Kūkai

Kūkai ( _ja. 空海) or also known posthumously as Kōbō-Daishi ( _ja. 弘法大師), 774–835 CE was a Japanese monk, scholar, poet, 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 (although this claim has not been proven). His religious writing, some fifty works, expound the esoteric Shingon doctrine, of which the major ones have been translated into English by Yoshito Hakeda (see references below). 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 aristocratic Saeki family, a branch of the ancient Ōtomo clan. There is some doubt as to his birth name: Tōtomono (precious one) is recorded in one source, while Mao (True Fish) is recorded elsewhere. Mao is popularly used in recent writings. [cite book | last = Hakeda | first = Yoshito S. | title = Kūkai and His Major Works | publisher = Columbia University Press | year = 1972 | isbn = 0231059337 | pages= 14] 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, while moving the capital of Japan from Nara ultimately to Heian (modern-day Kyoto).

Little more is known about Kūkai's childhood. At age fifteen, he began to receive instruction in the Chinese Classics under the guidance of his maternal uncle. During this time, the Saeki-Ōtomo clan suffered government persecution due to allegations that clan chief, Ōtomo Yakamochi, was responsible for the assassination of his rival Fujiwara Tanetsugu. [Ibid., 19] The family fortunes fell by 791 when Kūkai journeyed to the capitol of Nara, to study at the government university. Graduates were typically chosen for prestigious positions as bureaucrats. Biographies of Kūkai suggest that he became disillusioned with his Confucian studies, but developed a strong interest in Buddhist studies instead.

Around the age of 22, Kūkai was introduced to Buddhist practice involving chanting the mantra of the Bodhisattva Ākasagarbha. [Ibid., 22] During this period Kūkai frequently sought out isolated mountain regions where he chanted the Ākasagarbha mantra relentlessly. But he also must have frequented the large monasteries of Nara. We know this because his first major literary work, "Sangō Shiiki", composed during this period at the age of 24, quotes from an extensive list of sources, including the classics of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. The Nara temples, with their extensive libraries, were the most likely place, perhaps the only place, where Kūkai could have found all of these texts.

During this period in Japanese history, the central government closely regulated by the Office of Priestly Affairs, or "Sōgō". [cite book | last = Abe | first = Ryuichi | title = The Weaving of Mantra: Kukai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse | publisher = Columbia University Press | year = 1999 | isbn = 0231112866 | pages = 10] Ascetics and independent monks, like Kūkai, were frequently banned and lived outside the law, but still wandered the countryside or from temple to temple.

At some point during this period of private Buddhist practice, Kūkai had a dream, in which a man appeared and told Kūkai that the Mahavairocana Sutra is the scripture which contained the doctrine Kūkai was seeking.cite book | last = Hakeda | first = Yoshito S. | title = Kūkai and His Major Works | publisher = Columbia University Press | year = 1972 | isbn = 0231059337 | pages= 28] Though Kūkai soon managed to obtain a copy of this sūtra which had been only recently translated and made available in Japan, he immediately encountered difficulty. Much of the sūtra was in untranslated Sanskrit written in the Siddham script. Kūkai found the translated portion of the sūtra was very cryptic. Because Kūkai could find no one who could elucidate the text for him, he resolved to go to China to study the text there. Professor Abé suggests that the Mahavairocana Sutra bridged the gap between his interest in the practice of religious exercises and the doctrinal knowledge acquired through his studies.

Travel and study in China

In 804 Kūkai took part in a government sponsored expedition to China in order to learn more about the Mahavairocana Sutra. Scholars are unsure why Kūkai was selected to take part in an official mission to China, given his background as a private, not state-sponsored, monk. Theories include family connections within the Saeki-Ōtomo clan, or connections through fellow clergy or a member of the Fujiwara clan.cite book | last = Hakeda | first = Yoshito S. | title = Kūkai and His Major Works | publisher = Columbia University Press | year = 1972 | isbn = 0231059337 | pages= 28]

The expedition included four ships, with Kūkai on the first ship, while another famous monk, Saicho was on the second ship. During a storm, the third ship turned back, while the fourth ship was lost at sea. Kūkai's ship arrived weeks later in the province of Fujian and were initially denied entry to the port while the ship was impounded. [cite book | last = Abe | first = Ryuichi | title = The Weaving of Mantra: Kukai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse | publisher = Columbia University Press | year = 1999 | isbn = 0231112866 | pages = 114] Kūkai, being fluent in Chinese, wrote a letter to governor of the province explaining their situation. The governor allowed the ship to dock, and the party was asked to proceed to the capital of Chang'an (present day Xi'an), the seat of power for the Tang Dynasty.

Eventually, after further delays the Tang court granted Kūkai a place in the Ximingsi temple where his study of Chinese Buddhism began in earnest. Chang'an would have been a very cosmopolitan city at the time and have attracted people of many races and creeds. Indian influence would have been visible, as would Islamic, but there were also at least one temple each devoted to Nestorian Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Manichaeism. The Tang court was said to employ anyone who passed the state examinations and did not discriminate against foreigners. The Ximing Temple had been a centre of Buddhist academic activities for at least two hundred years when Kūkai arrived. It was at Ximing that pilgrim and traveller Xuanzang (602-664) had translated the scriptures he had brought back from India. Another traveller Yijing (635-713) also based himself at Ximing while working on translations of Indian scriptures. An interesting connection is that the text on Akashagarbha, which had inspired Kūkai in his youth, was also translated at Ximing by the Indian scholar monk Shubhākarasimha, and he was also responsible for the introduction of the Mahavairocana Sutra and the esoteric traditions associated with it. Ximing was celebrated for its library which was the most comprehensive library of Buddhist texts in China at the time. Scholars of many disciplines were resident there and Kūkai must have delighted in the abundant resources. He was fortunate to be able to study Sanskrit with the Gandharan pandit Prajñā (734-810?) who had been educated at the great Indian Buddhist university at Nalanda. It was possibly Kūkai's rapid progress in his studies that brought him to the attention of his future master, Huiguo.

It was in 805 that Kūkai finally met Master Huiguo 惠果 (Jap. Keika) (746-805) the man who would initiate him into the esoteric Buddhism tradition at Changan's Qinglong Monastery 青龍寺. Huiguo came from an illustrious lineage of Buddhist masters, famed especially for translating Sanskrit texts into Chinese, including the Mahavairocana Sutra. Kūkai describes their first meeting:

Huiguo immediately bestowed upon Kūkai the first level Abhisheka or esoteric initiation. Whereas Kūkai had expected to spend 20 years studying in China, in a few short months he was to receive the final initiation, and become a master of the esoteric lineage. In other words, he would have mastered the complex rituals involving combinations and mudra, mantra, and visualisations associated with each of the deities in the two mandalas (discussed below) amounting to several dozen distinct practices. Huiguo was said to have described teaching Kūkai as like "pouring water from one vase into another". Huiguo died shortly afterwards but not before instructing Kūkai to return to Japan and spread the esoteric teachings there, assuring him that other disciples would carry on his work in China. However Kūkai does seem to have occupied a special place amongst Huiguo's disciples, not only because of the rapidity with which he absorbed the teachings, but also because he was the only one who received the entire teaching of both the Garbhakosha and the Vajradhatu mandalas. Huiguo also presented Kūkai with a number of ritual implements and art works.

Kūkai arrived back in Japan in 806 as the eighth Patriarch of Esoteric Buddhism, having learnt Sanskrit and its Siddham script, studied Indian Buddhism, as well as having studied the arts of Chinese calligraphy and poetry, all with recognised masters. He also arrived with a large number of texts many of which were new to Japan and were esoteric in character, as well as several texts on the Sanskrit language and the Siddham script.

However in Kūkai's absence Emperor Kammu had died and was replaced by Emperor Heizei who exhibited no great enthusiasm for Buddhism. Saichō, 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 Kūkai's return. Saichō had travelled to China at the same time, and he was also initiated into esoteric Buddhism (by Shunxiao), 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. Saichō had already had esoteric rites officially recognised by the court as an integral part of Tendai, and had already performed the abhisheka, or initiatory ritual, for the court by the time Kūkai returned to Japan. Kūkai thus found himself in quite a difficult position in that he was a relative unknown, up against the rising star of Saichō, in a field of opportunities strictly limited by draconian state control of religious practice. However with the demise of Emperor Kammu, Saichō's fortunes began to wane. But we know that he and Kūkai corresponded frequently and that Saichō was a frequent borrower of texts from Kūkai. Saichō also requested, in 812, that Kūkai give him the introductory initiation, which Kūkai agreed to do. He also granted a second-level initiation upon Saichō, but refused to bestow the final initiation (which would have qualified Saichō as a master of esoteric Buddhism) because Saichō had not completed the required studies. Their friendship could be said to have come to a definite end when Kūkai refused to lend one scripture saying that Saichō could not learn what he needed from a text, but only through a proper initiation into the teachings.

We know little about Kūkai's movements until 809 when the court finally responded to Kūkai's report on his studies, which also contained an inventory of the texts and other objects he had brought with him, and a petition for state support to establish the new esoteric Buddhism in Japan. That document, the "Catalogue of Imported Items" is interesting because it is the first attempt by Kūkai to distinguish the new form of Buddhism from that already practised in Japan. The court's response was an order to reside in the Takaosanji (later Jingoji) Temple in the suburbs of Kyoto. This was to be Kūkai's headquarters for the next 14 years. The year 809 also saw the retirement of Heizei due to illness and the succession of the Emperor Saga, who supported Kūkai. Giving the nature of his relations with the court Kūkai had been able to accomplish little during the three year period immediately after his return from China, but he seems to have established himself as a calligrapher of note, and when the Saga Emperor ascended to the throne, he was often invited to the palace, where he would write letters on the Emperor's behalf. They also exchanged poems and other gifts.

Emerging from obscurity

In 810 Kūkai emerged as a public figure when he was appointed administrative head at Tōdai-ji Temple in Nara. Tōdai-ji was the central temple in Nara and therefore the most important in the country. To obtain the appointment Kūkai would have needed not only the support of the Emperor, but also that of the powerful Nara clergy. This fact tends to undermine the argument that Kūkai's esoteric Buddhism was established in opposition to the Nara establishment. Although he took up this new, and powerful position, his headquarters continued to be Takaosanji.

Shortly after his enthronement Saga became seriously ill, and while he was recovering Heizei fomented a rebellion, which had to be put down by force 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. It seems that Kūkai was one of his mainstays at the time. In any case, in 810 Kūkai petitioned the Emperor to allow him to carry out certain esoteric rituals which were said to "enable a king to vanquish the seven calamities, to maintain the four seasons in harmony, to protect the nation and family, and to give comfort to himself and others". And his petition was granted. Note that Kūkai here appears to be fulfilling the traditional function of the Buddhist clergy in Japan at the time - using magic to protect the Empire. However the rituals which Kūkai desired to perform were esoteric rituals, and the performance of them was the beginning of the flowering of esoteric Buddhism in Japan.

With the public initiation ceremonies for Saichō and others at the Takaosanji Temple in 812, Kūkai became the acknowledged master of esoteric Buddhism in Japan. He set about organizing his disciples into an order - making them responsible for administration, maintenance and construction at the temple, as well as for monastic discipline. In 813 Kūkai outlined his aims and practices in the document called "The admonishments of Konin". It was also during this period at Takaosanji that he completed many of the seminal works of the Shingon School: "Attaining Enlightenment in This Very Existence"; "The Meaning of Sound, Word, Reality"; and the "Meanings of the Word Hūm"; all of which were written in 817. Records show that Kūkai was also busy writing poetry, conducting rituals, and writing epitaphs and memorials on request. His popularity at the court only increased, and spread. However Kūkai must have felt that life in the capital was lacking something, because in 816 he asked Saga to grant him Mt. Kōya, with which he is most famously associated.

Mount Kōya

Mt. Kōya is located several days walk southeast of the capital, and is the highest mountain in the region. At that time it was an isolated forest wilderness, and it is thought that Kūkai had discovered it during his days as a wandering ascetic. It has a central plateau approximately 5.5 km by 2.5 km and an abundant water supply. In short it was ideal for the monastic retreat centre that Kūkai wanted to build. The emperor granted the mountain to Kūkai free from all state control, and Kūkai immediately sent some of his disciples to occupy the site. It was only in 818 that he himself was able to get away from his many duties to visit Mt. Kōya. The ground was officially consecrated in the middle of 819 with rituals lasting seven days. He could not stay, however, as he had received an imperial order to act as advisor to the secretary of state, and he therefore entrusted the project to a senior disciple. As many surviving letters to patrons attest, fund raising for the project now began to take up much of Kūkai's time, and financial difficulties were a persistent concern; indeed, the project was not fully realised until after Kūkai's death in 835. Kūkai's vision was that Mt. Kōya was to become a representation of the two mandalas 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.

In 821 Kūkai took on a civil engineering task, that of restoring a reservoir, which survives to this day. His leadership enabled the previously floundering project to be completed smoothly, and is now the source of some of the many legendary stories which surround his figure. In 822 Kūkai performed an initiation ceremony for the ex-emperor Heizei. In the same year Saichō died.

Tō-ji Period

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: Tō-ji (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. However, after nearly thirty years the temples were still not completed. In 823 the soon-to-retire Emperor Saga asked Kūkai to take over the temple and finish the building project. We can imagine that Kūkai's civil engineering ability was as important a factor as his spiritual leadership and his administrative skill demonstrated at Takaosanji. Saga gave Kūkai free rein, which enabled him to make Tō-ji the first Esoteric Buddhist centre in Kyoto, and also giving him a base much closer to the court, and its power, than any other Buddhist. The new emperor, Emperor Junna (r. 823-833) was also well disposed towards Kūkai. In response to a request from the emperor, Kūkai, along with other Japanese Buddhist leaders submitted a document which set out the beliefs, practices and important texts of his form of Buddhism. In his imperial decree granting approval of Kūkai's outline of esoteric Buddhism, Jun'na uses the term Shingon-shū, or True Word School (or Sect) for the first time. Kūkai had previously not used the term school to describe his new form of Buddhism, perhaps trying to reinforce the idea that this was not simply another school of Buddhism, but an entirely new teaching which needed to be sharply distinguished from all that had come before it. An imperial decree gave Kūkai exclusive use of Tō-ji for the Shingon School, which set a new precedent in an environment where previously temples had been open to all forms of Buddhism. It also allowed him to retain 50 monks at the temple and train them in Shingon. This was the final step in establishing Shingon as an independent Buddhist movement, with a solid institutional basis with state authorisation. Shingon had become legitimate.

In 824 Kūkai was officially appointed to the temple construction project. In this same year he was appointed to the administrative body that oversaw all the Buddhist monasteries in Japan, the Sōgō, 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 (Daisōzu). Kūkai's appointment was to the position of junior director (Shōsōzu). In addition there was a Vinaya Master (Risshi) who was responsible for the monastic code of discipline. At Tō-ji, in addition to the Golden temple and some minor buildings on the site, Kūkai added the lecture hall in 825 which was specifically designed along Shingon Buddhist principles, which included the making of 14 Buddha images. Also in 825, Kūkai was invited to become tutor to the crown prince. Then in 826 he initiated the construction of a large pagoda at Tō-ji which was not completed in his lifetime (the present pagoda was built in 1644 by the third Tokugawa Shogun, Iemitsu). In 827 Kūkai was promoted to be Daisōzu in which capacity he presided over state rituals, the emperor and the imperial family.

The year 828 saw Kūkai open his School of Arts and Sciences (Shugei shuchi-in). The school was a private institution open to all regardless of social rank. This was in contrast to the only other school in the capital which was only open to members of the aristocracy. The school taught Taoism and Confucianism, in addition to Buddhism, and provided free meals to the pupils. The latter was essential because the poor could not afford to live and attend the school without it. Unfortunately the school closed a scant ten years after Kūkai's death, when it was sold in order to purchase some rice fields, the income from which went to support monks who in the words of Hakeda: "would only divert the thrust of Shingon activity from the universalistic and egalitarian spirit fostered by Kūkai." [cite book | last = Hakeda | first = Yoshito S. | title = Kūkai and His Major Works | publisher = Columbia University Press | year = 1972 | isbn = 0231059337 | pages = 58]

Final years

Kūkai 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 would eventually kill Kūkai. He sought to retire but the emperor would not accept his resignation, and instead gave him sick leave. Towards the end of 832 Kūkai was back on Mt. Kōya and spent most of his remaining life there. In 834 he petitioned the court to establish a Shingon chapel in the palace for the purpose of conducting rituals 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 Kūkai was finally granted permission to annually ordain three Shingon monks at Mt. Kōya - the number of new ordainees being still strictly controlled by the state. This meant that Kōya had gone from being a private institution to a state sponsored one.

Finally, Kūkai sensed the end approaching. He is said to have stopped taking food and water, and spent much of his time absorbed in meditation. At midnight on the 21st day of the third month (835) he breathed his last breath at the age of 62. [Brown, Delmer "et al." (1979). "Gukanshō," p. 284.] Emperor Nimmyō (r. 833-50) sent a message of condolence to Mt. Kōya, expressing his regret that he could not attend the cremation due to the time lag in communication caused by Mt. Kōya's isolation. However, Kūkai was not given the traditional cremation, but instead, in accordance with his will, was interred on the Eastern peak of Mt Kōya.

Legend has it that Kūkai has not died but entered into an eternal samadhi (or deeply concentrated meditation) and is still alive on Mt Kōya, awaiting the appearance of the next Buddha Maitreya. Kūkai 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.

Other legends in Japan suggest that he currently dwells in the Tushita Heaven along with Maitreya Bodhisattva.

References

Additional Sources

*Skilton, A. 1994. A Concise History of Buddhism. Birmingham : Windhorse Publications.
*Wayman, A and Tajima, R. 1998 The Enlightenment of Vairocana. Delhi : Motilal Barnasidass. [includes: Study of the Vairocanābhisambodhitantra (Wayman), and Study of the Mahāvairocana-Sūtra (Tajima)]
*White, Kenneth R. 2005. The Role of Bodhicitta in Buddhist Enlightenment. New York : The Edwin Mellen Press. [includes: Bodhicitta-sastra, Benkemmitsu-nikyoron, Sammaya-kaijo]

External links

* [http://www.asunam.com/kukai_page.htm another biography] .
* [http://www.kyohaku.go.jp/tokuten/elegance/eleg2e.htm Kyoto Museum Exhibition] many images related to Shingon Buddhism.
* [http://www.visiblemantra.org/kukai.html Kukai's Mantra] - Siddham calligraphy of Kukai's mantra, and an example of Kukai's calligraphy.