66. EXPLORING THE ESOTERIC IN NARA BUDDHISM
James L. FordThis essay will examine esoteric thought and practice within what has
come to be known as Nara Buddhism (Nara Bukkyō ), a
label that conveys two related but distinctive meanings. On the one
hand, Nara Buddhism carries a temporal connotation: it designates
Buddhism of the Nara era in Japan (710–794). On the other hand, it
holds a geo-sectarian meaning in that it often refers to the six schools
established and headquartered in Nara that remained powerful and
influential well beyond the Nara era. When the capital was moved to
Heian-kyō (present-day Kyoto) in 794, these temple complexes were
prohibited from relocating and most survive today linked to the old
capital of Nara. These schools include Jōjitsu (Chengshi; Satyasiddhi),
Sanron (Sanlun; Mādhyamika), Hossō (Faxiang; Yogācāra), Kusha
(Sarvāstivāda), Kegon (Huayan; Avataṃsaka), and Ritsu (Vinaya), all
transmitted to Japan between 625 and 738.
In most historical overviews, the Heian era (794–1185), and in par-
ticular Kūkai’s transmission of the Shingon school to Japan, mark the
establishment of esoteric thought and practice on Japanese soil. Con-
sequently, the established schools of the former capital in Nara are fre-
quently classified as exoteric (kengyō ), in contrast to the esoteric
Buddhism (mikkyō ) of the Shingon and Tendai sects transmitted
by Kūkai and Saichō, respectively. Nevertheless, it has long been rec-
ognized that esotericism permeated all facets of Japanese Buddhism,
including the Nara schools, after the establishment of Tendai and Shin-
gon. In the first half of the twentieth century, Ōya Tokujō observed:
In the end they all merged into the current of esoteric Buddhism, pro-
ducing three branches—Tendai esotericism (taimitsu ), Shingon
esotericism (tomitsu ), and Nara esotericism (nanmitsu , if I
may call it that).... Heian belief and practice became almost totally eso-
teric, for life could be preserved through mikkyō’s endorsement. (quoted
in Kuroda 1996b, 250)Scholarship has further revealed, however, that texts and practices
eventually classified as “esoteric” were widespread within the Nara
schools even before Kūkai’s return from China in 806. Kūkai’s true