. kkai and the development of shingon buddhism 695
Kūkai describes a key encounter during his university career with
a monk^7 who introduced him to an esoteric practice, and the mysti-
cal experiences he underwent while performing it in secluded parts
of Shikoku. The practice was the Kokūzō gumonji no hō, (Mantra of
Ākāśagarbha),^8 a devotional meditation practice which was believed
to enable the practitioner to memorize and deepen understanding of
scripture. Although this was an esoteric practice, it is unlikely to have
been the motivation for Kūkai’s interest in esotericism. First, it was
not unknown among the Nara clergy; and second, in the Indications
Kūkai does not demonstrate the awareness of esoteric thought and
practice that are evident in later works.
There is little information available about the Kūkai’s life between
797, when he completed the Indications, and 804, when he left for
China, and this lacuna has been filled with a host of legends about his
supposed travels around Japan and miracle-working, some of which
contributed to the later development of the eighty-eight temple pil-
grimage circuit on Shikoku. It is highly probable, however, that along
with periods of wandering and ascetic practice in the forests and moun-
tains mentioned in his later reminiscences, there were visits to the
Nara temples for study, as the Indications contains references to texts
kept in their libraries (KZ 7: 153). At some point during this period,
Kūkai discovered the mid-seventh–century Mahāvairocana sūtra and
his determination to comprehend this esoteric text, the ritual instruc-
tions it contained, and its Sanskrit content was very likely to have been
the primary motivation for his journey to China in 804.
Kūkai’s Voyage to China
It may be said that Kūkai’s participation in the government envoy to
Tang dynasty China (618–907) at the age of thirty-one marks a turn-
ing point from dissent to cooperation with courtly and clerical author-
ity. In order to qualify for the journey, Kūkai was officially ordained at
(^7) It has been suggested that this unnamed monk was Gonsō (758–827) or
Kaimyō 8 (d. 806?) both of Daianji in Nara.
The ritual text was Xukongzang pusa nengman zhuyuan zuishengxin tuoluoni qiu-
wen chifa, (Kokūzō bosatsu nōman shogan saishōshin darani gumonjihō
; T. 1145). Translated in 717 by the first patriarch
of esoteric Buddhism in China, said to have been a student of esoteric Buddhism at
Nalanda, Śubhākarasiṃha (Zenmui ; Shanwuwei 637–735) and imported to
Japan by Daianji Sanron monk Dōji (675–744).