reliability of this source is questionable and there is no
independent evidence of sectarian “schools.” We know
of a number of prominent Korean monks who studied
with famous Chinese acaryas—Pulgasau ̆i (d.u.) with
S ́ubhakarasimha, Hyech’o (fl. eighth century) with
Amoghavajra, Hyeil (d.u.) and Ojin (d.u.) with Amo-
ghavajra’s disciple Huiguo (?–805)—and it appears that
they brought full range of mantra teachings and ritual
technology to the peninsula. The first edition of the Ko-
rean Tripitaka (produced 1029–1089 C.E.) contains the
works of the Tang acaryas as well as those of the Song
acaryas, and we have to assume that there was a ready
market for these works among the Korean aristocracy.
Apparently the mantra teachings were incorporated
into Koryo ̆Buddhism much as they had been into Tang
and Song Buddhism, as new mantric ritual extensions
of the Mahayana with new pantheons. While a full sec-
tarian identity for the mantra teachings in the Silla and
Koryo ̆periods is suspect, we do have ample evidence
of the spread of rituals in court circles. These included
rites to Marc, MahamayurVidyarajñ, Buddhosnsa,
Yamantaka, and rites originating in the Tang and Song
dynasties, including Land and Water Masses and ritu-
als for protection of the state connected with the
Humane Kings Sutraand the SUVARNAPRABHASOTTAMA-
SUTRA. As was the case in China, the rise of the Mon-
gols and their influence over the Korean peninsula
brought Tibetan LAMAS and the performance of
Vajrayana rituals to the court in the late thirteenth
century. This presence, however, was fleeting.
Japan
Although we tend to equate the arrival of the tantras
in Japan with KUKAI(774–835) and Shingon, this is
not wholly accurate. Indeed, Kukai himself read the
Vairocanabhisambodhibefore he traveled to China and
there is considerable evidence that teachings, texts, and
ritual technology originating in South Asia had spread
to Japan by the mid-eighth century and were known
and in use in both monastic and hijiri(mountain as-
cetic) circles. The standard story of the foundation of
the Shingon school by Kukai on his return from the
Tang court in 805 and the parallel esoterizing of the
Tendai sect by SAICHO(767–822) that resulted in what
later exegetes would dub Tomitsu and Taimitsu, re-
spectively, have recently come under scrutiny and
have been shown to be, especially in the case of Kukai
and Shingon, a pious and anachronistic simplifica-
tion. As was the case for Amoghavajra, Kukai saw him-
self as introducing a distinctive inner teaching and a
method of discourse and interpretation that extended
and completed the Mahayana, and much of his work
was aimed at and eventually embraced by the estab-
lished Nara schools. It now appears that the synthesis
of a system framed by two mandalas drawn respec-
tively from the Vairocanabhisambodhiand the Sarva-
tathagatatattvasamgraha was in large part Kukai’s
articulation of possibilities present but not expressed
in the work of his Chinese teachers. Basing their sys-
tem on these two texts Shingon apologists distinguish
their Esoteric Buddhism (Mikkyo) from the corpus of
texts described in the Vajrayana as anuttarayoga-tantra.
Accordingly they see their “pure” esoterism as un-
tainted by influences originating in S ́aivite Hinduism.
One of Kukai’s most interesting innovations was his
insistence that the esoteric teachings were preached
directly by the Dharmakaya Buddha (the transcendent
body of the Buddha).
But the sectarian history of Shingon and Tendai es-
oteric Buddhism does not fully capture the effect of
the mantra teachings on Japanese culture. Scholars
speak of the esoterizing of medieval Japanese culture
and some of the most important effects of the tantras
in Japan occurred in spite of Shingon’s existence as a
religious institution. For instance, Kakuban (1095–
1143) explored the relationship between Shingon and
Shinto, between Mahavairocana, the great Sun Bud-
dha, AMITABHA, and Amaterasu, the solar goddess
progenitor of the imperial clan. Others explicated Pure
Land and Zen in terms of the esoteric teachings.
Mantras and dharans spread through the culture and
language, as did deities (Acala vidyaraja, for instance),
and practices (homa). Antinomian tendencies surfaced
in the so-called Tachikawa heresy with its promise of
various siddhiand its employment of sexual tech-
niques and skull rituals reminiscent of the Kapalikas,
and in the Pure Land/esoteric fusion of the “Secret
Nenbutsu” (himitsu nenbutsu), which equated sexual
action to the intake of breath and the chanting of the
Buddha’s name. The emergence of Ryobu Shinto, a
tradition that synthesized esoteric and indigenous tra-
ditions, is further evidence of the impact of the mantra
teachings on medieval Japan. Perhaps the most im-
portant influence of the mantra teachings cannot be
documented in a cause/effect fashion. It is nonetheless
clear that the idea of mantra, of the bljasyllables (they
adorn cemeteries and can be found on homasticks in
modern temples), were likely the inspiration for the
hiraganasyllabary.See also:Mijiao (Esoteric) School; Shingon Buddhism,
Japan; Tiantai SchoolTANTRA