84. the Fourfold Training in Japanese Esoteric Buddhism

84. THE FOURFOLD TRAINING IN JAPANESE ESOTERIC BUDDHISM Richard K. Payne Contemporary priestly training in Shingon (Tōmitsu 東密) and the esoteric portion of Tendai (Taimitsu 台密) is organized around four main ritual performances, as indicated by the name, “the fourfold training” (shido kegyō 四度加行). The term kegyō renders the San- skrit prayoga, understood as “joining together” and “practice” (Todaro 1988, 7). The four are the jūhachidō 十八道, kongōkai 金剛界, taizōkai 胎藏界, and goma 護摩. This is the order in which they are practiced in the Shingon tradition, while in the Tendai the middle two are performed in the reverse order, with the jūhachidō being performed last (Toki 1899, 2). The early form of the Shingon training sequence as recorded in the Shingon denju sahō, attributed to Kūkai, included an additional rite between the jūhachidō and the kongōkai. This was the issonbō 一尊法, a rite devoted to a single deity. Sometime around the middle of the twelfth century, prior to the end of the Heian era in 1185, the issonbō was dropped from the training sequence, and the current fourfold structure was mandated (Todaro 1988, 7–8). Thejūhachidō and kongōkai rituals evoke the deities of the Vajradhātu Mandala, while the Taizōkai evokes the deities of the Garbhadhātu Mandala. The two sets of deities are then brought together in non-dual union in the goma. This idea of non-dual union of the two mandalic systems in the ritual training is typical of Shingon conceptions built around the semiotic pairing of the Vajra and Matrix realms. The con- ceptual structure of the Taimitsu system is informed by the teaching of the three truths (santai 三諦) developed by Zhiyi: emptiness (kūtai 空諦), provisional (ketai 假諦), and middle (chūtai 中諦) (Abé 1995, Swanson 1989). As an initiatory sequence, the practitioner is expected to have com- pleted three initiations prior to beginning the training.1 Kechien kanjō 結縁灌頂, which is intended to establish a karmic connection between 1 In large part the description here is based on my own training at Yochi-in 櫻池院 temple (see http://www007.upp.so-net.ne.jp/yochiin/english/index.html) on Kōyasan . the fourfold training in japanese esoteric buddhism 1025 the initiate and one of the five tathāgatas (pañcatathāgata, gonyorai 五如来), 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 金堂 (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 沙彌). The first of these istokudo 得度, receiving a dharma name, and the second is jukai 授戒, 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 prātimoksạ precepts. This marks the transition from śrāmaṇera to bhiksụ (biku 比丘). 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 数息觀), full moon visual- ization (gachirin kan 月倫観), and visualizing the syllable “A” as writ- ten in Siddham script (ajikan 阿字観). 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..

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