Ritual and Transformation in Shingon Buddhism Rituals: "Training in Four Stages"
(shido kegyo) First of these, "Eighteen Stages"
(juhachi do) paradigmatic for Shingon tradition It is first ritual a priest in
training learns to perform, and other rituals of sequence are
structurally and symbollically related to it Shingon Buddhist Ritual Tradition Shingon is sect of Japanese Buddhism
solely devoted to practice of Tantric rituals Shingon (Chinese: ch'en yen,
literally "true word," deriving from Sanskrit mantra) founded in Japan by monk
Kukai (posthumous title Kobo Daishi) in early part of ninth century. Kukai initiated into Tantric Buddhist
lineage in China, where he had travelled as member of
Japanese imperial embassy. Characteristic of Tantric Buddhism
is emphasis on possibility of realizing enlightenment in this
very lifetime. Practices that facilitate this realization based
on rituals which reach back through China to India Tantra in both Hindu and Buddhist
forms, begins from basic assertion that human beings are
fundamentally identical with highest form of being. Saivite Tantra
identifies this highest form of being as Siva, whereas in Shingon
highest form of being is identified as the Dharmakaya Buddha
Mahavairocana. Ordinary person is not fundamentally different from
the fully enlightened Buddha. However, because of mistaken ideas
and feelings, people do not realize this originally enlightened
character to be their own true nature. Core of Shingon ritual practice:
kaji: threefold identification of practitioner's body, speech, and mind
with the Mahavairocana's body, speech, and mind. Through this ritual practice
practitioner experiences his or her own identity as being the fully
enlightened Buddha mahvairocana. Ritual is a kind of remembering,
a remembering in sense of reconstructing practitioner'sMbr< personal identity. In Shingon tradition ritual
practice is repetitive reexperiencing of present reality, the true identity
of the practitioner and the Buddha. This is not a past
event made mentally present, but rather an ever-present reality which is made
conscious through repetition of the ritual. Identification of practitioner's
body with body of Buddha accomplished through performance of
mudra (hand gestures ) Identification of speech accomplished
through recitation of mantra dharani (verbal formulae that
embody some potent aspect of Buddhist teachings) Identification of mind accomplished
through yogic meditation. Training in Four Stages develops
this identification by engaging practitioner in progressively more
complicated rituals. Eighteen Stages is followed by the
"Vajra Realm" ritual. The vajra is a symbol and ritual implement
common to entirety of Tantric Buddhist tradition, giving that
tradition one of its names: Vajrayana, the vajra vehicle to
awakening. Symbol rooted in thunderbolt implement of high god
and is found throughout IndoEuropean religious culture.
Thunderbolts of Zeus directly related to vajra of tantric Buddhism.
Thunderbolt understood as pointing to sudden illumination of
awakening. Vaijra Realm is world experienced under condition
of awakened wisdom, which is unmoving and immovable. 1. Purification of human nature 2. Construction of a cosmic center 3. Encounter with Vairocana Budda 4. Identification 5. Dissociation Dramatic theme of the ritual is a feast. Eficacy of the ritual practice can
be understood in terms of the creation of an imaginal space within
which the connection between the ego/practitioner and the
Self/Mahaviarocana can be experienced as one identity. Commemorative and anamnestic rituals Commemorative understanding
explains rituals as means of keeping some past event present in memory
as part of social context of meaning: Fourth of July, Christmas,
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Anamnestic: ritualistic reactualzing
of the illud tempus in which first epiphany of a reality occurred
is basis of all sacred calendars; festival not merely
commemoration of a mythical (and hence religious) event; it
reactualizes the event (Eucharist) Quality of ritual that makes
it possible for it to be employed as a means for creating an imaginal
liminal space may be called its mimetic quality. Notion of preenactment
may be seen as a kind of mimetic process in which one acts as
if one were already at the goal in order to move toward that goal. In Dionysian cult: Imitation did not
signify reproducing external reality but expressing the inner one.