. the fourfold training in japanese esoteric buddhism 1025
the initiate and one of the five tathāgatas (pañcatathāgata, gonyorai
), is widely taken by lay adherents, some of whom it is my
impression take this initiation more than once. This ritual is held
annually in May, in the Kondō (Golden Hall ) on Mount Kōya,
and replicates the “flower throwing” rite that Kūkai reports having
performed during his own training in China. This is followed by
the two rituals that mark entry into the Buddhist order as a novice
(śrāmaṇera, shami ). The first of these is tokudo , receiving
a dharma name, and the second is jukai , taking the ten precepts.
In my own case these rituals were performed in the temple where I
was training, the requisite number of ten ordained monks being drawn
from the residents and other students of the temple’s master.
At some point prior to entry into the formal training period, the
practitioner takes the threefold set of precepts. At least on Kōyasan, the
three sets of precepts are taken over a period of three days, beginning
with the tantric precepts. The second day is devoted to the bodhisattva
precepts, while the third day is the prātimokṣa precepts. This marks
the transition from śrāmaṇera to bhikṣu (biku ). The existence
of the threefold set of precepts is an important marker of continuity
within Buddhist tantra, and can be considered the defining character-
istic of the institutional existence of tantric Buddhism.^2
Preliminary practices, at least in the Shingon tradition, include
breath-counting meditation (susoku kan ), full moon visual-
ization (gachirin kan ), and visualizing the syllable “A” as writ-
ten in Siddham script (ajikan ). Breath-counting meditation
is effectively pan-Buddhist, though it can take a variety of different
specific forms. In my own case I was instructed to focus attention
on the inside of the tip of the nose, where one can feel the breath
passing, count to one hundred, and then repeat. Full moon visual-
ization requires that the practitioner first gaze upon and then create
a mental image of a full moon circle, a practice very similar to the
kasiṇa meditations described by the medieval Theravādin master Bud-
dhaghosa (Ñāṇamoli 1975, 118–172). Ajikan itself is practiced as an
independent practice as well, and the symbolism of the syllable “A”
during the summer of 1982, which has been supplemented by both conversations with
other trainees, during that time and later, and by further research. 2
There have been several studies of the threefold precepts in the Tibetan tradition.
See Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé 1998, Ngari Panchen and Pema Wangi Gyalpo 1996, and
Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltshen 2002.