TANTRIC BUDDHISM (INCLUDING CHINA AND JAPAN)and explain to all beings its own enlightenment-an absolute language exists
that is able to convey in some way the ultimate reality (RAMBELLI 1994). The
essential identity of sentient beings (shujo ~.1:.) and Buddhas is the ground for
symbolic practices that lead to the reproduction within the practitioner of the
characteristics and particularities of the absolute.
Semiosophia, semiognosis, semiopietas: Mikkyo orders of
significanceIt is now necessary to outline the internal structure of the kenmitsu episteme. An
account of the actual articulation of the kenmitsu epistemic field should take into
account the following considerations:
the diachronic transformation of Buddhist semiotics;
2 the complex epistemic relations within Buddhism as both a "high" culture
and a "popular" phenomenon;^43
3 the presence of other influential models of semiotics and semiosis (Confu-
cian, Daoist, and later, "Western") that coexisted and interacted in various
ways with and within the kenmitsu epistemic field.On a superficial level, the most evident feature of Mikky6 texts (both
Shingon and Tendai) is their phonetic and graphic exoticism, in which the
foreign is considered closer to the Origin. This is reflected in the large number
of Sanskrit terms and in the wide usage of siddhal'fl (Jpn. shittan{!j,ft.) charac-
ters. It could be said that the core of Mikky6 texts is formed by shingon/shittan,
and that everything else exists only to create a context so that they might be cor-
rectly practiced.^44 This reflects an idea of language and signs typical of
Tantrism. As we have seen, ancient zomitsu texts were a heterogeneous part of
the Mahayana paradigm: their language was an upiiya to convey meaning or
induce certain actions. In the Mahayana philosophy of language, linguistic
expression has value only insofar as it is able to convey its contents, to which it
has an arbitrary connection. As Etienne LAMOTTE puts it, "The letter indicates
the spirit just as a fingertip indicates an object, but since the spirit [that is, the
meaning] is alien to syllables ... the letter is unable to express it in full" ( 1988,
p. 15). With the formation of a Tantric discourse in East Asia, basic linguistic
conceptions changed. Language was transformed from an upiiya into an absolute
and unconditioned entity, something that could not be translated without losing
its essential character. Kiikai believed that the Indian phonemes and script were
endowed with a unique nature. He wrote:
Mantras, however, are mysterious, and each word is profound in
meaning. When they are transliterated into Chinese, the original mean-
ings are modified and the long and short vowels confused.
(KOKAI, Shorai mokuroku, translated in HAKEDA 1972, p. 144)