The name Shingon (真言), as we have seen, means "true word," referring to the mantric words and syllables that convey the essence of the Buddha-teaching... The Sanskrit word mantra (shingon) originally meant a vessel heaped up with sacred thoughts. Another word for incantation was vidya (Jap., myou 明) meaning knowledge or learning. Vidya came to refer to occult knowledge, and a compound word meaning knowledge-holder referred to a sorcerer or magician. Early Theravada texts in Pali refer to mantra as paritta, meaning protection, that being the first Buddhist use of mantra. The term dharani, literally meaning all-holding, derives from an ancient word used for the practive of controlling the senses and concentrating the mind. The word first used in Buddhism for this kind of incantation was mantra, and the term dharani was not employed until the appearance of Mahayana. Shingon uses the general term mantra to refer to all types of esoteric incantation.
Use of mantras flourished in all schools of Buddhism, and even in the austere Theravada, priests gathered before stupas, bodhi trees, or Buddha-images to perform offerings and recite mantras in unison for such purposes as bringing rain. The early Matouga-kyou (摩登伽經), translated into Chinese in the third century, tells the story of how a young woman, having fallen in love with Shakyamuni's disciple Ananda, had her mother recite vidyas in a magical ritual to draw Ananda to their house, where she intended to bind him in the coils of love. Ananda's plight, however, was known to the Buddha, who in turn recited vidyas to rescue his disciple from this worldly attachment.
Mahayana incorporated the vidyas which early Buddhism had taken from preexisting practices primarily concerned with protection from misfortune. These it used together with the dominant Mahayana form of mantra, the dharani, employed as an aid to concentrate the mind in contemplation. With the development of many new Buddhas and bodhisattvas in Mahayana, the belief grew that invoking the name of a particular deity could bring its aid. The Lotus Sutra, for example, teaches the practice of calling on Kannon (Note: Guanyin/Avalokitesvara) as a way to avert disaster, and Wisdom sutras give corresponding practices. The Kanmuryouju-kyou (観無量寿経), translated into Chinese in the fifth century, teaches invocation of Amida as a way to attain rebirth in the Pure Land.
Exoteric dharani invocation was meant to lead to contemplative states of mind by concentrating the meditator's mind--through long, continuous recitation--on the deity being invoked. Some esoteric recitation also consists of calling on particular deities by name, and functions similarly to concentrate the mind without necessarily involving any contemplation of the mantric syllables' meaning. The literal sense of many mantras and dharanis has in any case been long forgotten (or in some cases had never existed), repeated recitation alone being considered to have the desired effect.
In a development of this type of practice, Mahayana meditators began to use dharanis as abbreviated expressions of certain teachings, or as core symbols for regulating the mind in meditation... Then, in an important transition toward esoteric practice, dharanis became not just a means to concentrate the mind but objects of internal visualization symbolizing Buddha-truth. Originating in this kind of Mahayana dharani recitation, esoteric mantra practice had the aims of uniting the self and the deity, experiencing wisdom, and manifesting the universal self in the particular practitioner. In
The True Meaning of the Voiced Syllable, Kuukai wrote (note: Koubou Daishi Kuukai is the founder of the Shingon school):
By performing empowerment with the Buddha, the way will be pointed out for [living beings'] return. If the way to return is not founded on this teaching, it will not be established. If the vitality of this teaching is not in the voiced syllable, it will not be accomplished. By reciting the voiced syllables with clear understanding, one manifests the truth.
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Esoteric mantra practice, therefore, more than simple voiced recitation, focuses rather on contemplation within the mind. Characteristic of this practice is contemplation of the written form, the sound, and the inner meaning of a mantra, by which the mantra reveals the image, the voice, and the mind of the deity. Although their form often resembles that of earlier magical incantations, in Mikkyo (密教; mikkyou; esoteric Buddhism) their content and use differ in that esoteric mantras are considered to embody the actuality of enlightenment. In the
Commentary on the Dainichi-kyou (大日経; Mahavairocana Tantra)is written (sic):
The fire ritual, offering rituals, and so on are all held in common from the Vedas. The reason that only the Mantra Gate fulfills the secret is that [ritual is performed] by empowerment with the truth. If mantras are recited only in one's mouth, without contemplation of their meaning, then only their worldly effect can be accomplished--but the adamantine body-nature cannot.
As embodiments of enlightenment, mantras represent all-pervading Truth, present in all things. It should not be surprising to find, therefore, that Mikkyo mantra practice can have a twofold purpose. On the one hand, esoteric mantras are directed toward supramundane realization, but on the other hand, reflecting their origin in magical practice, they can also be directed toward immediate material benefit. The esoteric practitioner employs mantras to unite with the universe, and so to function as the great self, which, however, is not separate from the phenomenal world. Esoteric ritual, therefore, may also concern itself with the fulfillment of proper worldly needs.
...In explaining the nature of Shingon (mantra), Kuukai stated that it was the central teaching of all Buddhism; that the teachings were for protecting the nation and the world; that the practices were for real benefit in this life by averting misfortune and inviting happiness and good fortune; and, as the ultimate expression of this, that the teachings could result in becoming a Buddha in the present body (sokushin joubutsu 即身成仏 note: the teaching of sokushin joubutsu sets Vajrayana apart from many other schools of Buddhist thought)
As this suggets, Mikkyo, like most religious systems, does perform rituals of prayer for immediate secular benefit--to cure illness, to bring good fortune, to drive away misfortune, and so on. A term often used for this kind of Mikkyo ritual is kaji kitou (加持祈祷). Kitou means prayer, and kaji refers to mutual empowerment with the deity, without which Mikkyo prayer is not thought to be effective. One risk observed in such ritual is that the practitioner may become attached to worldly things or even power for its own sake. Efforts to gain this type of benefit are, therefore, considered with great care.
Exoteric Buddhist--and pre-Buddhist--magical ritual by which the adept would take on a deity's power through mantric techniques was adapted by Mikkyo. Most esoteric rituals are classifed even today as being for the purpose of averting disaster, or inviting blessings, or vanquishing a foe; but this is the superficial format of ritual as it was adopted into esoteric Buddhism, and these are but symbolic names for what is actually of spiritual, not secular, meaning. By employing well-established, traditional three-secrets techniques (note: beyond the scope of this post, but in simplified form the three-secrets techniques involve uniting the three activities of body, speech, and mind of the practitioner with the three secrets of the universe, the Buddha's body, speech, and mind), the Mikkyo practitioner "becomes" the deity, and the power thus "gained" is the power of realization. Mantras are employed by the solitary practitioner as an essential part of three-secrets practice for attaining immediate Buddhahood, therefore, but they are also used in large-scale Mikkyo rituals involving dozens of priests on behalf of the nation and the entire world.
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