. taimitsu 755
of the Tendai community to justify the twofold curriculum established
on Mt. Hiei without such hermeneutical underpinning (see Enchō’s
[771–836] questions to Guangxiu and to Weijuan ,
NDZ (1914–1921) 42: 364–65, 393–94; Asai 1973, 215–32).
Taxonomic emendation implied a rethinking of the category of the
esoteric, which could also counter Kūkai’s exclusivistic definition. Both
of Kūkai’s hermeneutical patterns had in fact posited the inferiority of
the Lotus Sūtra, and with it the Tiantai system. One established the
irreconcilability of exoteric and esoteric teachings (kenmitsuni
) on the basis of the different nature of the buddhas who preached
them and on the different practices to attain enlightenment that they
introduced. The second, a ten-level hierarchical ranking of doctrines,
culminated with the “secret buddha vehicle” and relegated Tendai to
the eighth place, qua true Mahāyāna (jitsudaijō ) teachings that
expressed the notion of the one vehicle of salvation.
A new typology of tantric Buddhism: Taimitsu scholiasts drew from
different streams of continental knowledge, both tantric and non-
tantric, to put forward a new paradigm. Ennin reaffirmed Kūkai’s
distinction of the Buddha’s teachings into esoteric and exoteric catego-
ries, but he brought other elements into this basic taxonomy. He clas-
sified the teachings that expressed the notion of the “three vehicles”
as exoteric. At the same time, he distinguished two classes of esoteric
scriptures, coining specific terms for their definition: those that con-
tain only the principles of esoteric Buddhism (rimitsu ) and those
that at once reveal its principles and practices (riji gumitsu )
(Soshijjikyōsho, T. 2227.61:393b; Kongōchōkyōsho, T. 2223.61:7). This
classification borrowed from the continental distinction of li and
shi , but reversed their importance by assigning the highest value to
phenomenic appearance (in the form of ritual actions).
Ennin described the first type in Tiantai terms as teachings that
expressed the nonduality of ultimate truth (shintai ) and worldly
truth (zokutai ), and the second type as including the prac-
tice of the three secrets (sanmitsu) of body, speech, and mind—in
tantric terms, mudrās, mantras, and mandalas.^13 The Nirvana, Lotus,
Vimalakīrti, and Huayan sūtras constituted the first class, while
the second was exemplified by the Dari jing (Dainichi kyō,
(^13) On the notion of sanmitsu in non-esoteric sources and the relative status still
given to its practice in Chinese tantric material, see Dolce 2006a, 137–40.