Shingon is one of the great and venerable Dharma traditions of Japan.  Founded in the ninth century by the vajrayana master, Kobo Daishi Kukai, Shingon is one of the few surviving schools of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism.  Rooted in the teachings and traditions of the Mahavairocana and Vajrasekara Sutras, Shingon affirms that tremendous wisdom and limitless compassion are inherent to all of us.  In Shingon, enlightenment is not a distant, foreign reality that can take eons to approach but our birth-right, a real possibility within this very life.  With the help of a genuine teacher and through properly training our body, speech and mind we can reclaim and liberate this enlightened capacity for the benefit of ourselves and others.