See also:Divinities; Hinduism and Buddhism
JACOBN. KINNARDINGEN RYUKI
Ingen Ryuki (Chinese, Yinyuan Longqi; 1592–1673),
although unknown from Chinese sources, was the
founder of the Obaku sect of Japanese Zen and was the
most prominent figure in introducing Ming dynasty-
style Buddhism to Japan. After completing the restora-
tion of Wanfu Monastery on Mount Huangbo in
China, Ingen arrived in Japan in 1654 at the invitation
of the Nagasaki Chinese community. He reinvigorated
Zen training in the Nagasaki area and was invited to
Kyoto in 1655. In 1658 Ingen traveled to Edo and im-
pressed many important officials, including the
shogun, who granted him land in 1665 for the found-
ing of Obaku-san Mampukuji in the Uji area. The
name and style of the monastery was copied from In-
gen’s home monastery. By 1745 the Obaku sect had
1,043 monasteries in its network; 431 of them are still
in operation today.
Wanfu Monastery belonged to one of the many
branches of the Linji lineage of the Chinese CHAN
SCHOOLand did not form an independent sect in
China. Thus, Ingen’s teachings were not substantially
different from other Japanese Rinzai Zen branches.
Major differences can be found, however, in his em-
phasis on VINAYAand on following the Obaku shingi
(Pure Rules for the Obaku Sect) and maintaining Ming
dynasty-style music, rituals, and robes. The Obaku
sect’s social engagement, differing use of text, and its
acceptance of Pure Land practices are also significant.
Chinese-style arts also played a role at Mampukuji,
where Chinese artists were employed, and Ingen is fa-
mous for his calligraphy.
Bibliography
Baroni, Helen J. Obaku Zen: The Emergence of the Third Sect of
Zen in Tokugawa Japan.Honolulu: University of Hawaii
Press, 2000.
A. W. BARBER
INITIATION
Initiation (or “CONSECRATION” in tantric Buddhism)
brought a candidate into the MANDALAof buddha
families and, most frequently, authorized the individ-
ual to visualize himself or herself as some form of a
buddha or BODHISATTVA. Only partly similar to initi-
ation rituals in the Mediterranean mystery religions,
Buddhist initiation was initially patterned on political
rites of coronation that had been developed in the early
medieval period of India (ca. 500–1200 C.E.). As such,
the individual was consecrated or anointed with water
at a specific moment in the ceremony; the ritual de-
rived its name, abhiseka,from this process of anoint-
ing (Öabhisicmeans “to asperse”). The term abhiseka
also denotes rituals employed in the bathing of im-
ages, such as pouring fragrant water on a Buddha
statue during the Buddha’s birthday celebrations, and
the cleansing aspect of the consecration ritual was
never entirely lost.
Buddhists had consistently relied on formal rites
of passage, whether those of taking refuge (s ́aranaga-
mana) for the laity, or lower and higher ORDINATION
(pravrajya and upasampada) for MONKSand NUNS.
Mahayanist authors had developed a new ceremony
for the assumption of the bodhisattva vow and had
eventually termed it “bodhisattva ordination” (bod-
hisattva-upasampada). The idea of royal consecration,
however, was first applied to the bodhisattva MAITREYA,
who was said to be the crown prince (yuvaraja) of the
dharma, as the successor to S ́akyamuni Buddha, who
was denoted the king of the dharma. Thus, consecra-
tion indicated a political metaphor, which assumed a
position of increasing importance during the fifth- and
sixth-century transition between the classical Gupta
and the early medieval period of India. As MAHAYANA
developed this metaphor, a mythic rite of consecra-
tion became applied to all bodhisattvas who reached
the tenth stage of the Mahayana path, so that the
bodhisattva at the tenth stage became consecrated
(abhisikta) in the heavenly realm of Akanisthaby all
the buddhas.
With tantric Buddhism, the initiation rite went
from a narrative applied to exalted bodhisattvas to a
new rite of passage indicating the entrance into a new
vehicle, the vehicle of mantras, or the adamantine
vehicle (VAJRAYANA). Initiation into this vehicle, em-
ploying the imperial metaphor, meant that the candi-
date was consecrated as the head of a ritual family
(kula) through a Buddhist form of the medieval Indian
coronation ritual. While details vary between texts and
lineages, by the eighth century the normative initiation
ritual involved a day of preparation and a day of con-
secration. The preparatory day was devoted to the
consecration of the site, which included a request for
permission from the snake spirits and autochthonousINITIATION