. exploring the esoteric in nara buddhism 781
present Buddhism as an alternative discourse to that of the Confucian
ritsuryō system” (Abé 1999, 387–88).
In a similar vein, Hiraoka Jōkai (1981, 287ff.) and Oishio Chihoro
(1995, 6) show that the esotericism further imported into the Nara sys-
tem was primarily from the Shingon sect. Indeed, Oishio observes that
the while the “new” Kamakura sects grew from the Tendai tradition,
the progressive movements within the Nara schools were based on
collaboration with the Shingon sect and its esoteric ideology (Oishio
1995, 6). We will see that this is the case with the prominent scholar-
monk Myōe of the Kegon school linked to Tōdaiji.
To reiterate, Kūkai was significant not because he introduced eso-
teric thought and practice to Japan, but because the very classification
of esoteric, as distinct from exoteric, provided a coherent framework
for practices that were already part of Nara training. The full-blown
adoption and integration of esoteric thought and practice as esoteric
by the Nara schools can be illustrated in a number of ways. In the fol-
lowing sections, I will examine this process in terms of doctrine and
practice within the Nara establishment.
Nara Esotericism, A.K. (After Kūkai)
It is first important to note that sectarian identity was not a central
feature of the Nara establishment. Monks, regardless of which institu-
tion their ordination was tied to, trained in a variety of institutional
settings and studied a broad range of doctrinal traditions and prac-
tices. The transmission of the Tendai and Shingon traditions to Japan
introduced in some ways a new model of school (shū ) centered on
master-disciple lineages, rather than the doctrinal fields of study that
characterized most of the Nara schools. This yielded a deeper sense of
sectarian identity, and explains, in part, my designation of the Nara
lineages as “schools” and Shingon, Tendai, and later “new” Kamakura
transmissions as “sects.”
The general lack of sectarian identity within the Nara schools helps
explain the Nara monks’ openness to Kūkai’s collaborative efforts. It
was not unusual for Nara scholar-monks to study at Shingon centers
such as Mt. Kōya, Tōji, or the Abhiseka Hall established at Tōdaiji ̣
by Kūkai. Many were even ordained into the Shingon lineage. Simi-
larly, many Shingon monks studied exoteric doctrine at Kōfukuji and
Tōdaiji. This mutual exchange, something not generally found with
Tendai monks, was largely a byproduct of Kūkai’s outreach efforts
from the beginning. Many figures could be highlighted here, but