1026 richard k. payne
is found throughout Buddhist tantra (Payne 1998, 1999b; Yamasaki
1988). These preliminary practices have no set duration, unlike the
formal fourfold training rituals, which take place over a hundred-day
period.
Upon entry into the formal training period, each of the rituals is to
be performed three times a day. Progress through the hundred days
proceeds in a stepwise fashion. The four phases of the training have an
introductory step, itself called kegyō , of two weeks, during which
the practitioner continues with the practice being done from the prior
phase; this is followed by the main training step, called shōgyō , of
one week, in which the practitioner moves on to practicing the ritual
of that phase. This works out as follows.
First Week: Rishukyō kegyō :
Invocation of the Rishukyō (the Adhyardaśatikā Prajñāpāramitā, a
tantric Perfection of Wisdom text).^3
Second Week: Goshimbō kegyō :
Protection of the practitioner’s body.
Third Week: Raihai kegyō prostrations.
The prostrations that are practiced are from standing to supporting
oneself on knees and elbows, with one’s forehead also touching
the ground. This is known at least colloquially as the “five points”
(gotai tōji no rai ).
Fourth and Fifth Weeks: Jūhachidō kegyō:
Continue raihai.
Sixth Week: Jūhachidō shōgyō:
Practice of the jūhachidō rite itself.
Seventh and Eighth Weeks: Kongōkai kegyō:
Continue jūhachidō rite.
Ninth Week: Kongōkai shōgyō:
Practice of the kongōkai rite itself.
Tenth and Eleventh Weeks: Taizōkai kegyō:
Continue the kongōkai rite.
Twelfth Week: Taizōkai shōgyō:
Practice of the taizōkai rite itself.
(^3) The version translated by Conze is not the one used in contemporary Shingon
temples. For a translation of the latter, T. 243, see Miyata 2004.