Kūkai

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Statue of Kūkai in Ōkubo-ji ( 大窪 寺 ), Sanuki , part of the Shikoku pilgrimage route
Typical sitting image of Kūkai with a three-spoke vajra in his right hand (Chikurin Temple in Yoshino, Nara Prefecture)
Monks bring (symbolically meant) food to the mausoleum of Kūkai.
Mausoleum of Kūkai (Japanese postcard from 1912).

Kūkai ( Japanese 空 海 ; German about "Sea of Void "; * July 27, 774 in Byōbugaura (today Zentsūji ); † April 22, 835 ( Japanese calendar 835/3/21) on the Kōya-san ) was a Buddhist Monk, scholar and artist of the early Heian period in Japan . He is the founder of Japanese Shingon Buddhism - often referred to as "mantric" or - which is easy to misunderstand - as "esoteric" Buddhism. Under the posthumous honorary title Kōbō Daishi ( 弘法 大師 ) he was more and more exaggerated by later generations, so that in his picture verifiable historical elements mix with many legends. What is undisputed, however, is its overwhelming influence on the development of Buddhism in Japan and Japanese culture.

Historical biography

Kūkai was a person who combined apparent contradictions, on the one hand he renounced the world and wandered about in the woods meditating for a long time, on the other hand he was one of the most important cultural leaders at court, participant in poetry competitions and calligrapher . The following data and events can be historically proven:

Life path

Kūkai was the son of Saeki Tagimi and his wife Tamayori. The family held the low status ( Kabane ) of atae , i.e. that is, she belonged to a class of nobles who traditionally provided provincial administrators. Kūkai's childhood name is passed down with Tōtomono ( 貴 物 ).

At the age of 15 he began to study classical Chinese, Confucianism and history in the capital from his uncle Atō Ōtari, who also taught the Crown Prince Iyo. Three years later he was admitted to further training at the court's college ( Daigaku-ryō ). At 20 he gave up his studies - probably when the demolition of the capital Nagaoka-kyō began - and began studying Buddhism as a novice in the Iwabuchi Temple (Iwabuchidera, 石 淵 寺 ) under Abbot Gonzō in 793. Two years later he took the monk's vows and changed his name to Kūkai.

His first work, Sankyōshiki , he completed in 797 at the age of 24. The manuscript by Kūkai's hand, now guarded in the Kongōbu Temple ( Kongōbuji , Kōya-san ), is one of the national treasures of Japan . However, the preface is a later revision.

Nothing is known about the years between the ages of 24 and 31. Later hagiographers have ascribed all sorts of miraculous things to him for this period. It is believed that this was a time of ascetic wanderings and hermits.

In 803 he found a copy of the Mahāvairocana sutra in the temple of Kume . In 804 he received full ordination in the Tōdai Temple ( Tōdai-ji ) at Nara . In the same year he was granted participation in the 18th legation to China, which was led by Fujiwara-no-Kadonomaro ( 藤原 葛 野 麻 呂 ). Monks took part in these trips to deepen diplomatic and economic relations, who deepened their religious and scientific studies in China and for centuries acted as carriers of cultural exchange between the two countries. The keelless Japanese ships overturned easily and immediately filled with water due to the lack of tween decks and partitions. This time, too, two out of four ships were canceled on the outward journey. The renowned monk and later founder of the Tendai school , Saichō , traveled with the ship of the still unknown Kūkai . This was the beginning of a lifelong relationship that was later overshadowed by tension.

Chang-an , the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty , overshadowed everything that the Japanese comers had ever seen before in terms of its dimensions, its architecture and its internationality. Kūkai was accepted into the Qinglong Temple ( 青龍寺 , Temple of the Blue Dragon). Almost all Japanese monks who studied in China worked with Chinese translations. Kūkai was one of the few who also dared to read the Indian texts. He learned Sanskrit and the Siddham script from the Kashmiri monk Prajnña (744-810). and Muniśrī . He refined his calligraphy with Han Fang-ming . The eminent Huiguo (jp. Keika ), who was the first to systematize a series of disparate elements of Indian and Chinese esoteric Buddhism at the time, introduced him to the teachings of mantric Buddhism. After three months he initiated him as a successor in the Dharma line of teaching . Only Kūkai and Yiming ( 義 明 ), who like Huiguo died soon, had received the two highest orders, so that Kūkai rose to the eighth patriarch of esoteric Buddhism after the death of Huiguo. In 806 he wrote the epitaph for his late teacher . While he was waiting for an opportunity to cross over to Japan, the governor of Yüeh gave him a number of transcripts of sutras.

He was supposed to be studying in China for 20 years. It was therefore not clear how his unconventional, early return in 806 would be received at court. After his arrival in Hakata on the island of Kyushu, he put together a list of the newly introduced sutras ( Shōrai maokuroku ) to be handed over to the emperor . Here he also founded the Tōchō Temple ( Tōchō-ji ). In the same year Saichō, who, as planned, had returned from China the previous year, received permission to use esoteric elements in his Tendai teaching.

With the enthronement of the Tennō saga , who was well-disposed to Kūkai, his situation improved considerably. He received permission to come to Kyoto and entered the Takaosan Temple (Japanese: Takaosan-ji ). Here he first performed the Abhisheka ritual ("water consecration", 灌頂 , kanjō ) in Japan . The new emperor asked him to write calligraphies, poems and letters (cf. Seirei-shū ). In 810 he left him the management of the Eastern Temple (Japanese Tō-ji ) in Kyoto, an office he held until 813. In 811 he also took over the management of the Otokuni Temple (Japanese Otokunidera ) in southern Kyoto.

He first laid down the goals and meditation methods of his teaching in the 4th year of the Kōnin era (813) in a text ( 弘仁 御 遺 戒 , Kōnin no go-yuikai ). Around the same time, the treatise on the differences between esoteric and exoteric Buddhism ( 辯 顯 密 二 教 論 , Ben-kenmitsu-nikyō-ron ) was written. In 816 he asked for permission to build a temple on a high plateau of the Kii peninsula that was difficult to access at the time, to which he gave the mountain name Koyasan . In the year 817 other important writings were created before he devoted himself to the development of the Kōyasan the following year.

The years from 819 to 821 he devoted himself mainly to his literary work, but also to the restoration of an artificial pond ( Mannō no ike ) in his hometown. He also reproduced mandalas and 26 paintings that he brought back from China. In 822 he built a Shingon chapel in the area of ​​the Tō Temple.

After he was awarded the Tō Temple in Kyoto shortly before the resignation of the Tennō Saga, the new Tennō Junna recognized the Shingon teaching as an independent school in 823. In the following year, Kūkai received the court rank of "minor vicar" ( 少 僧 都 Shōsōzu ). 825 he was allowed to build a teaching hall in the Tō temple. In the same year he became a teacher of the Crown Prince, in 827 he rose to "Grand Vicar" ( 大 僧 都 Daisōzu ). Two years later he also took over the administration of the Daian Temple (Japanese Daian-ji ) in Nara .

In 828 Kūkai founded in the new capital Heian-kyō (today Kyōto) for members of the lower social classes a private educational institution for comprehensive education in science and art ( 綜 芸 種 智 院 Shugei shuchi-in ). Ten years after his death, this school, which also provided food for teachers and students, was closed again.

In the following years up to 835 he wrote other writings. In the early summer of 831 symptoms of an illness first appeared. He spent almost all of the years remaining until his death on the Koyasan. Only after the enthronement of Nimmyō Tennō (833) did he first perform the mishūhō ritual ( 御 修 法 mishūhō ) in the palace at the end of 834 . The Shingon School was still under state control, but in early 835 Kūkai was finally allowed to ordain three monks a year.

Kūkai died on the twenty-first day of the third month of the annual motto Jōwa on the Kōyasan after he had gradually reduced his food and fluid intake in intensified retreats. According to the Shingon School, meditating on the threshold of life and death, he reached Buddhahood with his body on this side and is still sitting in this state in his mausoleum to this day. One of the largest forest cemeteries in Japan has developed around this area over the centuries. Even today, he is remembered on March 21st in every Shingon temple. At the request of Shinzei ( 真 済 ), one of his most important students, he was posthumously awarded the rank of Daisōjō in 851 . He received the honorary title "Kōbō Daishi" in 921 from the Daigo -Tennō.

Teaching

Kūkai is the founder of Japanese Shingon Buddhism - often referred to as "mantric" or "esoteric" Buddhism. This is essentially a version of the mantrayāna taken directly from India , which bases its practice on a variety of sources (scriptures, gods, philosophies, meditation techniques, etc.). The most important writings are the Vairocana and the Vajrasekhara Sutra (Japanese: Dainichi-kyō and Kongocho-kyō ), which were probably written in India in the second half of the 7th century. Special emphasis is placed on the Mikkyō practice ( Misshū ), so that this term has become a synonym for the school or for the art style of this school. Although he founded a new school, in his assessment of existing doctrines he did not go on a course of confrontation with them, but remained tolerant and forgiving.

Saichō , one of the founding fathers of the Tendai , received instruction in esoteric Buddhism from Kūkai. The relationship between Kūkai and Saichō is interpreted differently in the two schools. The doctrine was further developed by Ennin (794–864), Annen (841–915) and Enchin (814–891).

Kūkai taught that esoteric Buddhism was of great use for the defense and pacification of the empire ( chingo kokka ) and, on the other hand, could help the individual to enlightenment in his present existence ( sokushin jōbutsu ). At the same time he was the first in Japan to proclaim that man was originally enlightened ( hongaku ).

His teaching had a lot in common with Shinto , but is much more complex. Kūkai recognized embodiments of Buddhist salvation figures in the deities of Shinto. The synthesis with the doctrine of wandering practitioners of unsystematized esoteric Buddhism ( zōmitsu ) and Shintō ultimately led to the emergence of Shugendō (mountain ascetics).

Kōya

The Kōya-san is a monastic center on a mountain plateau in Kii ( 990  m  TP ), which was founded by Kūkai in 816 with the permission of the Tennō. It was the first significant temple away from the capital cities. He stayed there for almost a year in 818 and carried out the consecration ceremony in 819/5/3. The temple itself is called Kongōbu-ji and is now the main temple of the Kōya Shingon-shū. The oldest cult images of the extensive complex, which probably still came from his hand, fell victim to one of the many fires that hit the sanctuary in 1926.

Tō-ji

The Tō-ji in southern Kyoto was the base from which Kūkai could spread his teachings in the court city. It was granted to him exclusively in early 823 when he was 50 years old, with the right to instruct 50 monks there. In the following years he had the temple expanded.

hagiography

Legendary, as part of the later hagiographic literature, Kūkai are ascribed many deeds or creative achievements that do not stand up to historical scrutiny.

Date of birth

  • The stipulation that he was born on June 15th is found for the first time 400 years later. Officially he is said to have been called Henshō Kongō . The childhood name Mao is first recorded in 1828, but is said to go back to older sources.

Invention of the Kana

  • Kūkai did not invent the Kana syllabary, but its development owes much to the Siddham that he had spread . B. in the parallels of the arrangement of the 50-lute table becomes obvious.

Iroha

  • The Iroha-uta dates from the second half of the 10th century, so it was created long after his death; it is first proven in 1079.

807-809

  • The sources that are supposed to prove his stay in Kanzeon-ji (Kyūshū) and his first public appearance in Kuma-dera (Yamato) are not reliable.

tea

  • The first introduction of tea seeds to Japan is also attributed to Kūkai. Saichō and the Zen monk Eisai (1141–1215, 明 庵 栄 西 ) also claim the same , from whose time the large-scale cultivation can also be historically proven. It can be assumed that tea made its way to Japan early on through traders, but has only been grown since the 12th century.

testament

  • His will ( Nijūgokajō no goyuigō ), which is said to have been written six days before his death, cannot come from him due to text criticism, at least in the traditional form (oldest manuscript from 969), even if at least some of the traditional text parts will be originals.

Reincarnations

  • Jinkyō Shōnin is said to have been a reincarnation, the Shirakawa- Tennō in turn one of this clergy.

art

Calligraphy of Saishigyoku Zayumei

His 26 paintings, which he made based on templates brought back from China, are important.

The monk scholar is often depicted as having three faces and six arms, as a mythical person. Such was especially popular in the Middle Ages by monks of the Kōya, so-called Kōya-hijiri.

Works

Collected Works

  1. Kōbō Daishi zenshū (KZ), 1910
  2. Kōbō Daishi shodeshi zenshū; Kyoto 1942, 3 volumes (works by the students)

The following are also important:

  • Sankyōshiki is a controversy between three fictional characters who represent the teachings of Confucius , Taoism and Buddhism, respectively
  • Bunkyō kitsu-ron (also: Bunkyō Hifuron ) "A poetics of the Chinese poem"
  • Jūjū-jinron Encyclopedic treatise on the ten stages of existence, with a large number of quotations from the Chinese Buddhist canon .
  • Jistugo-kyō a small moral doctrine
  • Seirei-shū (= Shōryō shū ) collection of poems and essays
  • Jikkan-shō required reading for Shingon monks (10th fascicle)
  • Nijūgokajō no goyuigō "parting words"

His language is difficult to understand, even for experts, on the one hand he writes squiggly classical Chinese, on the other hand he uses a variety of Sanskrit expressions. The literature published in Japanese on Kūkai and his teachings - especially commentary - is extremely extensive.

See also

literature

  • Alfred Bohner: Pilgrimage for two. The 88 holy sites of Shikoku; OAG , Tokyo 1931; Asia Major , Leipzig 1931. [Diss. Bonn 1940].
  • Hermann Bohner ; Kobo Daishi . In: Monumenta Nipponica ; Vol. VI, No. 1/2, 1943, pp. 266–313 (with a collection of sources; therein ex .: Kūkai sozu den )
  • UA Casal: The Saintly Kōbō Daishi in Popular Lore (AD 774-835) . In: Asian Folklore Studies . Vol. 18, 1959, pp. 95-144. nanzan-u.ac.jp ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 2.75 MB) (essentially gives the hagiography)
  • Rolf W. Giebel, Dale A. Todaro (transl.): Shingon texts (PDF) Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Berkeley CA 2004, ISBN 1-886439-24-9
  • Kawahara Eihō: Kōbō Daishi - Selected Writings; Munich 1992, ISBN 3-89129-304-6 (Ent. I.a.: Sokushin-jōbutsu-gi, Shōji-jissō-gi )
  • Yoshido Hakeda: Kūkai - Major Works . New York / London 1972, ISBN 0-231-03627-2
  • Inagaki Hisao: Kukai's Sokushin-Jobutsu-Gi . ( Memento from March 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF) (Principle of Attaining Buddhahood with the Present Body), Asia Major (New Series) 17 (2), 1972, pp. 190–215
  • William J. Matsuda: The Founder Reinterpreted: Kukai and Vraisemblant Narrative . ( Memento from September 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Thesis, University of Hawaii, 2003.
  • T. Tanimoto: Kōbō Daishi, his position in the history of Japanese civilization . Kobe 1907
  • Ryuichi Abe: The Weaving of Mantra: Kukai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse . Columbia University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-231-11286-6 .
  • Daigan Matsunaga, Alicia Matsunaga: Foundation of Japanese Buddhism , Vol. 1: The Aristocratic Age . Buddhist Books International, Los Angeles / Tokyo 1996, ISBN 0-914910-26-4

Web links

Commons : Kukai  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Section after: Hakeda (1992), Part 1: "Life of Kūkai"
  2. ↑ Sandai jitsuroku V Jōgan 3/11/11, cit. Hakeda (1992), p. 13, footnote 2.
  3. ↑ Depending on the source, other temples are named.
  4. ↑ See in detail: Casal (1959).
  5. ↑ Shoku Nihon kōki Fasz. 4; Kokushi taikei; III, 38; German by Hermann Bohner (1946), pp. 293–5.
  6. ^ Traditional Cultural Links between India and Japan; Bombay, New Delhi 1998, ISBN 81-7039-224-1 , p. 96.
  7. ^ Hermann Bohner : Kōbō Daishi . In: Monumenta Nipponica , Vol. VI, No. 1/2, 1946, p. 270
  8. ↑ Hermann Bohner (1946), p.
  9. ↑ Traditional Cultural Links ...; P. 233.
  10. ^ Martin Ramming: Japan manual . Berlin 1941, p. 385
  11. ↑ Inagaki Hisao : Kukai's Sokushin-Jobutsu-Gi (Principle of Attaining Buddhahood with the Present Body). In: Asia Minor (New Series) 17, 1972, pp. 190-215. (including translation)
  12. ↑ Giebel, Todaro (2004), pp. 63–82
  13. ↑ Hakeda (1972), p. 8 f.
  14. ↑ Moriyama Shōshin (ed.); Bunkashijō yori mitaru Kōbō Daishi den; Tokyo 1934, p. 42
  15. ↑ Casal (1959), p
  16. ↑ Wolfgang Hadamitzky, Wolfgang Spahn: Kanji & Kana . 4th edition. Tokyo 2003, ISBN 0-8048-2077-5 , p. 16: “The Kana”
  17. ↑ Hakeda (1972), pp. 39f.
  18. ↑ Ramming (1941), p. 592.
  19. ↑ Iten, Charly; The tea route and the world of Japanese tea cups; Zurich 2004, [Diss.], P. 11f.
  20. ↑ Hakeda (1972), p. 16, fn. 12-14.
  21. ↑ Hermann Bohner (1946), pp. 284- ?.
  22. ↑ Hakeda (1972), intro.
  23. ↑ Ramming (1941), p. 335.
  24. ↑ engl. Translated in Hakeda (1972), Part 3, pp. 101-39.
  25. ↑ engl. Translated in Hakeda (1972), Part 3; German partly in: Kawahara (1992)
  26. ↑ German: Hermann Bohner (1946), p. 300-.
personal data
SURNAME Kūkai
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Henshō Kongō (official name at birth); Tōtomono (childhood name); Mao (childhood name); 空 海 (religious name, Japanese); Kōbō-Daishi (posthumous honorary title); 弘法 大師 (posthumous honorary title, Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese Buddhist monk, scholar, and artist
DATE OF BIRTH July 27, 774
PLACE OF BIRTH Byōbugaura, today Zentsūji
DATE OF DEATH April 22, 835
Place of death Koyasan