Mikkyō (密教, lit. "secret teachings", "esoteric, Tantric Buddhism"[1]), also known as Himitsu Bukkyo (esoteric Buddhism), is a Japanese term for the Vajrayana practices found throughout Japanese Buddhism. Mikkyō rituals and practices are found in many Japanese Buddhist schools, including Shingon, Tendai, Kegon, Hossō and Zen. There are also similar esoteric teachings found in the syncretic religion of Shugendō and may also be practiced in independent lineages of holy men (hiriji) and also Japanese New Religions.

The collection of teachings and practices that eventually came to be known as Mikkyō had its early beginnings in the esoteric traditions of India and China. As early as the 6th century, there had begun a major importation of spiritual and cultural ideas into Japan from China.[2] However, in the early 9th century the formative concepts which would become the core of "mainstream" Buddhist Mikkyō—mainly in the Shingon and Tendai schools—were brought to Japan, initially by the monks Kūkai and Saichō respectively, both of whom had traveled to China to study Vajrayana.

In Japan, these new strains of Chinese Esoteric Buddhism often blended with local Japanese elements of Shinto, sangaku-shinkō ("spiritual practices connected with sacred mountains"), Onmyōdō, Japanese Taoism, the practices of the yamabushi and hiriji and other forms of Japanese magic and folk religion. As such, "Mikkyō" is a general term which includes Buddhist as well as non-Buddhist esotericism.

Mikkyō is often found in a "lineage tradition", meaning that, as well as instruction in the teachings and practices of the tradition, it often requires esoteric initiaion (kanjo, i.e. empowerment-transmissions) from a master.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary, ISBN 4-7674-2015-6
  2. ↑ "Ancient Japanese & Chinese Relations". World History Encyclopedia.
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