8/8/2019 Rev. Jikai - Indian Roots of Mikkyo

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face. However, there is a chance that themost intimidating of enemies may toppleforward onto the ground at your feet if youmerely alter your position by a few incheso r degrees of angle at just the right mo ment.In that sense, to say we prefer to "adapt"r a t h e r t h a n t o "m a k e f o r w a r dadvancements" hits the ma rk. +

Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi of Noda-shi. Japan, is the grand-

master of rhe nine historical warrior traditions that make up

the foundation fo the Kasumi-An martial arts training

program.

Dainichi Nyorai in Japanese)' ' or "willing-ness of grande r truth to be known" makesit possible fo r us to s ee through o ur hum anlimitations and go on to "awakened con-sciousness". In other words, Mahavairocanaas the dharmakaya "body of essen tial ulti-

mate universal truth" comm unicates its truthto us in a way that we can apprehend it ifwe try.

The vajrayana teachings, known asMik kyo in Japan, were developed in north-er n India, and were only later carried on toChina, Japan, ~ o n g i i a , nd Tibet. In

Indian Roots ancient India, the greatest teaching center forthese vajrayana doctrines and practices w as

of Mikkyo a alandahousand nive rsity,ears beforehicht wasastedinallyor burnedlmostby R ev. C . Jikai Choffy to the ground by Moslem invaders who

Mikkyo i s the Japanese ~ ~ a j r a ~ a n a swept into India with their Islamic tradition."d iam on d ve hic le" sp irit ua l p rac tic e By the time of that destruction, however, the

historically associated with feudal Japan's va j ra~ana eachings had been transmittedninja wa rrior families. Originally an Indian successfully on to the rest of Asia.development, the Japanese vajrayana method Much of the lore that came to be knownhas been preserved and handed down by two as Japanese M ikkyo w as carried from India 1distinct lineages in Japan for almost 1,200 to China by an Indian master of vajrayanayears. The Tendai tradition was brought back kno wn as V&&,adhi. Tra in ed at Nalandafrom China in 805 by the

e

University from child-

scholar priest Saicho , later hood and motivated to ,known as Dengyo Daishi, car ry the enl igh ten-the founder of the temple ment teachings to thecomplex atop M t. H iei. world outside of India,Thc Shingon tradition was Vajrabodhi arrived inbrought back in 806 by China in 719, havingSaicho's fellow traveller travelled through Java

Kukai, later know n as and Sri Lanka.Kobo Daishi, who estab- While on the island of

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from its original Indian script into theChinese language. He died in China at the

age of ninety-nine.The first Chinese patriarch of the esotericvajrayana school in China was I-hsing, whohad received direct instruction from both of

the Indian teachers Vai rabodhi andSubhakarasimha. From I-h&ng and other

ers of the practice and

doctrines, the vajrayana tradition washanded on to Japanese masters who then inturn took the lineage on to Japan. +

Rev. Jikai is a retired American university professor. He

was ordained as a Tendai Mikkyo priest atop Mt. Hiei inJapan, in the summer of 1975. He in turn authorized theordination of Nine Gates Institute founder Stephen K. Hayes.H e can be reached by letter: Rev . C . Jikai C hoffy, T endaiKongosatta-In, PO Box 212, Cape Girardeau, M O 63702.