The emergence of esoteric Buddhism and its relationship with the Japanese imperial court
Esoteric teachings of Buddhism arrived in Japan from China at the end of the eighth century, and quickly found support within the imperial court. Over the following centuries the two major schools of esoteric Buddhism coexisted as rivals, both deeply rooted in the power structures of the state and the nobility.
Lack of a comprehensive philosophical system
As we learned in the previous part of this series, in the eighth century Japan finally succeeded in importing the three elements it needed to be officially considered a Buddhist state: Buddhist images, “dharma (law),” and “sangha (monastic community).” But this was not the same as importing the religious doctrines and teachings taught by the historical Buddha Shakyamuni in India centuries before. The emergence of new Mahayana Buddhist scriptures has given birth to an astonishing collection of various statues of Buddhas and bodhisattvas (one with an intense desire to attain Buddhahood for all beings). These objects were treated as objects of worship and were attributed mysterious powers similar to the kami powers of Japan's indigenous Shinto traditions. Buddhist priests were revered as figures with the power to cast incantations and use them with rituals to invoke the magical powers of the Buddha. Within the priestly community in Japan, unlike in early Buddhism, there was little trace of the Sangha, a community of monks who devoted their lives to spiritual practices with the goal of escaping their false desires and freeing themselves from suffering.
The court of the capital, Nara, established schools and appointed monks to study Buddhist doctrines and scriptures in order to spread the teachings widely and utilize the magical powers of religion to protect the state. The philosophies and rules of Buddhism were divided into 6 areas and taught separately. Mastery of these mysterious doctrines was believed to be proof that students possessed the special abilities they needed as Buddhist priests. He called these six areas of study “Sanron,” “Jujutsu,” “Hosso,” “Kosha,” “Kigon,” and “Ritsu.” Each specializes in certain areas of Buddhist mystical teachings. These six areas later became known as the Six Southern Schools. But those academic schools taught a curriculum designed to train priests and enable them to obtain state-recognized qualifications. It was not a comprehensive philosophical system that would give a comprehensive conception of Buddhism as a whole. Japan at this stage still lacked a philosophical framework to understand the true essence and full extension of Buddhism from a comprehensive perspective.
Tendai School and the Lotus Sutra
This situation continued until the end of the eighth century and the beginning of the ninth century, at which time the capital was moved to a new location in what is today Kyoto. Around this time, monks who had traveled with missions to Tang Dynasty China to study its latest knowledge brought to Japan two new philosophies that seemed to summarize Buddhist teachings. The first was ''Tendai'' Buddhism (Tentai in Chinese) introduced to Japan by Saicho (762-822), and the second was ''Shingon'' Buddhism transmitted by Kukai (774-835). Together, these two schools formed the core of Japanese Buddhism for the next several centuries.
The Tendai School represented the most advanced form of Buddhist philosophy at that time. It included all the diverse forms of Buddhist ideas that had been transmitted to China from India through a long series of exchanges since the first century of the Christian era. At the same time, unlike previous schools, the Tendai School established a complex series of logical relationships between these different doctrines, and sought to reach a comprehensive understanding of the vast Buddhist world as a whole. Of course, because these disparate ideas were created by different people who lived in India at different times, there was no clear way to integrate them into a coherent whole. They were not related to each other in any real sense. But this did not stop the Tendai School from using all the logic and arguments at its disposal to unify these ideas. At the height of Tendai's understanding of Buddhism appeared the Lotus Flower Sutra. Tendai was a Chinese school born out of the distinctive history of Buddhism in East Asia. All the various sutras were included in a systematic hierarchy of texts, with the Lotus Flower Sutra being the most revered text of all.
These new teachings were adopted once Saicho introduced and taught them in a systematic manner. The vast Buddhist world in all its grandeur - which people in Japan had seen only in fragmented form until that point - was finally revealed in a form that could be understood as one coherent system.
Higher teachings
Shortly thereafter, Kukai returned from China, bringing with him a new set of doctrines that formed the basis of the Shingon (mantra) school. Unlike the Tendai teachings, Shingon's doctrines were not an accumulation of previous doctrines. Rather, it was a new interpretation of Buddhism, known as esoteric Buddhism (mikkyō or “secret teachings” in Japanese). This school represented the final stage of the development of Buddhism in India, as it was built on the basis of a new collection of Tantric scriptures. Its emergence marked the culmination of a long historical process in which religion developed and changed by incorporating and supremating earlier teachings. As a final fruit of this process, esoteric Buddhism was presented as a form possessing supreme spiritual power and occupying a place at the pinnacle of Buddhist thinking that had existed in the past.
The original Buddhist teachings of Shakyamuni state that a person should look inward and change his life and destiny through his own efforts. There was no other way in a world where Shakyamuni believed there was no external savior. But during the centuries that followed—as Mahayana Buddhism came to the fore—these original teachings became overlaid with an accumulation of arcane beliefs and magical thought. In esoteric Buddhism - which represented the final stage of this process - the teachings changed so much that they now say that a person can become a Buddha simply by realizing his connection to the basic energy of the universe. These teachings are now barely distinguishable from Hinduism. These doctrines were shrouded in mystery and secrecy, and deep secrets could only be revealed to individuals who completed certain tests or underwent special initiation rituals. It was believed that the experience of union with the energy of the universe was something that could not be expressed or described in words.
Kukai brought esoteric Buddhism to Japan as an integrated whole as one powerful system of thought. Whereas until that time Japanese Buddhism had been a mixture of imported practices and rituals valued mainly for their magic-like spiritual powers. Esoteric Buddhism came as an inspiration, the most profound and powerful version of the teachings known to anyone in Japan up to that time. It also appears to be more cohesive than the teachings of the Tendai School which attempted to combine different teachings and present them as a unified whole. Even Saicho's followers felt this, and began to add elements of the latest esoteric teachings to their Tendai beliefs, so that Tendai's teachings also gradually took on the appearance of esoteric Buddhism.
In this way two different forms of esoteric Buddhism emerged in Japan side by side: the Tendai sect, which added a somewhat subtle blend of different teachings from a variety of earlier schools, and the Shingon sect, which brought esoteric teachings to Japan as a unified whole.
Religious class structures and adaptation to political power
It is important to remember that the Japanese at that time were not aware of the changes that had occurred in Buddhism over time. Because all Buddhist scriptures transmitted to Japan were considered to be the words of the Buddha, they were all viewed as legitimate parts of the teachings, although it was agreed that there were some profound differences among them. The answers of different schools varied to the question: “Among all the scriptures, which best represents the message that Buddha wanted to convey?” The Tendai sect's response was the Lotus Sutra (in Japanese ''myoho rengi-kyo'' or ''hokikyo'', interpreted esotericly). As for Shingon, the most important scriptures were tantric texts such as Danichikyo and Kunguchō-kyō. At that time, there was little historical understanding of how the religion and its traditions developed. People did not think of esoteric Buddhism as the latest interpretation of the teachings, nor did they know that it emerged as the final stage of a long evolutionary process over the course of Buddhist history.
One feature of esoteric Buddhism is that it tends to place value on hierarchy and authority. Although one of its basic teachings is that anyone can achieve enlightenment during their lifetime by awakening to the Buddha nature in every human being and uniting with the energy of the universe, the truth is that this experience is only possible for people with special qualities and those who have completed rigorous spiritual practices. It was beyond the reach of ordinary people. This means that most people cannot hope to achieve enlightenment through their own efforts. Rather, they should look to these special individuals with extraordinary powers and ask for their help in fulfilling that right now. Esoteric Buddhism says that there are two basic types of people in the world. There was a minority of holy beings or 'living Buddhas' who were able to unite with the energy of the universe, and there were masses of ordinary people whose best hope was to obtain the gift of happiness through the veneration of a few persons endowed with special qualities. The world is built on a hierarchical system. That is, this structure can be considered a natural consequence of the fact that this version of Buddhism developed under the strong influence of Hinduism with its religiously sanctioned caste system.
In the centuries that followed, all sects of Japanese Buddhism that varied from these roots inherited that aspect of esoteric Buddhism. So it developed according to the same basic framework that divided the world into a small group of special people with exceptional talents and qualities, and a group of ordinary people whose only hope was to achieve enlightenment through the veneration of that minority. A classic example of this trend was seen during World War II when Buddhist schools in Japan agreed to grant the Emperor quasi-divine authority and power, and cooperated in continuing the war. After all, this behavior stems from the same understanding of Buddhist teachings.
Esoteric Buddhism and the Court Nobility
As of the eighth century, the Tendai and Shingon schools played a leading role at the center of the development of Japanese Buddhism. Since these two schools tend to revere authority, it is natural that both highly value the close ties with state power embodied in the figure of the emperor. It is fair to say that over a long period the two sects engaged in a tug of war with the aim of bringing the Emperor to their side. During this conflict, the Nara Buddhist schools sided with Shingon in response to what they saw as disrespect for the Nara schools on the part of the Tendai sect, whose main temple was in Kyoto.
A situation was created in which the two schools of esoteric Buddhism—Tendai and Shingon—continued to coexist uneasy as rivals within a power structure centered around the emperor and the rest of the court nobility. The main features of Japanese Buddhism at that stage were manifested as follows:
There was no Sangha community according to the disciplinary rules of Vinaya Pitaka, and no strict rules governing the daily lives of Buddhist monks and priests. This remains a feature of Japanese Buddhism to this day.
In terms of its philosophy, Japanese Buddhism inherited the traditions of Mahayana Buddhism, but was essentially built on the framework of esoteric Buddhism, which distinguished between a small group of people with special abilities or training and the ordinary masses.
Religion was harnessed to form alliances and close relationships with the ruling authority and political power.
This situation continued for about three centuries until the foundations of power began to shift from the court nobility into the hands of the samurai class and eventually to the common people. Buddhism also began to change, making way for a variety of different schools to emerge. How did this happen? What were the consequences? We will answer these questions in later parts of this series.
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