59. THE DISSEMINATION OF ESOTERIC SCRIPTURES IN
EIGHTHCENTURY JAPAN
Clemente BeghiJapanese esoteric Buddhism is traditionally associated with the Shingon
and Tendai schools, which developed from the beginning of the ninth
century, and with names such as Kūkai, Saichō, Ennin, and Enchin,
each of whom actively introduced and spread esoteric doctrine. But if
we look at historical records such as the Nihonshoki (Writ-
ten Records of Japan), the Shōsōin monjo (Documents of
the Shōsōin), and the Shoku nihongi (Continued History
of Japan), it is clear that many esoteric sūtras were already present in
Japan for more than a century.
Among the first examples is the Sūtra of the Adamantine Plat-
form (Vajra-maṇḍa-dhāraṇī, Kongō-jō-darani-kyō
T. 1345), a text translated in the Sui period by Jñānagupta
(561–592). The Japanese specimen is dated 686, making it one of the
oldest hand-copied sūtras extant in the country, and it formed part of
the so-called Gangōji Canon (Gangōji-issai-kyō ), a col-
lection of scriptures brought back from China in 660 by Dōshō /
(629–700), who is credited with introducing Yogācāra teachings
and founding the Hossō school in Japan. He had stayed on the
continent for seven years, studying under Xuanzang (602–664),
who was known not only for his journey to India but also his transla-
tions, among which can be found a number of early esoteric sūtras.
Dōshō must have been aware of early tantric developments in China.
About half a century later, in 718, Dōji (675–744), a Sanron
monk, returned from China after eighteen years, bringing with
him a vast collection of scriptures, including esoteric ones. It is said
that among his teachers was the tantric master Śubhākarasiṃha
(637–735), although this is probably a later fiction, related to
the fact that he introduced such esoteric practices as the “question-
ing ritual” (gumonji-hō ), which is aimed, among the rest,
at increasing memory. Among the texts he brought with him was the
Dhāraṇī of the Space-Store Bodhisattva’s Questions to Seven Buddhas