692 elizabeth tinsley
Kūkai’s Early Career and Interest in Esoteric Buddhism
Elements of esoteric Buddhism were already present in Nara- and
early Heian-period Japan, albeit in disparate form (Horiike 1982,
22–39; Miyagi 1986, 75–91; Nara National Museum 2005). Many eso-
teric Buddhist texts had already been imported from China (Matsun-
aga 1969, 160–61), and esoteric dhāraṇī incantation and deity worship
had been subsumed into “exoteric” (kengyō ) rituals of eighth-
century Nara Buddhism. This incorporation of esotericism has often
been characterized by sectarian scholarship as “miscellaneous esoteri-
cism” (zōmitsu ), in contrast to the “pure esotericism” ( junmitsu
) of the imported Shingon and Tendai schools. These categories
are, however, problematic (Abé 1999, 152–54). Contemporary practi-
tioners were not likely to have themselves characterized their practices
as “exoteric.”
The two scriptural texts central to the esoteric tradition that Kūkai
was to inherit and develop were also available, copied, and lectured
on in Japan by this time. The Mahāvairocana sūtra (Dainichikyō
, Dari jing; Mahāvairocanābhisaṃbodhi vikurvitā adhiṣthāna ̣
vaipulya sūtra; T. 848) was translated into Chinese in 726 by
Śubhākarasiṃha (Shanwuwei; Zemmui ; 637–735) and Yixing
(Ichigyō ; 684–727), and a copy had been made in Japan by
as early as 737. An abbreviated version of the Tattvasaṃgraha sūtra
(Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha nāma mahāyāna sūtra, also called
Vajraśekhara sūtra; Kongōchōkyō ; Jin gang ding jing; T. 865)
had been translated into Chinese in 753 by Amoghavajra. However, it
is highly doubtful that there was any awareness in Japan of esotericism
as a discrete set of beliefs and practices.
A significant aspect of Kūkai’s role in the development of esoteri-
cism in Japan was his provision of a theoretical grounding for the eso-
teric elements that had hitherto been unexamined by the “Six Schools”
(rokushū ).^3 These schools, based in Nara, constituted the offi-
cially recognized Buddhism, which was controlled by the Sōgō
(Office of Priestly Affairs) of the Ritsuryō state; the ritsuryō were
(^3) Hossō (Yogācāra), Kegon (Avatamsaka), Kusha (Abhidharmakośa),
Sanron (Mādhyamika), Jōjitsu (Satyasiddhi), Ritsu (Vinaya).