838 fabio rambelli
they also take on an important soteriological role. Mahāvairocana and
Fudō exemplify this new role (though it is likely that most practitio-
ners were not aware of their origin as “local” deities).
In addition, we should note that the esoteric Buddhist mandala
provided an important model for the systematization of the realm
of sacred beings in Japan. The external sector of the Womb Mandala
(Garbhadhātu Maṇḍala; Taizōkai Mandara ) contains
a number of non-Buddhist divinities ranging from Brahmā, Śiva, and
Indra to astral deities more animistic entities, such as the gods of fire,
water, and wind, as well as violent spirits and demons ( yakṣas). These
divinities constituted the template for the organization of the premod-
ern Japanese pantheon; as part of the mandala they were considered
provisional manifestations of the Buddha, and therefore were entitled
to a place in the Buddhist cosmos. In other words, in Japan tantric
Buddhism provided a new and broader cosmological and soteriologi-
cal framework in which to insert all (or most) forms of local sacred
entities. The soteriological role of deities also took other forms in Japa-
nese tantric Buddhism.
Ryōbu Shintō
A distinctive Japanese doctrine regarding the status of local deities in
general holds that the kami are in fact local manifestations (sui-
jaku , “manifested traces”) of buddhas and bodhisattvas who are
themselves the kami’s original forms (honji , “original ground”).
The conceptual roots of this doctrine, usually known today as the
honji suijaku doctrine, are far-reaching and diverse. They include, for
example, the Chinese Tiantai patriarch Zhiyi (538–597),
who distinguished between two main divisions in the Lotus Sūtra, one
referring to the original Buddha and the other to his earthly manifes-
tation, Śākyamuni; and a possible transformation of Indian Vaisṇ̣ava
ideas about Visṇ̣u’s manifestations (avatāra; gongen ), mediated
in Japan through the influence of tantrism.
The honji suijaku doctrine per se is, strictly speaking, not a tantric
doctrine. In some cases, however, it became the basis for new theories
and rituals about the kami that were direct transformations or adap-
tations of esoteric Buddhist doctrines and practices, and thus deserve
to be treated as elements of Japanese tantric Buddhism. These tantric
discourses about the kami are generally known as Ryōbu Shintō
(literally, “the Shintō of the Twofold Mandala of Shingon