Shingon Buddhist Cosmology: Interactive Components of the Environment

and the Pilgrimage to 88 Temples in Shikoku, Japan

Ronald S. Green
Coastal Carolina University
Presented at the ASIANetwork Annual Conference, April 2016

This paper is about

Shingon cosmology and
how it applies to the
Pilgrimage to 88 Temples
in Shikoku, Japan. This
Buddhist pilgrimage leads
around the perimeter of the
island of Shikoku and is
1,200 kilometers
(750 miles). The vast
majority of 100,000
participants in the
Pilgrimage each year are
older, retired people who take bus tours and stay in fairly expensive temple lodging (about
10,000 yen or $100 per night), which includes breakfast and dinner, typically sashimi, miso,
vegetables and rice. A lesser number of people, about 10-20%, walk some or all of the
Pilgrimage. Based on my own participant observations and interviews over a five-year period,
that group, known as aruki henrō, waking pilgrims, consider the austerities they undertake in
climbing mountains, walking long distances, sleeping outside, etc., as the “real pilgrimage”
(hontō no henrō) and their activities to be true Shingon religious practice. These aruki henrō
sometimes express contempt for the tourist activities of temple priests as well. For example,
upon seeing a very clean priest in pressed robes walking quickly from one temple to another, an
aruki henro-san commented to me, “We could walk that fact too if we didn’t have to work for a
living.”
Pilgrimage to 88 Temples in Shikoku is
undertaken in honor the life of Kūkai
(774–835) and in emulation of his
practices that allegedly lead to Sokushin
jōbutsu, becoming a Buddha in this
body, that is, without further need for
reincarnation. While it has been shown
that Kūkai based the design of his
Mount Kōya temple complex on
Shingon’s Garbhadhatu Maṇḍala, I will
argue that the pilgrimage in Shikoku is
also constructed in terms of the four

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kinds of maṇḍala in Shingon and other ideas central to that tradition. Kūkai is one of the most
famous figures in Japanese history and, right or wrong, many important features of Japanese
culture are attributed to him. These include the invention of Hiragana writing script and
authorship of the Iroha poem that uses each sound in the Japanese syllabary only once to form a
poem about Buddhist impermanence. The name of the poem comes from its first three sounds.

The Iroha poem

Traditionally attributed to Kūkai, Kōbō Daishi 弘法大師
(Great Master Who Propagated the Dharma)

Although its scent still lingers on

the form of a flower has scattered away
For whom will the glory
of this world remain unchanged?
Arriving today at the yonder side
of the deep mountains of evanescent existence
We shall never allow ourselves to drift away
intoxicated, in the world of shallow dreams.

For our purposes, Kūkai’s importance is in that he is attributed with having brought
important features of esoteric Buddhism or mikkyō to Japan and built it as Shingon-shū, a major
tradition of Japanese Buddhism. Some say he brought esoteric Buddhism to Japan as his
Imperial-issued posthumous name is construed to imply, Kōbō Daishi 弘法大師 Great Master
Who Propagated the Dharma. According to that tradition, Kūkai achieved Buddhahood in his
lifetime, although his earliest biographies do not mention this.
In her 1999 book Japanese Mandalas: Representations of Sacred Geography, Elizabeth
Ten Grotenhuis describes how Shingon’s Dual Maṇḍala account for its view of cosmology. The
Dual Maṇḍala or maṇḍala of the Two Worlds are the Garbhadhatu Maṇḍala and the Vajradhatu
Maṇḍala.
The Garbhadhatu Maṇḍala is the Womb Maṇḍala. It is thought of as female, and
representing compassion and the knower. The Vajradhatu Maṇḍala is considered male. It
represents wisdom, and the known. Together they are thought of as two aspects of the universe
and two aspects of practice. They should be united for a complete picture of these, as indicated
by the central figure of Dainichi nyorai, that is, the Buddha Mahāvairocana, whose chiken-in or
“wisdom fist” mudra represents the unity of the male and female realms and the six elements that
comprise them. In Shingon, Mahāvairocana is not a historical figure, but represents the
Dharmakaya. The Dharmakaya is the Dharma Realm, which is the physical universe and the
teachings of the Buddha, the Dharma, which Shingon sees as being the same thing.

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 Garbhadhatu Maṇḍala Vajradhatu Maṇḍala
Womb realm maṇḍala Vajra realm maṇḍala
Female - Compassion Male - Wisdom
Knower Known

Based on historical records, Grotenhuis describes how Kūkai designed his Mount Kōya temple
complex in the mountains in Wakayama Prefecture based on the two maṇḍala as follows.
At the core of Kukai's teaching was the mandala of the Two Worlds. In fact, his
treasured monastery on top of Mount Kōya, where the great master returned in the
last years of his life and where he died in 835, is laid out to replicate symbolically
the nonduality of the maṇḍala of the Two Worlds. Kūkai seems to have
envisioned Mount Kōya as the Womb World (Taizōkai) of compassion,
symbolized by the eight-petaled lotus flower. The eight peaks surrounding the
central plateau were seen as the petals of this lotus. The monastery at the center of
the plateau within the Womb World was called Kongōbuji, Vajra, or Diamond
Peak Temple, signifying the Diamond World of wisdom. The circle of the
Diamond World was thus located within the circle of the Womb World.
Enthroned in the Great (eastern) Pagoda (daitō) of Kongōbuji itself sits the
cosmic progenitor Dainichi of the Womb World, surrounded at the east, south,
west, and north by the four Buddhas of the Diamond World (79).
Note, although Grotenhuis wrote that Kūkai died on Mount Kōya, according to Shingon, Kūkai
did not die but experienced nyujō or Perpetual (or at least long-term) Samādhi, a meditative state
in which he remains today at the inner sanctuary (Oku no in) on Mount Koya, awaiting the

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 The bridge to Oku no in, where Kūkai is sits in nyujō,
Perpetual (or at least long-term) Samādhi

arrival of Maitreya, the future Buddha. This interpretation can be important for the Shikoku
Pilgrimage, where pilgrims walk with Kūkai and sometimes report seeing him, an impossibility
if he has reached nirvāṇa. The bridge leading to Oku no in crosses a stream that is a border
between relatively mundane and sacred spaces, although all of Mount Kōka is scared landscape
as Grotenhuis explains.
Where Mount Kōya can be seen as signifying the Womb World primarily and
secondarily the unity of the Dual Maṇḍala, the newer phenomena of the Pilgrimage to 88
Temples in Shikoku primarily represents the Vajra Realm and the pilgrims in Shikoku can be
seems as traversing Shingon’s Four Kinds of Maṇḍala.

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The composition of the world and the universe
Kūkai explains that the substance of the universe and the reality of the world, which are real and
not just illusions, comes from the composition of form (体 dai), appearance (相 sō), and action
(用 yū). The substance comprising bodies (form), is called taidai (体大), the great material
elements. Appearance (sō) is comprised of sōdai (相大) the great elements of phenomena. The
workings of the universe is called yūdai (用大), the great elements of use or action. Kūkai
explains and exemplifies these three components of the universe in the following ways.
1. Form is explained through the six element (六大 rokudai) theory.
2. Appearance is explained through the four kinds of maṇḍala (四曼 shiman).
3. Action is explained through the Three Mysteries (三密 sanmitsu).

1. Form: the Six Elements

The bodily substance and physical essence of the multitude of beings and entities that
populate and comprise the universe can be thought of as various combinations of six large
components (rokudai): earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness. The first five of these,
which are common to five element theories around the world, are material. The fifth is the
mental or emotional component. Although some have suggested that the sixth element is Kūkai’s
unique contribution to this theory, it also appears in the Mahāvairocana Sūtra. These six
elements do not simply exemplify bodily form, but constitute the substance of the universe.
Further, unlike some of the other five element theories, Shingon ascribes meditative states and
social interactive Bodhisattva properties to each of the elements. For example, earth has the
propriety of solidity but it is also thought of as preserving all things. Water flows downward and
is fluid. But it is also thought of as having the nature of receiving other things. Fire has rising
heat. It brings about ripening and maturation. Wind has the significance of stirring things. It is
seen as training or developing. Air represents empty space. It lets other things be unhindered and
envelops them. Consciousness is awareness, discernment, and activities. It entails the ability to
choose and to make good decisions.
According to Shingon, these six components are intermingled and mixed in solidity. Even so,
while each mutually supports the other, one also breaks down another. Human beings, plants,
and animals, the substance of every life form all combine and this becomes the organization of
the universe. In totality, this is thought of as Mahāvairocana Buddha, the universe or cosmos,
which is central to the ideology of Shingon.
With the exception of Mind, the other five elements are said to be the virtue of
Mahāvairocana of the Garbhadhatu; Womb Realm. Thought is expressed by Mahāvairocana of
the Vajradhatu; Diamond or Vajra Realm.

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 1. Form of the Universe

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 Illustrated by mudras, each of the five fingers represents
an element of the universe. From the little finger, these
elements are earth, water, fire, wind, and space
respectively. Chanted as one of Mahāvairocana’s mantras,
a, bi, ra, um, kan (in Japanese pronunciation),
Mahāvairocana is revealed as the elements of the universe.
As illustrated above, in Shingon, the sixth element is mind.

2. Appearance: The Content of the Four Maṇḍala

Shingon conceptualizes four forms of the phenomenal aspects (sōdai) of the universe. These
are represented in the Four Maṇḍala (shiman). Like other esoteric traditions, for Shingon,
maṇḍala are essential and the entire universe is seen as maṇḍala.
Maṇḍala are said “to possess the nature of reality.” In the painting of the world that is the
maṇḍala, a diagram of the spatial aspect of the contemplating mind, conceiving it can also be
recognized.
In the Mahā Maṇḍala (大曼荼羅), the appearance of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are
represented. Their colors and other iconography represent their attributes. From this slide we can
see that these attributes are matched to the cardinal directions, to the elements, and to mantra
vibrational sound.

In the Mahā Maṇḍala (大曼荼羅), the appearance of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are represented.
Their colors and other iconography represent their attributes.

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 In the Sanmaya (三昧耶) Maṇḍala, unseen forms are represented. It depicts the nature of
one’s mind. Ritual instruments such as vajra, Dharma chakra, sword, and lotus flower, as well as
the symbolic personal effects of various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are represented in Sanmaya
Maṇḍala. Mudras are also represented.

Sanmaya maṇḍala

The Dharma Maṇḍala depicts both the seen and unseen. The mantra (shingon) of the
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are written in Siddham Sanskrit characters, an Indian script used to
represent mantra at the time Shingon (Zhenyan) was establish by Kūkai’s predecessors in China.
These contain the truths expounded in sūtras.

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 The Dharma Maṇḍala

The Karma Maṇḍala depicts the active aspect of the universe. The actions of various
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are represented in Karma Maṇḍalas. Through these features, three-
dimensional reality is revealed on the two-dimensional maṇḍala paintings.
In total, maṇḍala expresses the actual form of the universe. Thus, that which makes up the
present world is the Buddha world. The Buddha world is not another world; there is no other
world. However, the same universe is seen from four angles, captured by mikkyō. Maṇḍala also
display the Buddha’s teachings hidden in the phrases of mantra and dharani.

3. The Action of the Universe and the Three Mysteries

The physical activity, language, and the act of thinking are the Three Mysteries. Collectively,
these actions of the body, the mouth, and the mind performed every day are called Sanmitsu, the
Three Mysteries, by Kūkai and Shingon. Accordingly, the Three Mysteries are all of the
activities of the universe.

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The meaning of the Three Mysteries
Physical activity (身業 shingō), linguistic activity (口業 kugō), and mental activity (意業
igō) are called the three activities (三業 sangō). Originally, karma meant activity (業 gō), work
of the body, work of the mouth, and work of the mind. In Shingon, the Three Mysteries are
respectively named 身密 shinmitsu (the mystery of body),口密 kumitsu (the mystery of the
mouth), and 意密 imitsu (the mystery of the mind). Kūkai said, “Because the Buddha’s Three
Mysteries are perceived as minute and profound, they are called mysterious. The Three
Mysteries of sentient beings are likewise mysterious.” According to Shingon, the activities of
sentient beings and the work of the Buddha are exactly the same. The practice of sentient beings
and the Buddha’s practice jointly contribute to the mysterious power to awaken fully. Because
the Three Mysteries of Buddhas and sentient beings are seen as coming together perfectly, Three
Mysteries practice is seen as the cornerstone of what is called 三密加持 Sanmitsu kaji, Three
Mysteries Power. Likewise, for Shingon, if practice (gyō) is undertaken, the practitioner partakes
in each of the Buddha’s Three Mysteries respectively.

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The Practice of the Three Mysteries leading to Sokushin jōbutsu (Become a Buddha).

The three mysteries of body, mouth, and mind correspond to

the Shingon practices of forming mudras with the body, chanting
mantra with the mouth, and concentrating on maṇḍala with the
mind. The Mystery of Body is in emulation of the activity of the
universe that is Mahāvairocana’s surface appearance. According to
Shingon, there is sacred power inherent in the mystery of the mouth
done by chanting or incanting mantra (Shingon). Through igō,
mental practice, the mind is put in unity with the Buddha and the
universe through meditation. The central object of contemplation
(honzon) in the maṇḍala is the focus of the heart or mind.

The essence of Shingon is in the Power of the Three

Mysteries (Sanmitsu kaji). For this reason, Kūkai put a lot of effort
into performing and promoting these. It is Shingon’s method of
Sokushin jōbutsu, becoming a Buddha in this lifetime. Sokushin
jōbutsu is the experience of physical and mental completeness, that
is, enlightenment.

There are three kinds of Sokushin jōbutsu or three ways of achieving it. All three are expressed in
the Shikoku pilgrimage.
1. Attainment of Buddhahood through Realization that one is already Equipped is Rigu
sokushin jōbutsu 理具即身成仏. Human beings have the original condition of
Buddhahood within.

2. Attainment of Buddhahood through Mysterious Power is Kaji sokushin jōbutsu 加持即身

成仏. Kaji is the mysterious transformative power gained by practicing the Three
Mysteries.

3. Attainment of Buddhahood through Acquisition and Manifestation is Kentoku sokushin

jōbutsu 顕得即身成仏. Through ascetic training using the Three Activities, the mind is
endowed with various abilities and ultimate attainment is accomplished.

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The following are offered as some of the many examples of where the three kinds of Sokushin
jōbutsu or three ways of achieving it can be seen in the Pilgrimage to 88 Temples in Shikoku.

1. Indications of belief in
Attainment of Buddhahood through Realization that one is already so equipped

“In our bodies resides original “If you know your mind,
pure mind.” you know Buddha-mind.”

Signs hang from branches along the pilgrim route in Shikoku

2. Indications of belief in
Attainment of Buddhahood through Mysterious Power

(left) Shingon goma fire ritual; (middle) a shirt that has been stamped with at all 88 temples is believed to
be fecund with merit; (right) a pilgrim sound a horagai to invoke the power of nature.

3. Indications of belief in
Attainment of Buddhahood through ascetic practices

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 In addition, the following aspects of Shingon practice can be found as a part of the
Pilgrimage to 88 Temples in Shikoku.
In Shingon Buddhism, there are ten “precepts” followers are encouraged to follow called
the jūzenkai (十善戒). Many pilgrims take these vows on Mount Kōya just before going on the
Shikoku Pilgrimage.
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 or gossip.
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.
Shingon divides these vows according to the Three Mysteries Activities.
1-3 are body,
4-7 are speech,
8-10 are mind.

The pilgrim’s walking stick is called a Kongō tsue, Vajra Stick. It also represents Kūkai
and through it, the pilgrim is thought to be with Kūkai always, doing the same ascetic practice as
him. This is part of the meaning of the motto of the pilgrimage that can be found on the back of
the pilgrimage robe-shirt: Dogyō ninin 同行二人, “Two people, same ascetic practice.” The
“two people” may also refers to other pilgrims as well as the Buddha. As mentioned above, the
activities of sentient beings and Buddhas are the same. They jointly contribute to the mysterious
power to awaken fully. Kūkai and the Buddha are the same due to Sokushin jōbutsu. Pilgrims are
likewise working toward Buddhahood.

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 (left) Six Elements, color and sound symbolism on the top of the Kongō tsue walking stick.
(right) Young pilgrims holding Kongō tsue.
The same symbolism is seen in grave markers around Japan, significantly in the ancient
graveyard leading to the inner sanctuary (Oku no in) on Mount Kōya, where Kūkai is said to sit
in nyujō, long-term Samādhi. In this way, the Kongō tsue carried at all times by pilgrims is
Kūkai’s grave marker, just as the white robe-shirts are pilgrims’ own death shroud.

(left) Grave markers on Mount Kōya. (right) symbolism of the markers

The island of Shikoku itself has long been thought of as the land of the dead, especially
the mountains along the pilgrim. In addition, the pilgrim route and the island are considered a
maṇḍala with four training grounds (dōjō) a pilgrim progresses through, just as a Shingon
practitioner progresses through the realms of a maṇḍala (as seem below).

The four dōjōs of the Shikoku pilgrimages.

Temples 1-23 represents awakening (発心, hosshin),
24-39 austerity and discipline (修行, shugyō),
40-65 attaining enlightenment (菩提, bodai),
66-88 entering nirvana (涅槃, nehan).
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