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Eight Tall Mountains surrounding the
Summit of Koyosan appears as the eight
petaled lotuses in the Garbhadatu Mandala.
The Diamond Crown Temple of Kobodaishi
in the CenterKukai was born in 744 AD to an aristocratic family. He
was considered highly gifted and was sent to the capital at
fourteen to study to become a royal official. At seventeen he
succeeded in entering the university, where he studied China's
Five Classics and Confucianism. He was not impressed with
Confucianism and went on to study Taoism on his own. He found
that Lao Tsu has a deep understanding of secret subjects. He
yearned to understand both the Buddhist scriptures and the world,
and to reach the hidden, unknown secret of the Buddha’s mind,
as well as the mystery surrounding human being’s nature. He
intuitively felt that there were always two sides to everything: the
external and the internal, the esoteric and the exoteric, the
obvious and the hidden, and that the Buddha's mind belongs to
that same principle. He knew that the enlightened were the ones
who already stood on the internal side. Although their power was
great, it was not enough to liberate mankind. Therefore, they used
Dharani and ritual ceremonies to bring the miraculous wonders of
the universe into every one’s heart. At the age of 24, Kukai
became enlightened as a result of meditation and the practice of
contemplation. Once he was in Samadhi, Buddha appeared to
him.