756 lucia dolce
T. 848), the Jin’gangding jing ( Kongōchō kyō, T. 865), the
Suxidi jieluo jing ( Soshitsujikara kyō, T. 893), the Pudi-
chang jing ( Bodaijō kyō, T. 950), and the Yuqi jing
(Yugi kyō, T. 867), which were to become the five canonical scriptures
of Taimitsu. Ennin thus eliminated the original distinction between
exoteric and esoteric set up by Kūkai and expanded the category of
mikkyō by including scriptures that Kūkai had excluded from it.
Ennin’s theories were grounded on the continental notion of the
esoteric (himitsu ) as the most accomplished (in epistemologi-
cal and soteriological terms) understanding of reality (Dolce 2006a,
132–42), rather than the monopoly of a tantric school. At the same
time, Ennin maintained the superiority of esoteric practice as confer-
ring privileged access to the ultimate. In this scheme, the Lotus Sūtra
no longer embodied the “perfect teaching” but was rather a “not-yet-
complete mikkyō.” Ennin’s reconciliation of the Lotus and esoteric
Buddhism thus differed considerably from Saichō’s idea of their equal-
ity and it marked the advent of a new trend in tantric hermeneutical
strategies.
Enchin’s attempt to articulate the relation between the Lotus and
esoteric sūtras followed another direction, since he maintained and
stressed the traditional Tiantai kyōhan but elevated the esoteric
scriptures within it. In the Daibirushanakyō shiki, considered his rep-
resentative work, Enchin refuted the allocation of the esoteric sūtras
to the third period of the traditional Tiantai taxonomy, arguing that
the Dari jing had the characteristics of the “perfect teaching” and
expressed the “one vehicle”; accordingly, it was to be considered to
be of the same flavor as the Lotus and assigned to the fifth period of
the Buddha’s teachings. Still, Enchin segmented this fifth period in
three phases, starting with the Lotus Sūtra and culminating in the Dari
jing, and this pattern was to become known as the “five periods and
five teachings” (gojigokyō ). Annen developed it further (see
Dolce and Mano, “Godai’in Annen,” in this volume).
Annen’s comprehensive classification of the entire Buddhist system
under the umbrella of esoteric Buddhism, which he called shingonshū
, brought the process of re-signification of the esoteric to its cli-
max (see Dolce and Mano, “Godai’in Annen” in this volume). By thus
positing the dharma-world of the tantric Buddha as the only reality,
accessible solely through the performance of esoteric ritual practices,
Taimitsu thinkers displaced other practices existent in Tendai as sote-
riologically incomplete practices. Rather than following continental