“From the endless cycle of samsara how can we be freed? The only way is to practice meditation and correct thinking.” Kukai,
from “The Secret Key to the
Heart Sutra”
(Hakeda,
p. 263)
Especially
in his later works the founder
of Shingon, Kobo Daishi Kukai, often expressed key elements of Buddhism
in terse, crystal clear terms. The above quotation is perhaps one
of the most succinct statements about the essentials of the path to
liberation in all of recorded Dharma.
In
the second section of his exposition
on Kukai’s “Thought” entitled, “ Essentials of Kukai’s Esoteric
Buddhist Thought and Practice”, Professor Hakeda defines two
aspects of “Kukai’s Esoteric Buddhism”. The first is kyoso,
the “theoretical aspect ” and secondly is jiso, the “practical
aspect ” (Hakeda, p. 76). Further, Professor Hakeda elaborates
that the practical dimension of Kukai’s Buddhism is also broken down
into two aspects. First is kai or “observance of the
precepts” and secondly was jo or “ sitting in meditation”
(Hakeda, p. 93).
From
the earliest days of his teaching in
the West, Ajari Tanaka has emphasized practice of what Professor Hakeda
has defined as “jo”. Since those early days, Ajari Tanaka
has worked uninterruptedly to transmit to a small group of his students
a collection of meditations and recitation practices that he has
established as the core of our training. Again and again in his
discussions and talks with these students, Ajari Tanaka has established
practice as the first and single most important commitment his students
need to make. “Step by step, day by day, everyday, one hour, two
hours, little by little,” Ajari Tanaka will often say, encouraging his
students to develop a daily practice of meditation and to keep to it,
allowing practice to become part of the fabric of our everyday
lives. Ajari repeatedly tells his students that through this
consistent daily practice we can come to not only grow in our self
knowledge, but also find genuine happiness while uncovering our
enlightenment.
In
the Shingon tradition practice is
particularly rich and unusually potent. For students unfamiliar
to Shingon it can be surprisingly technical and refreshingly
varied. Traditionally practice is summarized and referred to as
the “Three Mysteries”. Though the term, the “Three Mysteries” has
numerous connotations, most beyond the scope of this discussion, in
general the Three Mysteries can be summarized as the meditation
practices associated with body, speech and mind. In his Hizo
Hyoaku, or “The Precious Key to the Secret Treasury” Kukai explains,
“The
Three Mysteries are: the mystery of
body - to make the mudras and to invoke the presence of the sacred
object of meditation: the mystery of speech - to recite the mantras in
secret, pronouncing them distinctly without making the slightest error:
the mystery of mind - to be absorbed in yoga, keeping one’s mind in a
wholesome state like that of the bright, pure, and full moon, and to
meditate on the enlightened Mind”
(Hakeda,
p. 220).
In
Shingon, practice involves the whole
person in the effort toward enlightenment. The body, the voice and the
creative powers of the mind are all utilized to uncover and develop
what is essential and inherent in each of us. As students of
Ajari Tanaka we should make every effort to establish a consistent
daily practice, faithfully making use of the meditation methods
according to those instructions we have received. With the
guidance of the teacher, the help of our fellow students and the
support of Shingon’s methods of meditation our commitment and effort
can become our path to happiness, and self knowledge. |