by practicing the three secrets, you achieve enlightenment in this very body.

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09 Precepts

Precepts are rules for living. In early Buddhism, there were hundreds of these rules that told the monks exactly how they must behave. For instance, one precept said monks should eat no more than two meals each day. Another required them to go begging in the morning. A third forbade monks from touching women or girls in any way. Anyone violating these precepts was expelled from the order.

With the development of Mahayana Buddhism, these precepts were reinterpreted in two ways. First, they were changed to be guidelines since it was understood, for instance, that it should be allowable for a monk to touch a woman to save her from drowning. More importantly, the aim of the precepts was changed from a code of behavior to a way of living that would create the basis for enlightenment.

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10 Wisdom and Compassion

Mahayana Buddhism is based on the merger of wisdom and compassion. Ultimately, these are the same, though the words are different. But in the early stages of studying Buddhism, it's usually easier for the student to look for wisdom while, at the same time, developing compassion for all beings. As these two approaches develop, you will come to understand that they are actually the same.

It sometimes seems more difficult to develop compassion than to search for wisdom. This view is very common, but also misleading. Wisdom is more than knowledge or information, which can be learned from books or lectures; it is more profound and based as much on feeling as on intellect. Compassion is different from pity. The "com" in compassion means with;the "passion" mean feeling. Thus compassion means FEELING WITH others rather than FEELING SORRY FOR them. The old English expression to "walk a mile in someone's shoes" brings forth the idea of compassion. When you feel another's pain, making it your own pain, what you feel is compassion. When you combine this compassion with the wisdom of how to act to be of benefit to the other, then you have combined wisdom and compassion.

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11 The Varieties of Buddhism

Buddhism began with Shakyamuni. Over the centuries, it has developed into hundreds of different sects. The three main groups of Buddhist sects are Theravada (also called Hinayana), Mahayana, and Vajrayana.

The Buddhism that developed directly from the community of monks founded and led by Shakyamuni is called Theravada. The word Theravada means Teachings of the Elders. The Buddhists who developed Mahayana Buddhism calls it Hinayana (Sanskrit for Lesser Vehicle) because they considered it inferior in the sense that it only offered a path to enlightenment for those monks actively involved in the Buddhist community and only after many lifetimes of practice. They used this term to contrast it, unfavorably, with their own variety of Buddhism, Mahayana or Greater Vehicle.

Theravada Buddhists see suffering as something real. However, they teach that you can be released from the cycle of rebirth by renouncing the world, entering the Buddhist community as a monk or nun, and diligently practicing the Eightfold Path and the vinaya or precepts. Theravada Buddhists usually talk about their goal as achieving enlightenment, that is nirvana, the snuffing out of desire. In the modern era, Theravada Buddhism is found mainly in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.

Mahayana Buddhism developed in the first century A.D. The goal of Mahayana Buddhism is to bring all beings to enlightenment, not just the monks and nuns who have left the world. This can happen through the compassionate activity of active Buddhists as well as all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas are beings, either human or divine, who have vowed to work for the enlightenment of all beings and who delay their own complete entry into nirvana until they can help all beings achieve the same liberation. Mahayana Buddhists take on themselves this Bodhisattva ideal and vow to work with wisdom and compassion to bring all beings to enlightenment. Mahayana Buddhism exists today mostly in Tibet, China, Korea and Japan but with significant communities also in India, the U.S. and Europe.

Vajrayana Buddhism developed during the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. out of a combination of Mahayana and certain practices related to yoga. Vajrayana makes use of ritual activities to bring practitioners to a true understanding of their minds and particularly of the non-duality of existence.

Duality is a way of thinking that divides things into this and not this. It's inherent in human language, though it isn't the only way to think about or use language. In everyday life, we tend to think of something as either being a table or not being a table. But some things can be "sort of table-like" but not really completely a table. (This is actually the basis of a new branch of the study of logic called fuzzy logic and has been used for such different activities as creating better computer programs and running washing machines.) Based on ideas developed within Mahayana but emphasized in Vajrayana, the whole idea of table or not table is seen as void, lacking in permanent reality. In the Vajrayana view, you must get beyond dualist thinking to understand reality.

Vajrayana Buddhism is found mainly in Tibet and Japan, though it is also present in Southeast Asia, the U.S. and Europe. Shingon is one of the branches of Vajrayana Buddhism.

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Part Three: Basic Shingon Teachings

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S 01 Dainichi Nyorai

Dainichi Nyorai (in Sanskrit Mahavairocana Buddha) is the fundamental Buddha in Shingon. He is the personification of all that exists. All other Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, in fact, everything , is an aspect of Dainichi Nyorai.

Everything that is born will someday die. This is as true for our sun and all other stars as it is for plants, animals and humans. Dainichi Nyorai is that which is unborn and therefore eternal, the creative life-energy of the universe. Since Dainichi is the entire creative energy of the universe, it follows that we ourselves, our bodies and minds, are also part of Dainichi. This is why the Dainichi sutra says, "To be enlightened is simply to understand fully the true nature of your own mind. Understanding fully the true nature of your own mind is equal to understanding everything." Since your own mind and Dainichi Nyorai are the same, to understand one, truly and completely, is to understand all.

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S 02 The two major sutras

Shingon places special emphasis on two sutras, the Dainichi Sutra and the Kongocho Sutra. Shingon teachers talk about these as "two but not two" to emphasize that, though they teach what appears to be two different versions of the truth, they are actually teaching the same thing from two different viewpoints.

The Dainichi Sutra was written in Sanskrit about 650 A.D. and was translated into Chinese 75 years later. Kobo Daishi first found this sutra in his early years of studying Buddhism and went to China specifically to find a teacher who could explain parts of it that nobody in Japan was able to explain to his satisfaction.

The first section of the sutra explains that enlightenment is present everywhere and so, to achieve enlightenment, you must look into your own mind and understand its true nature.

The rest of the sutra gives instructions in ritual practices that will help you to achieve this true understanding. The text of the Dainichi Sutra includes the information that was used to design the Taizo mandala, one of the two main mandalas used in Shingon.

The Kongocho Sutra is a collection of texts written beginning in the late 7th century A.D. and continuing over the following two centuries. The sutra describes the methods by which you can realize enlightenment and become a Buddha. In particular, it gives instruction in various meditation and ritual practices and describes the Kongokai Mandala and how to use it in meditation. The Kongokai Mandala is the second of the two main mandalas of Shingon.

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S 03 Mandalas

Mandalas are symbolic representations of reality. In their earliest form, they were platforms built for the performance of a ritual. Now, the word most commonly refers to painted representations of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas with their symbols of power and truth.

When he returned from China, Kobo Daishi wrote that enlightenment is difficult to explain in words, so pictures are used to point towards the truth. In the main hall of every Shingon temple, two mandalas are placed prominently on the left and right sides of the room, the Taizo Mandala and the Kongokai Mandala.

The Taizo Mandala was designed in China based on a description in the Dainichi Sutra. The deities of the mandala are all shown in their compassionate aspects, seated on lotus thrones. In the center, Dainichi Nyorai sits on the central circle of a lotus with eight other Buddhas on the eight lotus petals surrounding him. The lotus is red, the color of compassion. The color also symbolizes the teaching that enlightenment is realized within the human heart.

The Kongokai Mandala is based on two different texts from the collection known as the Kongocho Sutra. One section describes two mandalas, the other describes seven more. These nine mandalas were put together into one mandala with nine sections of equal size. The mandala depicts a total of 1,461 deities, each seated on a lotus throne surrounded by a moon disk. The vajra, a ritual implement that symbolizes wisdom, is found throughout the mandala. Some of the vajras in the mandala sit on lotus flowers within moon disks. This symbolizes the wisdom (vajra) that acts through compassion (lotus), within the realm of the wisdom of the Kongokai (moon).

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S 04 Three Secrets

The goal of Shingon ritual practice is to bring you to a true understanding of your own mind. This is done by bringing the activities of your body, speech and mind into harmony with the body, speech and mind of the true reality personified by Dainichi Nyorai. This is known as Three Secrets Practice. Your body, through meditation posture and symbolic hand gestures, becomes the body of Dainichi. Your speech, through the recitation of mantras, becomes the speech of Dainichi. Your mind, through visualization practice, becomes the mind of Dainichi.

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S 05 The Doctrine of the Originally Enlightened Mind

Everything that exists is an aspect of the creative nature of the universe, which is symbolized by Dainichi Nyorai. This includes the human mind. That's why the Dainichi Sutra defines enlightenment as knowing your own mind as it truly is.

Since the human mind is an aspect of this ultimate truth, it follows that your mind is originally enlightened. Thus, there is no need to seek beyond yourself to "find" enlightenment. It is within you, in your originally enlightened mind. When you realize that, you realize enlightenment.

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S 06 Becoming a Buddha in this very body

One of Kobo Daishi's most important works explains that it is possible to achieve enlightenment (to become a Buddha) in this very body, in your own self, without enduring ages of struggle and practice. This transformation takes place in three stages:

First, through basic study, you can come to realize that just by the fact that you have been born, you participate in the totality of creation. That totality is personified by Dainichi Nyorai. When you understand this truth, you have achieved the first step.

Next, you must study the Shingon teachings, following the precepts and doing meditation and other three secrets practices.

Finally, when you have perfected your religious practice, both in your daily life and in your meditation and ritual practice, the spirit of Dainichi will break forth and transform you into a Buddha, like Shakyamuni and Kobo Daishi.

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S 07 Shingon Meditation practices

Shingon employs a wide variety of meditation practices. Some are short, simple and appropriate for beginners. Others are meant only for priests. Some are extremely difficult and can only be accomplished by highly experienced people under expert guidance.

The Shingon meditation technique most often used by beginners is ajikan, meditation on the form, sound and reality of the syllable "ah." The meditation exists in many forms, some quite simple, others complex. It can take as little as ten minutes or as long as an hour. Basically, you sit in front of a painted scroll which shows the Sanskrit letter A on a moon disk which sits on a lotus pedestal. (In some scrolls, the letter sits directly on the lotus and both are enclosed in the disk of the moon.) After some preliminary stages, which allow you to calm your body and mind and prepare yourself, the main activity of the meditation consists of the following:

* Hold your hands in a meditation mudra

* Look at the letter A with your eyes partly open

* See and internally visualize the color, form and symbolism of the letter A, the moon disk and the lotus: The letter A embodies our own pure mind; the lotus opens your heart to purity and compassion; the moon radiates the clear and perfect light of your minds.

* When you are ready, close your eyes and continue to visualize the letter A, lotus and moon disk.

After this, you allow your breathing and heartbeat to return to normal and end your meditation.

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S 08 The Ten Levels of Mind

The ten levels of mind are the stages through which your mind must progress as it moves towards and eventually reaches complete enlightenment. This progression happens within your mind, in this very life, if you diligently follow the Shingon teachings and engage in the three secrets practice. The ten levels of mind are:

1. The unstable, goatlike mind

It doesn't understand the difference between good or evil. It is continually driven by instinct to seek food and sex. Even this level of mind has an inherent Buddha-nature, but the individual is completely unaware of it. The individual continually breaks the precepts.

2. The foolish but abstinent mind

When a mind in the first level is stirred by its inherent Buddha-nature, it begins to be ethical and moral. The individual begins to restrain lust and other bodily desires and starts sharing food and other worldly goods with others, whether or not they are family members. Confucianism teaches this level of development of the mind.

3. The childlike, fearless mind

When the mind becomes tired of human suffering, it seeks a heaven where it may live in peace. It believes in an unchanging god or spiritual doctrine.

4. The mind of aggregates only, without self

The individual understands that the self is impermanent but believes that the aggregates -- form, perception, mental activity, will and consciousness -- are real. It seeks nirvana for itself. This level includes the individuals who listened to the preaching of Shakyamuni.

5. The mind that is free from the seeds of karmic causation

Karma is the doctrine that we are the product of our actions. The mind at this level has freed itself from the seed of bad karma that ties itself to the cycle of rebirth, but it lacks compassion for other beings. It seeks to free only itself, not all beings.

6. The compassionate Mahayana mind

Mahayana Buddhism developed as an expression of the compassionate desire to free all beings from delusion. The mind at this level is compassionately devoted to all beings, but does not yet understand the true nature of reality.

7. The mind that is awakened to the unborn

The individual understands the void nature of both the objects within the mind and the mind itself. However, this negative understanding is not yet a true understanding of reality.

8. The mind of the single way of truth

The individual now understands that delusion and enlightenment, matter and mind, and all possible worlds are contained within a single thought in the mind.

9. The mind of ultimate no-self-nature

The mind sees that all things interpenetrate (are intimately and completely inter-related) and that all things thus contain eternal truth.

10. The secret sublime mind

This is the mind of full enlightenment, the mind that understands its own true nature. At this level, the negations of the previous levels are transformed into affirmation. All things are now experienced as part of the true nature of the mind, which is identical to the mind of Dainichi Nyorai.

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S 09 Precepts for Shingon Followers

The goal of Shingon Buddhist practice is to achieve enlightenment. But in Shingon teachings, this asn't a distant goal, difficult to attain. Enlightenment is, in fact, the true nature of human existence. It is innate in the mind."

Though it may be difficult to see your mind this way, it's easy to live in conformance with the true nature of the mind. Shingon gives us rules regarding how to live, how to keep our words, thoughts, and actions in harmony with our true enlightened nature. The rules are often stated in the form of a vow:

From this day forward, to the end of the future, I will observe The Ten Precepts;

1. I will not harm life.

2. I will not steal.

3. I will not commit adultery.

4. I will not tell a lie.

5. I will not exaggerate.

6. I will not speak abusively.

7. I will not equivocate.

8. I will not be greedy.

9. I will not be hateful.

10. I will not lose sight of the Truth.

By observing these ten precepts, you will act in a way that conforms to your true, enlightened nature. This conformance between inner nature and outer actions is the essence of Shingon practice. It's referred to as the Three Secrets, the practice of bringing the actions of your Body, Speech, and Mind in conformity with your true nature. It is, in fact, the way to achieve enlightenment, "in this very existence."

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S 10 Be kind to all life

The life force that is our self is a part of the life force of the universe. We are not truly separate from other human beings any more than we are separate from Dainichi Nyorai, the personification of this life force. As a famous Christian writer once said, "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." As part of your desire to achieve enlightenment, you must desire the enlightenment of all beings. You must work for all people to achieve enlightenment in this very body. You must help others see the value of following the precepts and living their lives in conformance with the principles of wisdom and compassion.

In order to further this goal, the Koyasan Shingon Buddhist organization adopted the slogan Be Kind To All Life to encourage all people to aspire to enlightenment. This theme should encourage you to be thankful for the opportunity you have, as a human being, to work for the enlightenment of all.

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S 11 Heart Sutra

The Heart Sutra is revered by all branches of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. It is one of the shortest of all sutras, and one of the most profound. Kobo Daishi wrote an essay on this sutra in which he says it contains the complete Buddhist teachings and says that anyone who practices the teachings and meditates on the sutra will achieve enlightenment.

The Heart Sutra (translation from Miyata Taisen's pilgrimage guidebook)

When the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara was engaged in the practice of the deep Prajnaparamita, he perceived that there are the five Skandas; and these he saw in their self-nature to be empty.

"O Sariputra, form is here emptiness is form; form is not other than emptiness, emptiness is no other than form; that which is form is emptiness, that which is emptiness is form. The same can be said of sensation, thought, confection, and consciousness."

"O Sariputra, all things here are characterized with emptiness: they are not born, they are not annihilated; they are not tainted, they are not immaculate; they do not increase, they do not decrease. Therefore, O Sariputra, in emptiness there is no form, no sensation, no thought, no confection, no consciousness; no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; no form, sound, colour, taste, touch, objects; no Dhatu of vision, till we come to no Dhatu of consciousness; there is no knowledge, no ignorance, till we come to there is not old age and death, no extinction of old age and death; there is no suffering, no accumulation, no annihilation, no path; there is no knowledge, no attainment, and no realization, because there is no attainment. In the mind of the Bodhisattva who dwells depending on the Prajnaparamita there are no obstacles; and, going beyond the perverted views, he reaches final Nirvana."

"All the Buddhas of the past, present, and future, depending on the Prajnaparamita, attain to the highest, perfect enlightenment."

"Therefore, one ought to know that the Prajnaparamita is the great Mantram, the peerless Mantram, which is capable of allaying all pain; it is truth because it is not falsehood; this is the Mantram proclaimed in the Prajnaparamita.

"It runs: 'Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi, svaha!' (O Bodhi, gone, gone, gone to the other shore, landed at the other shore, Svaha!

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S 12 The pilgrimage

For over a thousand years, pilgrims have followed a route circling the Japanese island of Shikoku, visiting temples in a pilgrimage known as The Shikoku 88 Temples Pilgrimage. Originally, the pilgrimage was performed only by priests who walked the 1400 kilometer (900 mile) route in memory of Kukai. They visited his birthplace and other sites related to his life. Today, the large majority of pilgrims are lay people and almost all take bus tours.

The form of the pilgrimage, however, has remained largely unchanged. Pilgrims start wherever it is convenient on the route, which circles the island. Most travel in a clockwise direction until they have completed the circle. At each temple they recite the Heart Sutra and perform other actions to reverence the Buddhas enshrined in the temple and Kobo Daishi, in whose memory they perform the pilgrimage. Then they visit Koyasan, headquarters of the Shingon sect, not far from Kyoto, and pray one last time. Finally they return home to their everyday lives.

The pilgrimage is a spiritual practice open to everyone, priests and lay people, Shingon followers and anyone else who wishes to express their faith in Buddhism and in Kobo Daishi.

The pilgrimage is a passage through a mandala. The four prefectures of Shikoku, the four administrative districts of the island, are each considered a dojo, an area for training.

1. Tokushima -- the dojo of awakening faith

2. Kochi -- the dojo of discipline

3. Ehime -- the dojo of enlightenment

4. Kagawa -- the dojo of nirvana

In addition, pilgrims see the eighty-eight temples as each having the power to erase one of 88 worldly defilements, so a visit to the complete pilgrimage circuit can be an important step in the aspiration for enlightenment.

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S 13 Koyasan

In 816, ten years after he returned from China, the Emperor granted Kobo Daishi Mt. Koya (Koyasan) as a place to found a monastic center. He had asked the Emperor for this land because he needed a location remote from the capital (remote in those days when travel meant walking) where monks could practice meditation without distractions. He lived there off and on from 818 until his death in 835.

Koyasan remains the headquarters of the main branch of Shingon Buddhism. It's only a little over an hour from Osaka by express train. Many people come just to see the artistic and architectural beauties of the temples. Others come to experience Shingon ceremonies while staying at the temples, many of which accept guests for overnight stays or longer. Some temples accept visitors who don't speak Japanese.

The temples are built on a generally flat tableland in the Yoshino mountains at an elevation of 800 meters (2600 feet). The temples are laid out as a mandala, with a great pagoda in the center, the Daito. The tower houses a central statue of Dainichi Nyorai surrounded by statues of other Buddhas and paintings representing Bodhisattvas. This mandala, like the painted mandalas found on the walls of all Shingon temples, is a symbolic representation of reality. Just as a priest in meditation may "enter" a mandala to venerate the Buddhas and Boddhisattvas depicted on it, priests and laypeople can visit Koyasan and enter the mandala. Many of the buildings are open to visitors, including the museum, home to some of Japan's greatest treasures of religious art.

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Conclusion: Working with a teacher

In Japanese, Shingon is known as mikkyo, or esoteric Buddhism. Though based on written sutras, much of the teaching is held in secret. To study Shingon, you must work with a teacher who can guide you in your study and spiritual practice. The teacher will help you broaden and deepen your understanding and will lead you on the path to enlightenment. Though the aspiration to become enlightened comes from within, the instruction comes from without.

This pamphlet is merely a brief introduction to Shingon. To understand the teachings, to learn the practices, you must take the next step. You must find a teacher and ask for instruction. Many Shingon priests can speak some English and more are studying the language. If you sincerely desire to study Shingon, you must take what you have learned in these pages as the basis for asking a teacher the questions raised in your mind by what you have read here.