An overview of Japanese religious history, with a focus on the Tendai and Shingon Buddhist sects of the Heian period.
The Heian period of Japan (794 – 1185) was the period in which the Japanese began to form a culture more distinctively Japanese than previous periods characterized by a heavy Chinese influence on Japanese culture. One example of this transition to a more “Japanese” Japan is the emergence of new forms of Buddhism – such as the Tendai and Shingon sects of Buddhism – that were closer to Japanese ideals.
Nara Buddhism
In the previous Nara period, Buddhism was state-supported and centered largely around the capital. The government built national temples and set up priests to undertake the performance of necessary rituals. These temples were not only established by the state but were also maintained by it, run by a bureaucracy following Confucian ideals and using Buddhism as a tool for its own purposes.
As those in power were increasingly seen as a corrupting influence, mainly concerned with increasing their own wealth and power, it is no wonder new religious movements began to take hold that would express more concern for the people and adherence to the truth. One probable reason for the movement of the Japanese capital from Nara to Kyoto (a move that without which new forms of Buddhism may not have emerged) was the political interference and corruption in Nara.
Heian Buddhism: Shingon and Tendai
Both Shingon and Tendai Buddhism originated with religious leaders, Kobo Daishi and Dengyo Daishi, respectively. These men, contemporaries who went to China as Japanese envoys on the same government ship, were dissatisfied with the current Nara Buddhism and traveled to China to find a “true” Buddhism that would appeal to Japanese of all classes.
Kobo Daishi was the Japanese monk who founded the Shingon sect of Buddhism. Shingon is rooted in an Indian system of high symbolism and ritual. A notable characteristic of Shingon Buddhism is that it originated in the Tantric tradition of India, which emphasized such unconventional religious practices such as the use of mandala (“mystic diagrams”), mantra (“mystic syllables”) and complex techniques related to meditation (including sexual acts). Shingon Buddhism in its essence is much more Indian than Chinese, emphasizing symbolic and ritual realization as the means to the highest truth or reality. Shingon also makes a distinction between the exoteric, or public teachings of the Buddha, and the esoteric, or secret teachings, favoring the latter.
Dengyo Daishi was the founder of the Tendai sect of Buddhism in Japan. Tendai Buddhism places emphasis on the teachings of the Lotus Sutra and on the necessity of “monastic retreat for proper meditation.” While the Lotus Sutra already had a history in Japan, Dengyo Daishi emphasized its foremost importance and reinterpreted the text in the light of a belief that all beings could attain enlightenment. Previous views of the Lotus Sutra had seen it as a less important text, or one among many, while Dengyo Daishi viewed it as the ultimate message of Buddhism for mankind.
One of Dengyo Daishi’s contributions to Japanese religion was his establishment of a religious institution for the training and ordination of monks on Mt. Hiei, which set the precedent for religious institutions set apart from the government. Dengyo Daishi was adamant that Japanese Buddhism be orthodox in its rites, scriptures and doctrine. Two other contributions he brought to Japanese religion were Zen practices and faith in the bodhisattva Amida, which eventually led to religious movements of their own.
While both Shingon and Tendai Buddhism were Chinese imports, the fact that their doctrines were both pursued and carried back to Japan by Japanese monks speaks to the increasing Japanese character of the religion. Indeed, there was little significant conflict between the newer sects and already established religious traditions, as, for example, the relationship between the Shinto kami and the Buddhist deities actually became more intimate. The integration of these sects into Japanese Buddhist tradition is another testament to the ability of the Japanese to assimilate to new ideas and philosophies while at the same time conforming them to their existing modes of thought.
Sources:
Earhart, H. Byron. Japanese Religion: Unity and Diversity. 4th ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2004.
Earhart, H. Byron. Religion in the Japanese Experience: Sources and Interpretations. 2nd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1997.
