A Study Of The Tantra Thought Of Master Kōkai

Tantric Buddhism was a new school of Buddhism that gradually emerged in India after the development of Mahayana Buddhism in the third century,and began to spread to China at the very beginning of its formation.Master Kobo Kukai(774-835)was a famous monk in the early Heian period in Japan.He studied literature as a teenager,entered the Mingjing Department of the University at the age of 18,and wrote "The Guidance of the Three Teachings",which compares the three religions of Confucianism,Buddhism and Taoism,at the age of 24.And then he devoted himself to Buddhism and Tao.He studied Confucianism,Buddhism and Taoism.In order to obtain deeper esoteric teachings,he followed the eighteenth mission to Tang to seek the teachings in 804.In the following year received the mantle of Huiguo at Qinglong Temple,where he was taught the secret teachings of Vajra and Tara,becoming the eighth ancestor of Tantric Buddhism.After Kukai returned to his country,he was relied upon by the emperors of Saga and Junwa to found the Japanese Tantric religion,Shingon Buddhism,supported by a comprehensive system of teachings and practices,which opened the beginning of Japanese mountain and forest Buddhism.Since then,Shiogon esotericism has flourished in Japan.The establishment of Shingon Buddhism promoted the transformation of Japanese Buddhism from six sect Buddhism Nara to sectarian Buddhism."Pan-tantra" has also become one of the indelible characteristics of Heian Buddhism.Based on the literature and related researches written by Kōkai himself,this paper sets out to establishes a comprehensive understanding of Kōkai’s Tantric thought.It starts from his own literature and deeply studies the construction and development of his esoteric thought.This paper also clarifies the multiple influence of KuKai’s esoteric thought in the theory and practice.Besides,this paper discusses the international mode of East Asian Buddhist communication and dissemination through the observation of East Asian perspective.The thesis is divided into five parts.The first part of which is an introduction that introduces the purpose and scope of the study,summarizes the work of previous authors and presents my own approach to the study.The second part is an introduction to the life of Kōkai,It focuses on Kōkai’s journey to Tang and his activities his returning to China.Kōkai returned to the country in 806.After that,he held various esoteric ceremonies for the emperor and the imperial family,and started the establishment of the Shingon sect.Kukai established the Shingon sect centered on Higashiji Temple and Kongoji Temple on Mount Takano.The establishment of the Shingon sect accelerated the process of sectarianisation of Heian Buddhism,which showed the characteristics of densification.The third part focuses on Kōkai’s view of tantra.On the basis of the textual study of Kōkai’s "Three works",it deeply analyzes Kōkai’s soteric thoughts such as "buddhahood in the body","the reality of the true word" and "the six unhindered paths",and excavate the development method and theoretical characteristics of the Kukai esoteric view from the theoretical exploration of the Shingon sect.The fourth part focuses on explaining Kōkai’s teachings and judgments ideas.Based on the texts of Kōkai’s theoretical work on the teaching," Discerning the Two Teachings of Manifestation and Tantra",and "the Secret Mandala Treatise on the Ten Dwelling Minds"written in the seventh year of Tenzō,this part divides Kōkai’s views on the teaching into two periods,comparing and analyzing the process of the formation and development of Kōkai’s theory of the teaching,and considering the theoretical turn and practical basis contained in the process of its transformation.The nine-show and ten-secret teaching and judgment theory proposed by Kukai is actually a realistic expression of his teaching and judgment theory.The relationship between Kōkai and the six religions in Nandu,as well as the enmity between him and Zui Cheng are actually the embodiment of his teaching and judgment thinking.In fact,the theory of "reason and success" put forward by the Japanese Tiantai School in the later period is actually a compromise to the theory of Kukai’s teaching judgment.At the same time,as a characteristic of Japanese Eastern Tantric Buddhism,the method of judging teaching provides a reference for the emergence of Buddhism in Kamakura in the later period.Meanwhile,Shingon Buddhism,as a continuation of the esoteric line of Buddhism,was transmitted back to China by Wang Hongyuan and others during the Republic of China,which also had a profound impact on the revival of Buddhism in modern China.The fifth part is to observe the esoteric view of Kōkai from the perspective of the whole East Asia,focusing on analyzing the theoretical and practical differences between the Eastern Tantra that Kōkai passed down and the Tang Tantra that he inherited.Since the Heian period,Japanese Buddhism has not been a process of simple transplantation of Chinese Buddhist theories.Kōkai fully played and developed Tang Tantra,constructing a rigorous and complete theoretical system.He carried out teaching innovation and development according to the actual situation of Japanese culture in many aspects,such as the relationship between state and religion,the relationship between foreign and local religions,etc.,which showed a unique theoretical color different from Tang Mi.The ideas of the "golden birth" and the "two divine paths" involved in it can be seen as "sparks" from the collision of the two cultures.The analysis of these ideas can not only observe Kōkai’s Tantric thought and the characteristics of Japanese Buddhism and even Japanese culture as a whole,but also provides us with some reference value for understanding and analysing the paradigms of cultural exchange and development between China and Japan.