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ubasoku (upāsaka; privately ordained mendicant).^6 Kūkai’s
apparent disenchantment with his university education should be
considered indicative of not only his spiritual pursuits and the desire
for retreat to nature but of his fundamental “disengagement from the
normative discourse of Nara culture” (Abé 1999, 101).
Although the precise reasons for his withdrawal from university are
unclear, the earliest record of Kūkai’s interest in Buddhism can be
found in his first work, Indications of the Goals of the Three Teach-
ings, hereafter Indications (Sangō shiiki , 797; KZ (Teihon,
1991–1997) 7: 39–86; Hakeda 1972, 101–40). The first version of this
work was entitled Demonstrating the Goals for Those who are Deaf and
Blind to the Truth (Rōko shiiki ; KZ 7: 1–38).
The unstable political position of the Saiki clan during this time
has also been proposed as a reason that Kukai relinquished a prospec-
tive bureaucratic career, but there is little sense of resignation; rather,
a deep, considered conviction in Buddhism and a sense of spiritual
searching pervade the Indications. The text is prefaced with a biograph-
ical account and it is generally agreed that the author intended the
character of a mendicant Buddhist monk to represent himself. A dec-
laration of the superiority of Buddhism to Daoism and Confucianism,
the text displays a remarkable breadth of cognizance with literature
related to the three religious traditions. It was likely intended in part as
an apologia, directed at relatives and teachers, for the author’s decision
to become a privately ordained monk, shidosō. Kukai records
that they had disagreed with his choice and perhaps not unreasonably,
given the strict measures that had been taken by Kanmu between 797
and 799 against unofficially ordained monks and nuns as part of an
attempt to reform Nara Buddhism. Both the content of the work and
Kukai’s ubasoku status suggest a position of precarious dissent vis-à-
vis the official Buddhist world and the government. His assertions of
the superiority of Daoism to Confucianism, and of Buddhism as above
both and inclusive of all that was valid in them would surely have
amounted to heresy (Abé 1999, 88; Yoshioka 1960, 114–18).
(^6) Various theories have been posited regarding the situation and year of his initia-
tion (Hakeda 1972: 17 and Fujii 2008: 27–8). For an explanation of the meaning of
ubasoku in Kūkai’s time, see Abé 1999: 76–83.