83
TRUE WORDS, SILENCE, AND THE
ADAMANTINE DANCE
On Japanese Mikkyo and the formation of the
Shingon discourseFabio Rambelli
Source: Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 21, 4 (1994 ): 373-405.
This paper deals with Japanese esoteric Buddhism (Mikkyi5), in
particular the Shingon tradition, as it relates to the emergence of
new and peculiar epistemological concerns. Through a discussion
of the kenmitsu system outlined by Kuroda Toshio, the paper first
situates Mikkyi5 within the religious and institutional framework
of medieval Japan, underlining its liminal and heterological
nature as both an institutionalized discourse and a reservoir of
oppositional possibilities. The paper then analyzes the formation
of Shingon orthodoxy as an attempt to systemalize the Tantric
field in Japan through a re-organization of preexisting religious
doctrines and practices. Special attention is given to the actual
articulation of the kenmitsu episteme and its orders of signific-
ance. Finally, the paper outlines some fundamental epis-
temological tenets of Mikkyi5 discourse. Though it focuses on
Shingon discourse and orthodoxy, this paper confronts basic epis-
temic assumptions and discursive practices common to the multi-
farious forms of esoteric Buddhism in Japan.The purpose of this paper is to describe the discourse of Japanese esoteric Bud-
dhism (particularly the Shingon Jl!; g tradition) as it developed in conjunction
with the emergence of a distinctive form of philosophical reflection on signs and
the formation of a corpus of practices relating to the production of meaning.^1 My
basic hypothesis is that esoteric Buddhism (Jpn. mikkyo \$'~, secret teachings,
hidden doctrines) can be understood as a discursive formation that presupposes a
particular cosmology, attitude towards reality, and episteme ("the attitude that a
socio-cultural community adopts in relation to its own signs"; GREIMAS and