Encyclopedia of Buddhism

she increasingly relied on him for political direction.
Rumors began to spread, however, that her relation-
ship with Do
kyo
was inappropriate. When Emperor
Junnin remonstrated her, it is said that the retired em-
press took umbrage and granted ever more support to
Do
kyo
. At the same time she began to plot to remove
Junnin from the throne. In 763 she appointed Do
kyo

to the position of monarchal vice-rector (sho
so
zu), a
decision that caused deep resentment on the part of
the chancellor at the time, Fujiwara no Nakamaro
(706–764). Nakamaro attempted to place a favorite as
the next in line to the throne, but he was thwarted by
Do
kyo
, who had him exiled. Nakamaro was assassi-
nated in 764. Empress Ko
ken immediately appointed
Do
kyo
to the new position of Buddhist minister of
state (daijin zenji), and she deposed Junnin, who was
exiled to Awaji Island and assassinated the following
year. In late 763 the empress reascended the throne,
this time under the name Sho
toku, and she gave Do
kyo

ever more power.

In 765 she appointed Do
kyo
to the highest office,
naming him Buddhist chancellor of state (dajo
daijin
zenji), and in 766 she appointed him to a new position
that must have ruffled many a feather: Buddhist hege-
mon (ho
-o
) or dharma king. The following year, of-
fices for this new position were created, and Do
kyo
was
granted military powers. Soon court members were re-
quired to pay respects to him on the first day of the
year, when—for the first time in history—the govern-
ment performed Buddhist rites of penance within the
compounds of the imperial palace. In 768 it was re-
vealed that the main deity of the Usa shrine in Kyushu
(Yahata, also known as HACHIMAN) had uttered an or-
acle saying that Do
kyo
should be the next emperor.
Shocked by this claim, courtiers who were faithful to
the imperial lineage sent a trusted member, Wake no
Kiyomaro (733–799), to Usa to confirm the oracle.
Even though Kiyomaro would have been promised
riches by Do
kyo
if the outcome was in his favor, Ki-
yomaro is said to have received there an oracle to the
effect that Do
kyo
was an impostor.

A few months after the “revelation,” Empress
Sho
toku passed away, and, in a series of political
moves that are not altogether clear, the Fujiwara
house reasserted its dominance in the political world
and over the Hosso
monks. Do
kyo
was exiled to
northeastern Japan, where he died in 772 in what
some say must have been an ignominious fashion. He
was stripped of all titles that had been granted by his
paramour, the only woman to have served twice as
empress. The Hachiman deity was then given the ti-

tle of Great Bodhisattva, and became the object of a

long-lasting cult.

See also:Ho
ryu
ji and To
daiji; Yoga
ca
ra School

Bibliography

Bender, Ross. “The Hachiman Cult and the Do
kyo
Incident.”

Monumenta Nipponica(Tokyo) 34, no. 2 (1979): 125–153.

Weinstein, Stanley. “Aristocratic Buddhism.” In The Cambridge

History of Japan,Vol. 2: Heian Japan,ed. Donald H. Shively

and William H. McCullough. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge

University Press, 1999.

ALLANG. GRAPARD

DOUBT

Doubt (Sanskrit, vicikitsa
; Chinese, yi) serves in dif-

ferent Buddhist traditions as either a hindrance to spir-

itual development or a catalyst for contemplative

insight. In the MAINSTREAMBUDDHIST SCHOOLSof

South Asia, doubt refers to skepticism about claims

made within the tradition regarding such cardinal

teachings as conditionality, the constituents of spiri-

tual cultivation, or the Buddha, dharma, and san ̇gha.

Thus, doubt obstructs confidence in and tacit accep-

tance of the religion’s teachings, and it hinders the de-

velopment of PRAJN



A
(WISDOM).

Doubt was the fifth of the five hindrances (ni-

va
rana) to DHYA
NA(TRANCE STATE)—along with sen-

sual desire, ill-will, sloth and torpor, and restlessness

and worry—and it had no constructive role to play in

Indian Buddhist meditation. Doubt was rather an ob-

stacle to overcome through prajn



a
, sustained thought

(vica
ra), and the investigation of dharmas (dharma-

pravicaya). Doubt could be temporarily allayed on the

second stage of dhya
na and overcome permanently at

the first stage of sanctity (i.e., stream-entry).

By the time East Asian Buddhists fully appraised

doubt, this debilitating skepticism had been trans-

formed into a principal force driving the meditator to-

ward enlightenment. In the KO
ANmeditation of the

CHAN SCHOOL, for example, the “sensation of doubt”

(Chinese, yiqing) became the principal catalyst to con-

templation by provoking a profound existential

quandary. Doubt generated through inquiry into the

keyword or critical phrase (Chinese, huatou) of the

ko
an grows to take in all perplexities and uncertainties

that one confronts in everyday life. Doubt eventually

DOUBT