The lineage for Shingon Buddhism differs from that of Tibetan Vajrayana, having emerged from India during the 9th-11th centuries in the Pala Dynasty and Central Asia ( via China ) and is based on earlier versions of the Indian texts than the Tibetan lineage.

In modern times, Shugendō is practiced mainly by Tendai and Shingon sects, retaining an influence on modern Japanese religion and culture.

At Tō-ji, in addition to the main hall ( kondō ) and some minor buildings on the site, Kūkai added the lecture hall in 825 which was specifically designed along Shingon Buddhist principles, which included the making of 14 Buddha images.

Shingon enjoyed immense popularity during the Heian Period ( 平安時代 ), particularly among the Heian nobility, and contributed greatly to the art and literature of the time, as well as influencing other communities, such as the Tendai School ( 天台宗 ) on Mount Hiei ( Hiei-zan 比叡山 ).

The teachings of Shingon are based on early Buddhist Tantras, the Mahavairocana Tantra ( Jap.

In Shingon temples, these two mandalas are always mounted one on each side of the central altar.

According to the Shingon doctrine, enlightenment is not a distant, foreign reality that can take aeons to approach but a real possibility within this very life, based on the spiritual potential of every living being, known generally as Buddha-nature.

This realization depends on receiving the secret doctrines of Shingon, transmitted orally to initiates by the school's masters.

A core meditative practice of Shingon is Ajikan ( 阿字觀 ), " Meditating on the Letter ' A '", which uses the Siddham letter representing the sound " Ah.

Until the 1920s-40s ( around the time of the arrival of Shingon outside Japan ), nothing had ever been published on any Shingon or Mikkyo teachings in Japan or anywhere else.

Undergoing any Shingon practice on one's own without empowerment and guidance from a qualified master can be considered a serious offence of breaching samaya vows because it can potentially be harmful to the practitioner if not done in the proper manner.

Today, there are very few books on Shingon in the West and until the 1940s, not a single book on Shingon had ever been published anywhere in the world, not even in Japan.

Nevertheless, the Hossō maintained amicable relations with the Shingon esoteric sect, and adopted its practices while providing further scholarship on Yogacara philosophy.

The early Heian period ( 9th – 10th century ) saw an evolution of style based on the esoteric sects Tendai and Shingon.

This introduction chides Sanron, Hossō, and Kegon — the leading schools of Nara Buddhism — for ignoring the influence of T ’ ien-t ’ ai on the works of their Chinese patriarchs, but its criticism of Shingon stands out: “ The esoteric Shingon Buddhist, the newcomer, went so far as to deny the validity of transmission through writing ( hitsuju Ù4 )” ( DZ 3, p. 344 ).

In traditional Shingon Buddhist halls, the Diamond Realm Mandala is hung on the west wall symbolizing the final realization of Mahāvairocana Buddha.

In traditional Shingon halls, the Womb Realm Mandala is hung on the east wall, symbolizing the young stage of Mahāvairocana Buddha. In this setting, the Diamond Realm Mandala is hung on the west wall symbolizing the final realization of Mahāvairocana Buddha.

Samantabhadra is one of the Thirteen Buddhas of Shingon Buddhism.

He is also one of the Japanese Thirteen Buddhas in Shingon.

The gongyo of Shingon Buddhism differs amongst various sub-sects, but all of them mainly recite the Hannya Shingyo, the mantras of the Thirteen Buddhas and other mantras, the Light Mantra, and the gohogo ; the saintly name of Kukai.

The Shingon Buddhist monk, Dohan, regarded the two great Buddhas, Amida and Vairocana, as one and the same Dharmakaya Buddha and as the true nature at the core of all beings and phenomena.

Shingon Buddhism developed a system that assigned authorship of the early sutras to Gautama Buddha in his physical manifestation, of the Ekayana sutras to the Buddhas as Sambhoghakaya, and the Vajrayana texts to the Buddha as Dharmakaya.

In the Shingon tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism, the Five Great Wisdom Kings ( 五大明王 ; Godai Myo-o, Wǔ Dà Míngwáng ), also known as the Five Guardian Kings are a group of Wisdom Kings who represent the luminescent wisdom of the Buddha and protect the Five Wisdom Buddhas.

Other Buddhas, such as Amida of the Pure Land ( J. Nembutsu ) School, and Mahavairochana of the True Word ( J. Shingon ) School are seen as provisional manifestations of the Original Buddha Shakyamuni.

The Shingon Buddhist monk, Dohan, regarded the two great Buddhas, Amida and Vairocana, as one and the same Dharmakaya Buddha and as the true nature at the core of all beings and phenomena.

When the capital moved to Heian, more forms of Buddhism arrived from China, including the still-popular Shingon, an esoteric form of Buddhism similar to Tibet's Vajrayana Buddhism, and Tendai, a monastic conservative form known better by its Chinese name, Tiantai.

The name derives from its long association with Ryōbu Shintō, a current of thought within Shingon Buddhism.

Shingon is the name of this lineage in Japan, but there are also esoteric schools in China, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong that consider themselves part of this lineage ( as the originators of the Esoteric teachings ) and universally recognize Kūkai as their eighth patriarch.

During the initial stages of his mission in Japan, the Catholic missionary Francis Xavier was welcomed by the Shingon monks since he used Dainichi, the Japanese name for Vairocana, to designate the Christian God.

In Shingon Buddhism, it is also the name of a specific Bodhisattva mentioned in the Vajrasekhara Sutra.

* An archaic name for Kōryū-ji, a Shingon temple in Kyoto.

The is a Japanese grouping of Buddhist deities, particularly in the Shingon sect of Buddhism.

At the core of Shingon worship are the various mandalas, diagrams of the spiritual universe which influenced temple design.

At one extreme one found the Shingon sect's Ryōbu Shinto thinkers, who considered kami and buddhas equivalent in power and dignity.

Xavier was welcomed by the Shingon monks since he used the word Dainichi for the Christian God ; attempting to adapt the concept to local traditions.

Several of the structures at Narita-san temple have been designated National Important Cultural Properties ; the Kōmyō-dō, built in 1701 and dedicated to the Dainichi Nyorai Buddha ( Vairocana ), the principal image of Shingon Buddhism ; the three-storied, 25-meter high pagoda built in 1712 ; the Niōmon main gate, built in 1830 ; the Shaka-dō ( Shakyamuni Hall ), built in 1858 ; and the Gaku-dō ( Votive Tablet Hall ), built in 1861.

Kōya was to become a representation of the two mandalas that form the basis of Shingon Buddhism: the central plateau as the Womb Realm mandala, with the peaks surrounding the area as petals of a lotus ; and located in the centre of this would be the Diamond Realm mandala in the form of a temple which he named Kongōbu-ji — the Diamond Peak Temple.

Shingon followers usually address Kūkai as Kōbō-Daishi ( 弘法大師 ; lit.

It would be the Emperor Junna, who favored Kūkai and Esoteric Buddhism who would coin the term " Shingon-Shū " ( 真言宗 ; " The True Word School ") in his imperial decree which officially declared Tō-ji ( 東寺 ) Temple in Kyoto as a purely Shingon temple that would perform official rites for the state.

Kūkai's first established monastery was in Kōya-san ( 高野山 ; " Mount Kōya "), which has since become the base and a place of spiritual retreat for Shingon practitioners.

There are several realisations that can accrue to the Shingon practitioner of which Dohan speaks in this connection, as Dr. James Sanford points out: there is the realisation that Amida is the Dharmakaya Buddha, Vairocana ; then there is the realisation that Amida as Vairocana is eternally manifest within this universe of time and space ; and finally there is the innermost realisation that Amida is the true nature, material and spiritual, of all beings, that he is ' the omnivalent wisdom-body, that he is the unborn, unmanifest, unchanging reality that rests quietly at the core of all phenomena '.

Tibetan Buddhism is universally recognized as falling under this heading ; many also include the Japanese Shingon school.

Shomyo ( 声明 ) is a style of Japanese Buddhist chant ; mainly in the Tendai and Shingon sects.

The gate, built of decay-resistant camphor wood, is about 16 metres high ; the placement of an additional leg before and behind each main pillar identifies the torii as reflecting the style of Ryōbu Shintō ( dual Shinto ), a medieval school of esoteric Japanese Buddhism associated with the Shingon Sect.

Shomyo ( 声明 ) is a style of Japanese Buddhist chant ; mainly in the Tendai and Shingon sects.

Jodo Shu through the Chinzei lineage continued to develop until the 8th Patriarch, Sh &# 333 ; gei ( 聖冏, 1341-1420 ) who formalized the training of priests ( rather than training under Tendai or Shingon lineages ), thus formally establishing it as an independent sect.

There are several realisations that can accrue to the Shingon practitioner of which Dohan speaks in this connection, as Dr. James Sanford points out: there is the realisation that Amida is the Dharmakaya Buddha, Vairocana ; then there is the realisation that Amida as Vairocana is eternally manifest within this universe of time and space ; and finally there is the innermost realisation that Amida is the true nature, material and spiritual, of all beings, that he is ' the omnivalent wisdom-body, that he is the unborn, unmanifest, unchanging reality that rests quietly at the core of all phenomena '.

The teachings also combine elements of traditional Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana Buddhism with teachings and practices initiated by the founders of Shinnyo-en, Shinjō Itō ( né Fumiaki Itō ; March 28, 1906 – July 19, 1989 ) who trained at Shingon, and his wife Tomoji Itō ( née Tomoji Uchida, May 9, 1912 – August 6, 1967 ), the first woman in the 1, 000-year history of Daigo-ji monastery in Kyoto to receive the rank of daisōjō () as a laywoman.

* Homa, an ancient Buddhist fire ritual originating in India practiced mainly in the Japanese Shingon sect ; goma is the Japanese transliteration