- kōmyō shingon 871
worlds apart: petitionary prayer in its instrumental mode as a kind of
“white lie,” versus the mantra of light as a vehicle of total liberation
that includes both material and spiritual benefits.
Body-Mind Continuum
The holistic view of material and spiritual benefits of the mantra of
light as articulated by Myōe can be further elucidated in terms of the
body-mind continuum. For present purposes, a useful distinction can
be made in terms of three views of body-mind relations. First, the
body and mind may be regarded as separate and independent. Second,
the body and mind may be regarded as distinct yet interactive. Third,
the body-mind complex may be regarded as ultimately inseparable or
nondual. As an example of the first view, when someone has a broken
bone and needs to set it with a splint, the part of the body in which the
bone is contained can be treated as an object, more or less, without too
much consideration for the complex interaction of body and mind.
In such traditional East Asian forms of medicine as acupuncture
and herbal medications, however, a more interactive view is taken in
terms of the relation of matter, the body, and the workings of the
mind. In his Dream Journal (Yume no ki ), Myōe relates an epi-
sode in which, during a dream, a monk brings a broth to him, which
he then drinks (Kawai 1992, 87). Upon awakening, Myōe finds that
the illness he had when he went to sleep has been alleviated. In this
example, he attributes physical efficacy to the mental representation of
a medicinal substance in the form of the broth.
Finally, in the nondual view of mind and body, the two become insep-
arable. Myōe expresses such a view in relating another dream-vision:
During my early evening meditation, I prayed for the extinction of sins
and received the body that maintains the precepts.... My body and mind
became quiescent in the midst of samādhi as had happened in the sixth
month.... My face suddenly became like a bright mirror. My entire body
gradually became like one.... [S]omeone said, “All the buddhas have
entered. You have now attained purity.” (Unno 2004, 82)This dream follows just after another dream that is pivotal to Myōe’s
adoption of the mantra of light as a central practice:
In the summer of 1220 I was practicing the samādhi of the Buddha’s
Radiance.... I received auspicious signs in the midst of meditation.... a
sphere of white light appeared before me.... There was a voice that said,
“This is the Mantra of Light.” (Unno 2004, 33)