. shint and esoteric buddhism 841
(on waka poetry), the Ise kanjō (on tantric teachings
concerning Ise), and the Reiki kanjō (on the teachings of
the Reikiki, a central Ryōbu Shintō text; see below). Variants of such
types of initiation constituted the basis for rituals for specific profes-
sions (carpenters, merchants, farmers) involving deities of the honji
suijaku universe. Similar initiations were also performed in Tendai
temples—and perhaps, also in cult centers affiliated with other Bud-
dhist schools.
Initiation rituals concerning kami matters (understood in a broad
sense to include literary texts and secular professions), such as abhiṣeka
rituals, were generally modeled directly on esoteric initiation rituals
(denbō kanjō ). They were perhaps also based on the him-
itsu kanjō , given the extracanonical origin of Shintō rituals,
but modified to a certain extent to better represent myths presented
in the Nihon shoki and the spatial structure of kami cult
places. Buddhist priests took pains to study non-Buddhist texts and
went through initiation rituals that were often very complicated, time-
consuming, and presumably quite expensive. Through those rituals,
the initiated became identical with a “Shintō” deity, thus creating a
new soteriology that replaced the usual idea of “becoming Buddha”
( jōbutsu ) with a form of “becoming kami” (this occurred, of
course, within the intellectual context outlined above, in which kami
were local manifestations of buddhas and bodhisattvas). All this was
related to an awareness of the specificity of Japan as a sacred place.
The attainment of secret knowledge transmitted through initiation
rituals was a soteriological goal, since it was equivalent to the attain-
ment of salvation (becoming Buddha or, in the case of shintō kanjō,
identifying oneself with the kami). But it also involved a promise of
worldly benefits such as professional and artistic success, a moral obli-
gation as well in the realization of the essential principles and duties of
a specific craft or profession, and the attainment of the “trade secrets”
of a specific family lineage.
The development of a tantric discourse on Shintō during the middle
ages also generated an great deal of commentarial activity concerning
Nara and Heian literary texts, such as the Ise monogatari ,
waka poetry collections, and especially the Nihon shoki (in contrast,
the Kojiki was practically ignored). The textual field centered
on the Nihon shoki has recently been defined as “medieval Nihongi”
(chūsei Nihongi ), a vast and fluid area of intertextuality
to which the Reikiki was also related.